The Consortium brought together more than 200 professionals from the aeronautics and space industry at the first edition of the Aeronautical and Aerospace International Congress, where the latest developments and market trends were presented, as well as the capabilities of materials such as aluminum, titanium and composites. . The Congress also highlighted the high level of capacity of Spanish engineering.
In the first block, which dealt with the new opportunities for Galicia in the space sector, Antonio Castro, Galileo Operations Unit of the European Space Agency (ESA) took part and said: “the aerospace sector has demonstrated its strength, since in times of crisis it has not only resisted but has continued to demand more qualified personnel than existed in the market”. He stressed that European space is at the top level worldwide, because quantitatively NASA has more budget, on a qualitative level we are indeed on a par. “As for the future, the contribution of the member states has been guaranteed for the development and construction of the new launchers.”
Jose Antonio Vilán, Technological Commissioner of the University of Vigo, stated, ” from the University of Vigo we have realized the opportunity that the aerospace, aeronautical and space sector represents both nationally and internationally.”
Fernando Aguado, Coordinator of the Aerospace Strategic Group of the University of Vigo, mentioned the first Galician satellite and the potential that the University of Vigo has and the projects it is developing and has developed. He indicated that, “From Galicia we have specialized in order to boost the aeronautical industry at a global and international level.”
In the second block intervened Mr. Eloy Tembrás Franco, Technical Manager of HyperWorks of ALTAIR Spain who focused his presentation on R+D+I as a key to the future, he indicated that: “the simulation must direct the design of the products, that is, the objective is to promote innovation to the productive companies. The aim is for the structure to be standardized, but for this it is necessary for companies to think about problem solving, flexibility and simplicity in use.”
In the third block, which focused on Spanish Engineering as a reference for Europe, Juan Ignacio Lema, President of TECNIBERIA, took part and declared: “We must fight on equal terms both nationally and internationally”, and therefore he urged: “the Spanish diplomacy that represents us abroad to support national companies to a greater extent when it comes to exporting in engineering. A country that does not take care of its engineering companies ends up being colonized”.
He also emphasized: “at this time the sector is suffering an extraordinary crisis, so we are forced to make a process of internationalization, in fact, international turnover already exceeds 50%.” On the other hand, he highlighted as characteristics of the air sector: homogeneous regulation, expansion and 15% growth in passenger traffic, in fact, high growth is expected in Asia Pacific and a reduction in North America.
Jacinto Tortosa, FIDAMC General Manager, focused his presentation on innovation as a driver in the development of composite materials where he stressed: “it is important to emphasize that the market has a great demand in which technology is used to be competitive, annually Airbus and Boeing produce between 1,200 and 1,500 aircraft, it is expected that 32,600 will be needed by 2030”.
Jose Alfredo, International Business Development Director of CT Ingenieros, cited the company’s presence in numerous Spanish cities, Brazil and Europe and its new delegation in Ferrol together with Dinain. He emphasized that: “there are two clear lines on which we must focus, since the future lies in them: robotization and techniques such as augmented reality”, reiterating: “we have to be competitive not only in price, the key is the price-result binomial”.
He also claimed: “taking into account all that we know, we must get more language, we must mention the difficulty of relating to other cultures that causes that we do not know how to sell ourselves”.
Javier Alejo, Managing Director of GHENOVA Aeronáutica, said: “we must highlight the capabilities of engineering, given that there are no forecasts of new launches, we must focus on other niches: manufacturing and processes, systems intelligence and applications in new products”. He also claimed, “we are facing a clear change of cycle in engineering and we must not forget that Spanish engineering is one of the world leaders, let’s not waste the capacity”.
In the last panel, María del Coro, Head of UAV Marketing at AIRBUS DEFENCE & SPACE participated and highlighted the general aspects and the trend in UAV’s emphasizing that: “it is a future and growing sector with many potential applications such as anti-drug control, immigration control, surveillance of jungle areas, anti-piracy controls, etc.”. “when the regulations are updated and allow it, it will be a great sector to invest in.”
Finally, in the closing ceremony, Salustiano Mato, Rector of the University of Vigo, shared the reflections that the University of Vigo is having in the aeronautical sector. He said: “we always think of betting on mature and consolidated sectors with tangible bets such as the automotive or naval sectors. The University of Vigo proposed that we had to take advantage of the talent of the auxiliary industry to, through mature sectors and innovation, develop strategic poles in emerging sectors, such as aeronautics.” He also made mention of the Aerospace Innovation Center which: “aims to be an instrument that works at the demand of the companies in the Consortium.”
Enrique M. Mallón, president of the CAG, indicated that, “in the coming months we will develop our 2015-2016 training plan, new company certifications, trade missions and above all networking with Tier 1 aeronautics.”
