In mid-January the European Space Conference was held, a yearly event that brings together top representatives from industry, the government, European and worldwide agencies and institutions to take stock of the space sector, looking at the progress made, challenges posed and the likely future.

GMV sponsored this 13th conference, held under the banner theme of "Space Embracing a Changing World: Green, Digital, Resilience & Security". The event boasted a roster of 92 speakers, debating such issues as the space industry, New Space, space exploration missions, aviation and maritime-transport applications, telecommunications and 5G, the digital-transition challenge, quantum technology breakthroughs, AI and the European recovery strategy.

GMV's CEO, Jesús B. Serrano, took part in the presentation "The role of research in boosting European space competitiveness", together with EC Director General for Research and Innovation, Jean-Eric Paquet; ESA's Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality and head of ESTEC, Franco Ongaro; ESRE President, Bruno Sainjon, and Telespazio CEO, Luigi Pasquali.

Another GMV executive, Space General Manager, Jorge Potti, formed part of the parallel session "Cleaning up our orbits: accelerating the move to remove space debris", sharing the panel with ESA's Director of Operations, Rolf Densing; EC Director for Development and Innovation of DG Defence Industry and Space, Ekaterini Kavvada; the Chief of Committee, Policy and Legal section of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Niklas Hedman, and D-Orbit CEO, Luca Rossettini.

Other important public figures at the 13th European Space Conference included the President of the European Council, Charles Michel; diverse commissioners and high representatives of the European Union; Spain's Minister of Science and Innovation, Pedro Duque; ESA's Director General, Jan Wörner, and his successor, Josef Aschbacher. The conference was held in Brussels in hybrid format with limited onsite attendance and a wide-ranging program of streamed papers and debates.