About us

Who are we?

A digital ecosystem shaped by industry needs

DECADE-X emerged from the collective industry effort to address aerospace and defence’s main challenges: collaborating effectively in a complex and fast-moving environment while protecting sensitive data.

The association was built to meet the supply chain needs coming from all company types, small and large. The aim is to develop a secure and sovereign digital environment to share data and enable collaboration between all tiers.

In 2025, this shared mission was formalised with the launch of the Digital ECosystem for Aerospace and DEfence (shortened as DECADE-X) association, with the mission to guide, federate, standardise and govern the ecosystem for the benefit of the entire industry.

How did we start?

In 2022 several partners from the aerospace and defence industry started an initiative to improve the supply chain with digital capabilities. This initiative progressed all around the months and found its maturity early 2023 with 18 industrial partners. This was the start of a confidential multi-company project called NextErA.

These partners shared their expertise and insights to lay down the foundations in order to build the aerospace and defence digital ecosystem among players such as manufacturers, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and large companies, all representing more than 20,000 suppliers.

2023

2024

Following this, the industry partners aligned on the strategic priorities by defining 4 key working areas: Development & Industrialisation / Supply Chain Resilience / Traceability & Conformity / Sustainability

Start DECADE-X association to give the industry a single voice to represent the digital ecosystem, hence lead the project on behalf of our industry. We are now moving from concept to reality with the recent launch of development of a Version 0 with a first limited scope, nevertheless essential to learn how to adopt such a new approach in order to prepare complex use cases.

2025

What challenges do we tackle?

01

Strong growth of the whole aerospace industry

– Exponential demand has revealed supply chain weaknesses (shipping delays, material shortages, rising costs of supplies, compliance issues).

– Accompanying this growth, requires much more transparency and more efficient collaboration within the supply chain.

02

Conformity

Need for multi-tier traceability to address sustainability engagements (carbon footprint, substances and materials, recycling) as well as be compliant to export regulations in an unstable geopolitical context.

03

Digital continuity

This ensures that data remains accurate, accessible, and usable over time, regardless of technological changes. Without it, information can become siloed, fragmented, or even lost, leading to bad consequences for a business.

Our values

At the heart of our ecosystem are the values that drive our actions and guide our members toward collaborative success. These principles reflect our commitment to foster innovation, trust, and excellence across the aerospace and defence industries.

Sharing

Data sharing is at the center of digital collaboration, sharing is the fundamental value in order to progress together towards the new era.

Stronger together

We are committed to foster strong partnerships encouraging our members whatever the size, to share knowledge, insights, and technologies. Together, we aim to overcome challenges that no single entity could solve on its own.

Trust

Trust is the foundation of our collaborative efforts, and we prioritise the creation of a space where sensitive data is protected, confidential, and respected by all involved parties.

European development projects contributing to DECADE-X

DECADE-X collaborates closely with national innovation initiatives, such as the German Aerospace-X project, launched in 2024 with over 30 partners and a financial contribution from the BMWK, and Decade-X France national consortium, launched in 2025 with a financial contribution from the BPI/DGE.