Manuel Pérez Cortés, defense and security general manager at GMV, has received the Antonio Remón y Zarco del Valle Chair Honorary Award “for his extensive and brilliant academic work at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), as well as for his continued promotion of collaboration among academia, industry, and the public sector in the field of defense and security.”

Manuel Pérez Cortés has been an aeronautical engineer since 1982 and received his PhD in aeronautical engineering in 1985 from the UPM. He completed his training with an Executive Development Program at the IESE business school. He has been a full professor at the UPM’s Technical College of Aeronautical Engineers since 1987. He is also the director of the Spanish School of Flight Testing and Airworthiness at UPM (E4A).

His career has been tied simultaneously to the UPM, where he has taught since he earned his degree, and GMV, where he has worked since the company’s founding in 1984.

Within GMV, Manuel Pérez Cortés has worked in different fields, with a special focus on the development of applications for the aerospace and defense and security sectors, both in satellite navigation systems and in training, research, and engineering simulators for different types of vehicles; in command and control systems and, in general, information system integration. He has held a number of positions at GMV, where he is currently the defense and security general manager.

The award ceremony took place at the School of Aeronautical and Space Engineering School of Aeronautical and Space Engineering (ETSIAE) during the 20^th UPM-FAS Conference, devoted to unmanned aerial systems, their capabilities and applications, and the increasingly important role of systems that make it possible to neutralize the threat they pose.

Cristina Cuerno, the director of the ETSIAE, described Manuel Pérez Cortés as a ”talented academic as well as a brilliant defense and security professional.” She also highlighted Pérez Cortés’s career and commitment to his teaching work. “It’s hard to find a part-time professor more involved in the day-to-day running of the school.”

“I am proud and honored to receive this award,” said Manuel Pérez Cortés at the ceremony. “It means a great deal to me because it recognizes and brings together the two areas to which I’ve devoted my career: the UPM and service to our armed forces through GMV, which also emerged from this university.” After recounting several anecdotes from his university work and the founding of GMV, he concluded by dedicating the award to his family.