Ascendance Takes Off With Aras Innovator

 

Ascendance logo
Headquarters
Toulouse, France
Founded
2018
Size
50-99 employees
Industry
Engineering, Technical Studies

Challenges

  • Structure the company: Integrate all design, testing, and configuration data into a single system to ensure end-to-end digital continuity.
  • Ensure regulatory compliance: Demonstrate to authorities that every design element matches the actual assembly – an essential condition for aerospace certification.
  • Meet industry standards: Guarantee that products comply with the sector’s most stringent norms by embedding safety and development requirements from the start.

Outcomes

  • Standardized processes: Structured internal workflows around a unified platform to streamline development and collaboration
  • Enhances traceability: Enabled full product data visibility across every phase of R&D and production
  • Increased adaptability: Gained the ability to anticipate and respond quickly to evolving regulatory changes
  • Ready for takeoff: An industrial prepared for certification and scaling

Explore This Story

    At a key stage in our growth, PLM must help us structure the company to tackle the next steps in our development. We needed a platform capable of keeping up with our pace of innovation without compromising the rigor required in aerospace. The flexibility of Aras Innovator – with the ability to quickly deploy custom modules – allows us to structure our processes while maintaining the agility of a startup. It’s a true strategic lever to accelerate our industrialization.

    Solène Nouvet, Head of Systems Engineering & VV, Configuration Management and Ground Tests at Ascendance

     

    Founded in 2018 by Jean-Christophe Lambert, Thibault Baldivia, Clément Dinel, and Benoît Ferran, Ascendance is a pioneer in low-carbon aviation. Based in Toulouse – the European capital of aerospace – and backed by Bpifrance (French public bank of investment), France 2030 (French Investment Plan for Industry), and the Occitanie Region, the company is developing the STERNA Hybrid Pack, an innovative hybrid-electric propulsion system that combines performance, range, and drastically reduced emissions. The system powers ATEA, a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft designed as a low-carbon alternative to light helicopters for regional transport – passengers, cargo, medical, or security missions. Ascendance serves both civil and defense sectors, contributing directly to the transformation of aviation.

    As part of its pioneering industrial program – aimed at developing next-generation decarbonized aircraft and technologies – Ascendance sought to strengthen the digital continuity of its processes, structure its data management, and accelerate the market launch of its flagship innovations: the STERNA Hybrid Pack and the ATEA aircraft.

     

    Pain Points

    In 2024, Ascendance’s leadership initiated an in-depth study to identify a product lifecycle management (PLM) solution that could meet its needs for structure, compliance, and adaptability. Their key objectives were to:

    1. Establish enterprise-wide structure by integrating all design, test, and configuration data into a single platform, ensuring complete digital continuity.
    2. Ensure regulatory compliance by demonstrating to authorities that every design element matches the physical assembly – an essential requirement for certification.
    3. Meet industry standards by guaranteeing that all products adhere to the most demanding aerospace norms, embedding development and safety rules from the outset.

     

    PLM Requirements

    Ascendance pursues a clear mission: to decarbonize aviation.
    Its first product, the STERNA Hybrid Pack, is a hybrid-electric propulsion system designed to retrofit existing aircraft or power new ones. It combines performance, energy efficiency, and full compliance with strict aerospace certification standards – delivering up to 50% fuel savings, 30% lower operating costs, increased range, and optimized lead times.

    At the same time, the company is developing ATEA, a VTOL aircraft – the first to be powered by the STERNA Hybrid Pack. Designed for passenger transport, medical missions, cargo, and surveillance, ATEA offers a quiet, low-carbon alternative to light helicopters, with up to 80% less fuel consumption and 50% lower direct operating costs.

    Together, these two programs place Ascendance at the heart of aerospace transformation – requiring total control over engineering data, traceability, digital continuity, and regulatory compliance. Only a flexible, scalable PLM platform could meet those challenges.

     

    Successes with Aras Innovator

    After a six-month evaluation, Ascendance selected Aras Innovator® as its PLM backbone. The decision was driven by several strategic factors:

    • A tailor-made platform: Aras Innovator supports aerospace standards while allowing the development of custom modules to meet the startup’s unique needs.
    • An open system: The solution integrates seamlessly with Ascendance’s evolving internal data model, enabling near real-time updates.
    • Unprecedented implementation speed: Within just three months, the first operational modules were live, and the full PLM deployment was completed in six months. A new internally developed module launched in summer 2025, was deployed in only two weeks.
    • Long-term adaptability: Thanks to its flexible architecture, Aras Innovator can evolve with Ascendance’s future product lines and adapt to regulatory changes.

     

    Results

    With the adoption of Aras Innovator, Ascendance now operates on a robust digital foundation – a cornerstone for its industrial scale-up. The solution is now used across the organization, with adoption reaching nearly 70% of the team, delivering tangible benefits: better process structuring, enhanced traceability, faster time-to-market, and proactive regulatory anticipation.
    More than just a PLM solution, Aras Innovator has become a strategic enabler of competitiveness and a catalyst for the transition to low-carbon aviation.