Charles Bombardier (born 1974) is a Canadian engineer and

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible de ...

. His concept ideas have been noted in some news publications.

Background

Charles Bombardier was born in Valcourt, Canada. Bombardier's grandfather was Joseph-Armand Bombardier, founder of Bombardier Inc. and inventor of the snowmobile. At age 16, Bombardier began working for his family's company on the Ski-Doo assembly line in Valcourt.

Education

Bombardier first completed a technical degree at the

CEGEP A CEGEP ( or ; , ; also written CÉGEP and cegep) is a publicly funded college providing general, professional, academic or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, it ori ...

of Lévis-Lauzon in 1994. He then attended the

École de technologie supérieure École de technologie supérieure (, ''Higher Technology School'', ÉTS), founded in 1974, is a public university, public research university in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada and affiliated to the Université du Québec system. The school s ...

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, 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 his thesis on the subject of crowdfunding and innovation management. In 2017, he began his research and doctoral studies in engineering at the

Université de Sherbrooke The Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS; Quebec English, English: ''University of Sherbrooke'') is a French-language Public university, public research university in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, with a second campus in Longueuil, a suburb on the Mont ...

and completed it by the year 2024.

Career

Bombardier began his career with Bombardier Recreational Products, where he managed various engineering teams, including the Bombardier Traxter XL ATV, the Elite Snowmobile by

Ski-Doo Ski-Doo is a brand name of snowmobile manufactured by Bombardier Recreational Products (originally Bombardier Inc. before the spin-off). The Ski-Doo personal snowmobile brand is so iconic, especially in Canada, that it was listed in 17th pla ...

and the Spyder roadster motorcycle by Can-Am. In 2008, Bombardier left the family business to create electric vehicle prototypes. In 2013, Bombardier 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 ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' hired him soon after to start writing a weekly column. He continues to invest with his family in Canadian startups and incubators. In 2016, he was named to the board of the Order of Engineers of Québec. Since May 2019, Charles Bombardier has served on the Board of Bombardier. Charles joined the Board of BRP in May 2020.

Concept designs

Bombardier began publishing his concepts in 2013. As of February 2019, he had published and shared over 325 concepts, ranging from recreational products to cars, boats, and 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.

Skreemr and Antipode supersonic aircraft

The Skreemr and Antipode concepts depict two types of hypersonic passenger airliner concepts able to fly from

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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 reduce its sonic booms. This technology, dubbed long penetration mode (LPM), was inspired by a

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study. Both concepts were featured in publications including Popular Mechanics, Architectural Digest,

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and

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Seataci

The Seataci is a yacht concept that uses a

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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 ''

'', ''

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'' 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 the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

. 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

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spacecraft. The Solar Express concept generated of articles around the globe in several languages including

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, and

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References

External links

''Daily Planet'' – March 5, 2014

''Daily Planet'' – March 18, 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bombardier, Charles Canadian industrial designers Living people 1974 births

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...