KTH ends negotiations for CAE collaboration
KTH Royal Institute of Technology has decided terminate negotiations with the research institute, CAE (Chinese Aeronautical Establishment).
The decision was made due to new information brought to light through the university’s contact with the Swedish Agency for Non-Proliferation and Export Controls (ISP).
The proposed cooperation for basic research in fluid mechanics modeling software would have included EDGE.
“We have received confirmation from ISP that the request for an examination would not be recommended in all certainty, despite the fact that EDGE is not classified as military software,” KTH President Peter Gudmundson said on Friday. “This would in any case depend on ISP’s assessment of the use of the software, and not the software itself.”
On the Sweden’s FOI (Defense Research Agency) initiative, the ISP in 2012 conducted a review of EDGE and concluded that it is general code for aerodynamic analysis, and not armaments. With this assessment as a basis, KTH has conducted negotiations with CAE on a proposed cooperation regarding EDGE.
Gudmundson emphasised that the proposed agreement under negotiation between KTH and CAE related to free and open basic research in the area of aerodynamics.
“The conditions for the planned research cooperation have been changed and therefore we are cancelling the negotiations, effective immediately,” Gudmundson said.
KTH will carry through its decision to conduct a review of the formal handling of the matter as well the procedures around these types of partnerships and agreements.