The Space&Defense Industry Institute
In parallel to the Summit, it was noted the interest in creating the think tank of the Spanish aerospace and defense industry, The Space&Defense Industry Institute, chaired by Ángel Escribano, President of Escribano Mechanical & Engineering, and with Joan Clos, former Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade, at the head of the Delegate Commission.
Spain is generating a great development of the aerospace and defense sectors in the current process of increasing the international prominence of our country, which will be reinforced with the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU this year.
The global scenario is encouraging this development, as was shown during the Space and Defense Industry Summit, held in Seville on 22 and 23 November 2022, under the title “Space, Security and Defense: Industrial and Technological Capabilities”.
The summit was opened by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and was attended by the heads of the main Spanish companies in the field, as well as the public administrations and the Armed Forces.
According to Ángel Escribano, “our country has a future of great opportunities in defense and aerospace”. It is worth remembering that the government made a commitment at the last NATO summit, held in Madrid last year, to increase its defense spending to 2% of GDP by 2030. As a result of this agreement, an increase of almost 25% has been included in the General State Budget for 2023 for these items”.
As for the aerospace industry, it is also in process of expansion, which will be reinforced thanks to the Perte Aeroespacial and the creation of the European Space Agency, whose headquarters have recently been awarded to Seville, and which will initially manage projects worth 700 million euros.
Joan Clos, on the other hand, stated that “the expectations of growth make it necessary to consider the opportunity to establish crosscutting policies between the different Spanish ministries and also in the EU’s decision-making spheres”.
All of this should undoubtedly have an impact on the importance of the defense and aerospace industry in Spain, which currently represents 1.5 per cent of GDP, a percentage that has considerable potential for growth.