Airbus has announced that the company's China Innovation Center in Shenzhen will open in December, as it unveiled its plans at a media briefing on Monday, reports thepaper.cn.

At the end of last year, Airbus announced that its second global innovation center, also the first one is Asia, will be established in the city of Shenzhen, Guangdong province. The aim of the center is to accelerate innovation and to shape the future of flight.

The 20 employees who will work in the center are expected to move into their new offices in early 2019. At present, the Airbus China Innovation Center plans to invest more than 10 million euros in it early stages.

According to Luo Gang, the CEO of the center, their key research areas include on-board hardware, the cabin experience including on board Internet access, smart manufacturing, and urban air traffic management. Some early results of their research are showing positive signs. For example, to improve the cabin experience, Airbus will replace existing screens with flexible screens in order to reduce aircraft weight. This will make the plane more fuel efficient, and therefore less expensive to fly.