The aerospace industry is projected to boost investment in programmes to advance digital continuity, according to a new report from The Capgemini Research Institute.

The findings of an extensive industry survey of 179 organisations in 16 countries have been released ahead of next week’s Paris Air Show in the The strategic edge: How digital continuity drives business outcomes in aerospace and defence report.

Capgemini’s research found that 77% of aerospace and defence leaders believe improving digital continuity will accelerate production ramp-up by driving shorter time to market, with a 13% reduction on average

In addition more than 8 out of 10 (86%) defence organisations surveyed for the report recognised the need to integrate AI and gen AI into their engineering and product development processes.

In 2024, aerospace and defence organisations on average allocated 2.1% of their annual revenue to digital continuity initiatives, to ramp up production, accelerate development cycles, reduce operational costs, and stay agile amid global pressures.

This is expected to increase to 3.4% by 2028, in the context of rising costs, supply chain instability, and geopolitical movement.

Lee Annecchino, global industry lead, aerospace and defence, at Capgemini, said: “Digital continuity is a critical imperative for aerospace and defence organizations to thrive in today’s challenging and uncertain geopolitical environment.

“If it is embraced as a way of working, it will help organisations increase productivity and free up key resources from the waste created by disconnected systems and data.

“Ultimately, it enables operational excellence, reduces product development cycle times and fosters a collaborative culture, setting A&D players up for long-term success. Business leaders clearly recognize this and as a result have been ramping up their investments in these initiatives.

“In order to leverage the full potential, A&D organisations must focus on building interoperability across systems, enabling robust data management and adopting a comprehensive change management strategy.”

Capgemini said the seamless integration of data and information across all stages of the product lifecycle, linked to the external partner ecosystem is emerging as a critical enabler of business transformation in the sector.

It added digital continuity helps organisations “to ramp up quickly, driving many business benefits”.

Around a third (34%) of respondents said their organisations have already reduced costs, with 13% cost reduction on average attributed to digital continuity.

In addition 30% of organisations have already shortened time to market and 18% have accelerated product development cycle times.

The report concludes: “In order to thrive, aerospace and defence organisations must continually evolve in terms of skills, processes, technologies, security methods, and compliance policies.”