- Juan Carlos Cortés, director of the Spanish Space Agency, will be interviewed on the opening day and will analyse Spain’s position in the space sector and the challenges facing Europe in a context of growing global competition.
The second edition of New Space & Solutions, to be held from 14 to 17 April in Seville, will feature a prominent presence from the Spanish Space Agency, consolidating its role as a key player in driving the space sector in Spain and its international reach.
Juan Carlos Cortés, director of the Spanish Space Agency, will be the subject of an interview conducted by María Medina, director of Medina Media Events, the event organiser, in which he will address the challenges and opportunities facing the space sector against a backdrop of growing global dynamism, marked by the consolidation of the space economy as a strategic driver of growth, the promotion of new international initiatives such as the 2025 ESA Ministerial Council (CM25), and the acceleration of exploration programmes with milestones such as the return to the Moon under the Artemis II programme. All this against a backdrop in which the major powers are strengthening their technological and industrial capabilities, redefining the balance of the sector and opening up new opportunities for Europe and Spain.
Juan Carlos Cortés’s presence at this second edition will build on his participation in the previous edition, where he highlighted the strategic moment the aerospace industry is currently experiencing in Spain. On that occasion, he highlighted the sector’s “privileged position”, emphasising that “Spain is at the highest level and its growth within the value chain has been constant”, in a context marked by the strengthening of the country’s industrial and technological capabilities.
Juan Carlos Cortés, Director of the Spanish Space Agency, during his participation in the first edition of New Space & Solutions held in 2025.
He also highlighted the sector’s growing importance to the national economy, noting that “the Spanish Space Agency managed 580 million euros in space-related funding in 2024”, a figure that underscores the strategic significance of this industry. At European level, the recently elected President of the European Space Agency Council, a post he will assume from 1 July 2026, also highlighted the need to move towards greater autonomy, emphasising that, despite holding a prominent position in terms of programmes and talent, it is necessary to strengthen the continent’s own capabilities regarding access to space.
Alongside the presentation by its director, the Spanish Space Agency will also feature a presentation by Ana María Marín, Director of the Technical Office of the Spanish Space Agency, who will focus on the regulatory challenges facing the sector.
Ana María Marín Pérez will address the need to strengthen the regulatory ecosystem in the space sector to adapt it to new global challenges. She has recently highlighted this in various forums, where she noted that Europe is currently defining a common strategic vision, whilst the ESA is working on the development of national and European space regulations, and acts as a specialist advisory body in international regulatory forums such as the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) of the EU.
Ana María Marín, Director of the Technical Office at the Spanish Space Agency, during her participation in the first edition of New Space & Solutions held in 2025.
This regulatory framework would enable “a balance to be struck between the development of the industrial sector and long-term sustainability”, whilst also incorporating Spain’s membership of the main international sustainability forums. As the director has emphasised in various forums, this new legal framework aims to be “clear and stable”, thereby empowering the industry and optimising space’s contribution “to humanity, security, sustainability and resilience”.
The Spanish Space Agency’s participation will be complemented by the presence of Isabel Vera, Director of Space and Society at the Spanish Space Agency, who will speak on the panel ‘Talent – The next generation of the space sector’, focusing on the development of new capabilities and the promotion of talent within the industry.
With this high-profile presence, the Spanish Space Agency will reaffirm its role at New Space & Solutions as the backbone of the national space ecosystem, contributing to the strategic debate on the future of the sector and its positioning on the international stage.
New Space & Solutions – “Where we tell you what New Space does for us” – is establishing itself as a meeting point for industry, institutions and academia, addressing the challenges of New Space. The event will take place over two in-person days on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 April at the Cartuja Auditorium – managed by Yventu – at Sevilla TechPark, and two further virtual sessions on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 April.
All the conferences from New Space & Solutions will be available to watch on-demand via The Observatory, the digital platform of Medina Media Events, where each conference will be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, free of charge.
The second edition of New Space & Solutions is organised by Medina Media Events and is supported by Seville City Council; the Regional Ministry of Universities, Research and Innovation of the Regional Government of Andalusia; the Regional Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment; the Regional Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines; Canary Islands Aerospace Strategy (Government of the Canary Islands), Netmetrix, Sceye, Datatec Instruments, Rohde & Schwarz, Dassault Systèmes, PCB Piezotronics, Pablo de Olavide University, CATEC, Isdefe, UARX, HALO Space, Kistler, Eurecat, DEKRA, Open Cosmos, Solar MEMS, B2Space, DAS Photonics, Quside, Systratec, Keplerkoord, Augusta Abogados, Bufete Mas y Calvet, LORTEK, Flux, Metadev, NDK, Alfalite, the University of Málaga, EQA, the Polytechnic University of Valencia and Amplify, amongst others.