Seville will be the headquarters of the future Spanish Space Agency (AEE), which could be operational in the first quarter of 2023 and which will coordinate national activities and policies on space and Spain’s participation in international programs in this area. For its part, A Coruña will host the Artificial Intelligence Supervision Agency (AESIA).
This is how the Government decided today at the Council of Ministers meeting, as informed by the Minister of Territorial Policy and spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, who framed this decision in the Government’s commitment to decentralize the newly created public bodies to strengthen equal opportunities and territorial cohesion.
Cabanillas del Campo (Guadalajara), Cebreros (Ávila), Ciudad Real, Elche (Alicante), Estella-Lizarra (Navarra), Huelva, Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), L” Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria/ Agüimes/San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Las Palmas), Puerto del Rosario (Las Palmas), León, Ourense, Palencia, Puertollano (Ciudad Real), San Javier (Murcia), Tenerife Island (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), Teruel , Tres Cantos (Madrid), Zamudio (Vizcaya) and Yebes (Guadalajara).
In the election of Seville, the Government assessed that the city made available a “unique” building that has already been built, equipped and ready to be occupied and start “implementing” the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (Perte) Aeroespacial, an initiative with the which intends to mobilize around 4,500 million euros by 2025 to promote research and innovation in the aeronautics and space sector.
It was also taken into account that the location has a wide network of access to public transport, especially high-speed trains, and that it is less than an hour from an international airport.
This international airport had to have connections with Brussels and Paris, and preferably also with Amsterdam, Toulouse, Rome and Prague, destinations that the staff of that Agency will foreseeably visit more frequently, as established by the Government, which also wanted to have it close to an environment hotel sector and a “dynamic” business, educational and university sector.
The Space Agency will initially require around seventy employees, including civil servants, labor and senior management positions, will occupy around 3,000 square meters – foreseeably in the Scientific and Technological Park of Isla de la Cartuja, in Seville, and will have several multifunctional spaces and capacity to organize events involving up to 250 people.
Seville presented an enclosure valued at 6.7 million euros and provided to the Agency free of charge by the City Council; It is the building for the Center for Advanced Business Resources (CREA), with all the necessary equipment: meeting and videoconferencing rooms, parking, multifunctional spaces, provision of digital communications and infrastructure to guarantee security.
The Government also highlighted that Seville is a city with a great tradition in the aerospace sector, which has also experienced remarkable growth in recent years; It has 152 entities with experience in the space sector within the Autonomous Community, of which 64 are located in Seville.
The city also concentrates 36 companies, 22 research groups and 5 public organizations linked to space, among which the “cluster” Andalucía Aerospace and the company Airbus stand out; and also registers an intense activity in the educational field.
Regarding university education, Seville is one of the busiest cities in Spain, as the city has 4 universities (Sevilla, Pablo de Olavide, Loyola and Internacional de Andalusia), in addition to several private university centers.
With the creation of PREPA, Spain will be on an equal footing with other neighboring countries that have similar organizations to guide strategies related to the space sector, which provides essential services to society in the field of communications, Earth observation, navigation, security , combating climate change or monitoring phenomena such as drought or fires.
Additionally, this agency will also have a component dedicated to Homeland Security. Overall, the Seville option will contribute “to reinforce the capacity of the southern region of Spain to attract talent and investment”, highlighted Isabel Rodríguez.
Artificial Intelligence in A Coruña
In the case of A Coruña, which will host the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence, the Government has highlighted its commitment to making this region “a pole of attraction and retention of talent and qualified work”, as it contributes to combating the phenomenon depopulation and generate direct and indirect jobs.
The Government also appreciated the fact that the research centers of Galician universities had launched projects of an international nature that placed Galicia “at the forefront of research in Artificial Intelligence”, as well as the strong relationship between research and business, based on the presence of leading companies that incorporate Artificial Intelligence in their production processes.
In addition, it was taken into account that the location of this Agency in Galicia can generate a greater impulse to the Euroregion Galicia-North of Portugal, and favor greater and better cross-border cooperation, allowing the creation of an Iberian center of talent operations” to attract and retain research talent in Artificial Intelligence”.
Together, a total of 37 applications from 14 autonomous communities chose to host the Artificial Intelligence Supervision Agency and the Spanish Space Agency, which mobilized more than 1,300 entities (public administrations, academic and scientific institutions or companies).