The European Commission has selected Rolls-Royce to lead the development of two engine demonstrators as part of the Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative to accelerate the delivery of cleaner and quieter engine technologies.

Rolls-Royce will receive up to €53 million from the European Commission and benefit from the work of partners valued at €82 million over seven years to 2015.

The two demonstrators will enhance the development of new technologies for the next generation of narrow and wide-body aircraft engines. These will help Rolls-Royce to meet the demands of its customers by reducing CO2, NOx and noise emissions and reducing the time it takes to bring them to market.

Colin Smith, Director, Engineering & Technology, for Rolls-Royce, said: "The Clean Sky Joint Undertaking from the EC will enable us to build and test truly innovative engine technology demonstrators. This is an essential step that will help us invest in new, more environmentally-friendly products that support our customers' needs."

Clean Sky is one of the largest European research programmes ever, with a budget estimated at €1.6 billion over seven years, funded jointly by the European Commission and industry. The Clean Sky initiative will assess, design, build and test many technological validation vehicles, and the technology breakthroughs are expected to be available between 2015 and 2025.

Signing the agreement for Rolls-Royce, Ric Parker, Director of Research & Technology, said: "These demonstrators can only be delivered with the contributions and commitment that we will receive from our partners. The SAGE Integrated Technology Demonstrator will enable our partners to develop and enhance their technology to allow the European supply chain to compete in the growing global market."

Liam Breslin, Interim Director of the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking said in countersigning the agreement: "Rolls-Royce is one of the leading industry players that has helped launch the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking. Now we can look forward to a programme that will genuinely make a difference and provide a major contribution to the achievement of the ACARE, (Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe), goals."