EADS set up chair to advance detection of terrorist explosives

EADS Innovation Works, the R&D laboratory of the European aerospace giant EADS and its defence and security arm Cassidian, have given €1 million to endow a chair of detection technology at Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, to carry out research into security technologies for the early detection of terrorist attacks.

“Explosives and hazardous substances such as incendiary devices are by far the most common instruments of terrorist attacks,” said Bernd Wenzler, CEO of Cassidian Electronics. “By delivering more efficient means for early detection of these hazardous substances, we are making a significant contribution to the protection of our citizens.”

“Security research at German universities is still virtually uncharted terrain,” said Richard Arning, head of the EADS Innovation Works Technical Capability Centre for Sensors, Electronics & Systems Integration. “By creating a special professorship within a university institute [...] we are closing a gap in education as well as in practice.”

The objective of the endowed chair is to research technologies for the detection of hazardous substances by chemical and physical means. Research will focus on more reliable and cost-effective methods for rapid response to threatened attacks. The endowed chair is incorporated in the newly created Institute of Detection Technology.

Cassidian, EADS Innovation Works and the university will pool their expertise, and see it as particularly important to train experts who will be able to translate the research findings into products. EADS will further this aim by providing industrial internships and supervising dissertations.