Charles Bombardier is a Canadian engineer, innovator and angel investor, who creates vehicle concepts and shares them openly with the world with his nonprofit Imaginactive. In 2016 he received the most innovative people award for his work inindustrial design. His concept ideas regularly make headlines around the world.
Bombardier first completed a technical degree at the CEGEP of Lévis-Lauzon in 1994. He then attended the École de technologie supérieure in Montreal, Quebec, where he received a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1998. In 2011 he completed a certificate in board governance from Laval University. Bombardier went on to complete a Master's degree in applied science writing a memoir on the subject of crowdfunding and innovation management. In 2016 he began his research at the University of Sherbrooke and later enrolled into the PhD at the faculty of engineering
Career
Bombardier began his career with Bombardier Recreational Products where he managed various engineering team. Among them the Bombardier Traxter XL ATV, the Elite Snowmobile by Ski-Doo and the Spyder roadster motorcycle by Can-Am. In 2008 Bombardier left the family business to create electric vehicle prototypes. In 2013 focused his research on the product ideation process. He began converting his ideas into design concepts related to the future of mobility. The Globe and Mail hired him soon after to start writing a weekly column. In 2016 Conde Nast's Wired magazine followed and offered him a columnist position. Charles Bombardier in one of the earliest investors in Tandem Launch Technologies, a start-up incubator founded by Helge Seetzen. He continues to invest with his family in Canadian Start-up and incubators. In 2016 he was selected to the board of the Order of Engineers of Québec. In 2017 he started collaborating with the International Civil Aviation Organization and was named Senior Advisor on the Future of Aviation in 2018.
Concept designs
Bombardier began publishing his concepts in 2013. As of February 2019, he had published and shared over 325 concepts openly ranging from recreational products to cars, boats & aircraft Each of his concepts includes a brief project description. Bombardier collaborates with industrial designers from around the world to convert his vision into 3D models and graphic images. Bombardier does not patent his ideas, he publishes them on Imaginactive.org to inspire the public, foster innovation and gather feedback to improve his ideas.
The Skreemr and Antipode concepts depict two types of hypersonic aircraft concepts able to fly from New York to London in less than 11 minutes Reusable rocket boosters would initially accelerate and propel the aircraft to Mach 5, after which, scramjets engines would take over and continue accelerating them up to Mach 24. An opening in the Antipode's nose would expel counter-flowing jets of air to cool the aircraft surface and reduced its sonic booms. This technology, dubbed long penetration mode, was inspired by a NASA study. Both concepts were featured in many magazines including Popular Mechanics and Architectural Digest, CNN and Forbes amongst others.
Seataci
The Seataci is a yacht concept that uses a biomimetic propulsion system resembling the movement of whale's tail. Its main hull would be lowered underwater, providing passengers with an excellent underwater view of the coral reefs and marine life. It features a dozen villas and two landing pads specially designed for personal flying drones. It received a lot of press around the world and appeared in the Daily Mail, Forbes,Business Insider and hundreds of other websites around the world.
The Solar Express
The Solar Express is a space train that would be designed and used to ferry humans, supplies and minerals between celestial bodies and space stations in our solar system. It would run non-stop, so smaller vessels would need to catch the train when it passed by. It provides an artist's rendering of a Mars cycler spacecraft. The Solar Express concept generated thousands of articles around the globe in dozens of languages including Chinese, Arabic, German, Italian, Russian and many others.
