On 24 November Jorge Potti, General Manager of GMV Space and Vice President of the Spanish Association of Space, Aeronautics and Defense Technology Companies (Asociación Española de Empresas Tecnológicas de Defensa, Aeronáutica y Espacio: TEDAE) gave a lecture called: “The industrial sector in Spain: current state and future prospects” within the lecture cycle "The Space Sector in Europe and Spain: current and future challenges” put on by Fundación Areces in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).

Since its constitution back in 1976 the foundation called Fundación Ramón Areces has been working in favor of science by driving research, helping to generate human capital and spreading scientific findings further abroad. In the interest of the latter aim it organizes a wide range of lecture cycles in areas as diverse as Life Sciences and Material Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities.

On December 1 and 2 Spain will be chairing the Ministerial Council of the European Space Agency (ESA), to be held in the Swiss city of Lucerne. This Ministerial Council will decide on the Agency’s upcoming space programs and concomitant investment. 2016 is also turning out to be a year of great importance for Europe’s space sector, in terms not only of manned flights and Earth observation missions but also space applications.

In this overall context, the purpose of this lecture cycle "The Space Sector in Europe and Spain: current and future challenges” was to review the current state of ESA’s science program, the progress of Europe’s satellite navigation program, Galileo, the space sector’s spinoff and technology-transfer potential and ESA’s manned flight program. The cycle also took stock of Spain’s current space industry, a sector boasting a sparkling reputation in Europe, and Spain’s institutional prospects in the sector.

Besides Jorge Potti himself, other leading figures participating in this lecture cycle included the Spanish astronaut Pedro Duque plus representatives of the ESA and Spain’s Industrial and Technological Development Center (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico e Industrial: CDTI).