Spain’s Minister of Science, Innovation, and Universities, Diana Morant has unveiled the first official logo for the fledgling Spanish space agency AEE.
Despite being a founding member of the European Space Agency (ESA), Spain only officially opened the doors of its own space agency in March 2023. Since its founding, the agency has primarily used the country’s national crest as its logo.
On 4 October 2024, the agency finally got its own logo during an unveiling ceremony that was held at the agency’s headquarters in Seville.
The event did, however, also highlight the challenges faced by the new agency. A year after its founding, the transfer of ownership of the building in which the agency is headquartered has yet to be finalized. Minister Morant did, however, state that the agreement for the transfer of ownership would be signed soon. Filling the agency’s initial staff complement was also identified as a challenge faced by the agency, with just 66 percent of its initial staff complement of 75 employees having been filled.
In addition to the unveiling of the new logo, Minister Morant also announced that Spain would be opening an additional three ESA Business Incubation Centres (BIC). The country’s fifth ESA BIC is expected to be opened before the end of the year in Seville, joining centres in Barcelona, Madrid, Castilla y León, and Castellón. The six and seventh centres will be opened in 2025.
“The aim of the BIC centres is to help entrepreneurs turn their space-related business ideas into commercial enterprises, as well as offering expert technical knowledge and support for their business development,” said Morant. “These centres will contribute in a decisive way to territorial cohesion of a key industry in the transformation of our country.”
