Abu Dhabi: Dr Bertrand Piccard, who flew the world's first solar plane, is planning to make his global flight on the solar plane from the UAE in 2014.
"We are discussing it with Masdar [the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company]," Piccard told Gulf News in an interview on the sidelines of the World Future Energy Summit on Monday.
He said he is planning to start the world flight from the UAE and complete it in the UAE.
Before making his pioneering solar flight, Piccard had also set a record by flying non-stop around the world in a balloon. He is the initiator of Solar Impulse, an organisation committed to the promotion of clean technologies. Solar Impulse developed the first solar plane.
Piccard belongs to a family of world famous adventurers.
His grandfather, Aug-uste (1884-1962), a physics professor, made the first flight into the stratosphere at 16,000 metres in 1931.
Solving many problems
Piccard's father, Jacques, completed the world's deepest dive (10,916 metres in the Mariana Trench, the greatest known ocean depth).
Piccard is also well known as a psychiatrist, aeronaut, public speaker and president of the "Winds of Hope" humanitarian foundation and a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations.
He said innovation to solve people's real needs is an urgent requirement.
"The world does not need to produce more of [products] what people already get. But we have to produce what people really need by using innovation," Piccard said.
The innovations in clean technology provide solutions to a number of problems including climate change, he said.
"We have to promote clean technology for a better world."
He said his solar plane is not meant for commercial manufacture because it is not economically viable. But it shows how innovation is possible and creates awareness about solar energy, he said.
Asked about its practical impact in terms of inspiring innovation and creating awareness, Piccard said plane makers have invented lithium batteries which are 30 per cent more efficient.
"These are the latest developments following our attempts."
Together with his co-pilot and their sponsor, Breitling, Piccard established the Winds of Hope humanitarian foundation to use the financial and media impact to fight the suffering on earth.
