Once best-known for its ­human- and solar-powered aircraft and more recently renowned for its small unmanned air systems, Aero­Vironment depends on innovation more than most other technology ­companies.

Founded by legendary aeronautical engineer Paul MacCready in 1971, AeroVironment became a household name within a decade when his company won successive Kremer prizes for human-powered flight with the Gossamer Condor and Albatross aircraft.

As they plot a future based around unmanned aircraft and electric vehicles, the California-based company still follows the inspirational lead of MacCready, who died in 2007. “Dr. MacCready’s influence on our engineering DNA remains with us today, reminding our engineers to focus on first principles, get early prototypes in the hands of users, process the feedback and improve the design,” says Marketing Strategy Director Steve Gitlin.

Staying innovative is a cornerstone of AeroVironment’s strategy, and maintaining “a culture that promotes individual and team creativity focused on customer and market needs” is essential to attracting and retaining individuals who develop breakthrough solutions, he says. “Because much of what we are doing is truly innovative, and has not been done before, we tend to look across industries for inspiration. Apple and Google are two companies that come to mind as leading innovators.”

AeroVironment’s ideas are “typically generated internally, often based on close contact with our customers,” Gitlin says. After innovations have been prioritized, they are “funded incrementally, with numerous review gates that enable resources to be allocated based on customer or market value. As ideas progress through the commercialization process, we typically attract customer interest and funding, thereby further validating market acceptance.”

Cited as examples of ideas that have secured customer interest are the high-altitude, long-endurance Global Observer, lethal Switchblade and miniature Wasp unmanned aircraft, and a UAV digital data link. Other programs, such as the flapping-wing nano-air vehicle for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, are still at an early stage of development.

AeroVironment tends to work within its business units where possible, but will go to outside companies “when there is a capability or technology that we do not possess,” says Gitlin. Otherwise, innovation within the company is supported by “a robust cross-fertilization of ideas across our business segments,” he notes, pointing to the Global Observer’s liquid-hydrogen/fuel-cell propulsion system as an example.

As with other companies, AeroVironment finds “the primary obstacles to innovation relate to market acceptance and adoption. Customers perceive the risks in innovative solutions, and must be convinced of the value of adoption. This is typically a difficult process,” he says. “When our customers are interested enough to help fund new development programs, it says something about their level of confidence and desire to see a new solution created and adopted.”