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Universities and the space industry will be the protagonists throughout the celebration of this pioneering event, which will also include a full day in which all matters relating to the training of qualified personnel and the needs of companies for specialised manpower will be raised and discussed.
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The Cartuja Auditorium in Seville from 17 to 21 March 2025, in the context of Women’s Week, will host the first edition of ‘New Space & Solutions’, a pioneering meeting in which the space and satellite industry will come together to jointly explain the solutions they provide to citizens.
Spain is positioned as the fifth European country in terms of permanent job creation in the space sector. With a turnover that reached 1,200 million euros in 2023 and the generation of thousands of direct jobs, the Spanish space industry has established itself as a relevant player at international level. The aerospace sector is booming and “is contributing to consolidating our country’s economic growth”. These are the words of the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, who recently stressed that “for every euro we invest in the space sector, we generate up to 4 euros for our country’s economy”.
However, experts, entrepreneurs and professionals in the sector ask themselves… Is there enough talent for this growth to continue? How many vacancies do space companies have that they are not able to fill? To what extent are universities capable of supplying companies that demand personnel with specialised and qualified profiles?
These and many other questions will be answered at the ‘New Space & Solutions’, which will turn Seville into the world capital of Space from 17 to 21 March 2025 with this pioneering and innovative event whose aim is to show citizens, companies and administrations everything that Space can help to solve problems in fields such as emergencies, security, health, logistics, mobility, transport, agriculture, the environment, meteorology, education, fires, drought and telecommunications, among many others.
Universities, cradle of talent
The Cartuja Auditorium – managed by Yventu – will host the first two face-to-face sessions of this event, which will be followed by three virtual sessions. One of them will be entirely dedicated to universities and their connection with young talent and the space industry.
The need to fill thousands of vacancies, largely due to the lack of specialised profiles (especially female), will be one of the major issues addressed in this first edition of ‘New Space & Solutions’. In addition, the essential role that universities play in the training of talent will be analysed, with a special focus on Andalusian institutions, and the intervention of the Department of University, Research and Innovation of the Andalusian Regional Government will be highlighted.
José Carlos Gómez Villamandos, Andalusian Minister of University, Research and Innovation, will participate in the opening session and will moderate a panel called ‘Satellites: Space and Defence’ during the third day (first virtual) of this pioneering event. The Regional Ministry of University will also organise a round table dedicated to agriculture, cartography and the environment coordinated by Antonio Posadas, head of R+D+i of the Regional Ministry of University, Research and Innovation; while Nieves Valenzuela, Director General for the Promotion of Innovation at the Andalusian Regional Government, will talk about satellites and their applications linked to the ‘Space Innova Andalucía’ programme, which aims to identify innovative solutions in the space sector for application in other fields of activity related to the deployment of emergencies, fire fighting, environmental management or statistical and cartographic analysis.
Andalusian Universities boost the aerospace sector
“Just as important as attracting and supporting business activity is training and professional qualification in order to have specialised profiles”. In these terms, a few months ago, José Carlos Gómez Villamandos, Regional Minister for University, Research and Innovation, referred to the crucial role of Andalusian universities in a growing activity with a present and a future “full of opportunities”.
The development of the space and satellite industry in Andalusia is unquestionable and the Universities have a lot to say in this ambitious challenge. In the ‘New Space & Solutions’, the Universities have reserved an entire day to learn first-hand about their capacity to supply companies that demand personnel with specialised and qualified profiles or if there is enough talent for the sector to continue its growth, among other issues.
With representatives from different Universities from all over Spain and especially from Andalusia, during the third day (first virtual) of ‘New Space & Solutions’, Javier Brey, director of the Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering at Loyola University, will speak about innovation and talent for the future of space, as well as the commitment of this university with the creation of the new Degree in Aerospace Engineering, a programme designed to train professionals who will lead the new era of ‘New Space’. “The space sector is undergoing a historic transformation, driven by the rise of New Space and the increasing integration of advanced technologies. This has opened up a horizon of opportunities for young engineers in areas such as aeronautical design, space exploration and advanced systems management,” says Brey.
The fourth day (second virtual day) will also feature the presence of the University of Huelva, with José Manuel Andújar, director of the Centre for Research in Technology, Energy and Sustainability (CITES) of the University of Huelva, who will talk about the European project CEUS (Test Centre for Unmanned Systems), which aims to implement a Test Centre for development and research with unmanned systems in the municipality of Moguer (Huelva).
Other representatives from different Andalusian universities will also participate, such as Delia Rico, researcher at the Institute of Software Technology and Engineering (ITIS) at the University of Malaga; María del Carmen Muñoz, from the University of Jaén; Francisco Javier Mesas, professor and lecturer in the Department of Graphic Engineering and Geomatics at the University of Cordoba, who will explain Agriculture 4.0; Fernando Muñoz Chavero, professor at the University of Seville, and Darío González, promoter of the Alpha Mission, a private initiative formed by companies and universities to design, launch and operate a 100% Andalusian artificial satellite; CSIC research professor Jose Carlos del Toro Iniesta and Antxon Alberdi, from the Astrophysics Institute of Andalusia (IAA); Jesús Gómez-Enri, from the University of Cadiz, who will speak about the Copernicus Project; Manuel Ángel Aguilar Torres, Professor at the University of Almeria; Francesc Coello, from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Co-founder and CEO at Faraday Rocketry; and Álex Oscoz, IP IACTEC-Space & Head of Telescopic Operations at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands.
The agenda of ‘New Space & Solutions’ in Seville will have two face-to-face sessions (Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th March) at the Cartuja Auditorium -managed by Yventu- and three virtual sessions (Wednesday 19th, Thursday 20th and Friday 21st March).
All the presentations can be followed through ‘The Observatory’, the digital platform of Medina Media Events, in the style of an on-demand service, where each intervention will be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for free.