Engineering and innovation

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We develop and deliver complex power and propulsion solutions for safety-critical applications in the air, at sea and on land.

Our products and service packages enable our customers to connect people, societies, cultures and economies together.

Products & Services

We develop and deliver complex power and propulsion solutions.

For more than 100 years we have been at the forefront of innovation. Helping to power, protect and connect the modern world.

About

Create your future with us

Help us deliver better power for our changing world.

Doing more with less

We have a fundamental role in meeting the environmental and societal opportunities and challenges that the world faces.

Sustainability

Rolls-Royce Half Year results

Rolls-Royce announced Half Year results on Thursday 1 August 2024.

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Sustainability

Engineering and innovation

Differentiating product performance

Research and development

For over 25 years we have been co-ordinating research with leading academic institutions and industry partners. These support our internal expertise by harnessing the knowledge of renowned experts and help us to gain the best value from our investments.

£1.3bn

Invested in R&D in 2022

University Technology Centres

Advanced Manufacturing Research Centres

Flightpath 2050

The European aviation industry is working towards challenging goals for reducing aviation's environmental impact.

The Advisory Council for Aviation Research and Innovation in Europe (ACARE) has set challenging goals for aviation to meet by 2050. These include developing technologies and procedures to:

Reduce aircraft CO₂ emissions by 75% (per passenger kilometre)
Reduce noise by 65%
Reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx) by 90%

This is all relative to a typical new aircraft produced in 2000. The engine contribution to these goals is defined as a reduction in CO₂ by 30% and a reduction in the NOx certification metric by 75%.

We are making progress towards achieving these goals. We have research and development programmes in place to ensure that our future products are cleaner, quieter and more efficient.

Our progress towards the ACARE goals

Our engineering expertise

We have over 14,000 engineers worldwide. They apply their expert knowledge and experience daily to continually improve the performance and efficiency of our product portfolio. We support their development through our Specialist Academy and Rolls-Royce Fellowship programme that recognises and rewards industry leading expertise.

14,000 +

Engineers worldwide

150

Rolls-Royce Engineering Fellows

60%

of Non-executive Directors with extensive experience and skills in engineering, science and technology

Our approach

Our biggest impact is the use of our products. We apply our engineering expertise to maximise performance, efficiency and reliability to continually reduce the environmental impact of our products and services.

Our approach

We harness the skills and knowledge of our engineers to deliver more efficient products and services.

Each year we invest heavily in research and development to maximise performance, efficiency and reliability; further reducing the environmental impact of our products and services.

Our commitment is to continuously improve the environmental performance of our products and services, with particular focus on lowering fuel consumption, emissions and noise.

Our vision approach

We manage our business for the long term. We envision technology acquisition and innovation ahead of customer need, over 20 year horizons. This ongoing commitment to innovation is essential to meeting customer and society’s needs for sustainable power.

Near term technologies we are embedding

Leading edge technologies we are demonstrating and validating

Emerging technologies we could potentially apply

Product performance

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Product performance

Fuel burn continues to be among one of the highest operating costs for the aerospace industry as well as being one the greatest contributors to the overall environmental impact of aviation. This drives increasing customer and societal demand for ever more efficient products.

We have research and development programmes in place to ensure that our future products are cleaner, quieter and more efficient.

Our aerospace products are amongst the most efficient on the market today. Our Trent XWB is the world's most efficient large turbofan aero engine, with world-beating levels of performance and noise. Life-cycle cost focus has been at the heart of the design process, ensuring the best for engine and aircraft performance.

Our Trent 7000 engine offers a ten per cent improvement in specific fuel consumption and halves the noise energy output compared to the current engine on the A330.

Our next generation Advance and UltraFan designs will offer at least 20-25 per cent better fuel burn and CO₂ emissions than first generation Trent engines.

We are a leading supplier of high efficiency reciprocating engines and propulsion systems.

Our robust diesel engines and systems solutions are industry-leading in energy efficiency, fuel consumption and emissions.

Our MTU technology installed on Deutsche Bahn's diesel Coradia Lint 54 and 81-type trains reduces particulate emissions by 90 per cent, and contributes to reducing fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions.

Our nuclear technology is installed in over 200 reactors across 20 countries worldwide, making a significant contribution to low carbon electricity generation. We are world-leading provider of nuclear instrumentation and controls, helping customers to improve safety, availability and reliability of their operational plant while also reducing costs.

Rolls-Royce is a lead industrial partner for the UK's Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, established as part of the UK Government's Low Carbon Industrial Strategy.

Product safety

We are committed to delivering products and services that achieve the highest standard of product safety and reliability.

Product safety

We are committed to delivering products and services that achieve the highest standard of product safety and reliability.

Our products are designed to the highest practical standards whilst also keeping life-cycle costs to a minimum for the benefit of our customers. We ensure that safety is an integral part of each stage of the product lifecycle, through design, manufacture, assembly, maintenance, in-service and disposal.

We have a consistent approach to safety across the Group and systematically pursue opportunities for improvement.

Our Product Safety policy sets out the principles which govern product safety at Rolls-Royce as follows: