The agreement was signed at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) by Álvaro Giménez Cañete, Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, and Daniel Peña Sánchez de Rivera, Rector of UC3M. Both institutions are interested in creating and establishing collaborative channels in education and research programs.
In the field of education, thanks to this agreement, UC3M students will have access to information about the Agency's training programs and any scientific and technical events in which they could participate. Furthermore, experts from the European Space Agency will give lectures and technical training courses in space engineering and science at UC3M. In addition, annual student visits to ESAC and/or the ESA deep space station in Cebreros (Ávila) are planned.
As a result of this general agreement, additional specific agreements may be established in the areas of research, development, and innovation. To this end, a monitoring committee composed of experts from both entities will be created to determine the R&D&I projects in which ESA and UC3M scientists and technologists could collaborate. In this regard, UC3M has a Department of Bioengineering and Aerospace Engineering with professors who conduct research in this field, as well as researchers from other departments of the University who also carry out studies in areas related to the aerospace sector, such as materials science, physics, systems engineering, signal theory, and communications, for example.
Innovation in the aerospace environment
The UC3M Science Park houses scientific and technical laboratories and infrastructure for developing applied research for the aeronautical and space sector. These include, for example, laboratories for impact analysis of aeronautical structures, communications and multimedia processing, and spectral sensors. Furthermore, the Park's Business Incubator is home to a significant number of companies focused on the aerospace sector, such as Arquímea, Expace, Flavia, Geko Navsat, Luz Wavelabs, and Sensia. In the coming months, an agreement is expected to be signed that will make the UC3M Science Park one of the nodes of the future ESA BIC (Business Incubator Centre) in Madrid, which aims to facilitate the creation of companies whose business is based on the application of space technology to commercial terrestrial applications.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental organization created in Paris on May 30, 1975, whose purpose is to promote, for exclusively peaceful purposes, cooperation between European states in space research, technology and its space applications for scientific purposes.
Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) is a public, innovative university committed to improving society through top-quality teaching and cutting-edge research, adhering to the strictest international guidelines. UC3M has three undergraduate schools, as well as a Graduate School, which manages and coordinates the university's master's programs, and a Doctoral School. Founded in 1989, it operates across four campuses and has 18,000 students, 18% of whom are international. Furthermore, it is the leading university in Spain and the third in Europe in terms of the number of students participating in Erasmus programs. UC3M is also included in the QS ranking of the top 50 universities under 50 years old.
