A delegation from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), led by its Director, Valentín Martínez Pillet, is attending the Big Science Industry Forum Spain 2025 (BSIFS2025), the most important nationwide assembly devoted to the Big Science Industry, on 3 and 4 December. The workforce is presenting the centre’s scientific and technological advances and strengthening strategic hyperlinks with corporations, know-how centres and worldwide scientific infrastructures.
The IAC strengthens its presence at Spain’s largest Big Science Industry discussion board
The Big Science Industry Forum Spain 2025, organised by CDTI Innovación along with INDUCIENCIA and INEUSTAR, brings collectively at IFEMA (Madrid) the most important stakeholders in large science, together with main infrastructures resembling the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the ITER undertaking and its European company F4E, in addition to know-how corporations and analysis centres from throughout the nation. The occasion seeks to strengthen nationwide capabilities in the Big Science Industry, enhance Spanish participation in worldwide tasks and promote know-how switch.
Representing the IAC are Director, Valentín Martínez Pillet, Deputy Director, Eva Villaver, Teide Observatory Administrator, David Nespral, Head of OTAI, Anselmo Sosa, Head of the Space Department, Álex Oscoz, and Head of the Optics Department, José Luis Rasilla, who took part in varied panel discussions, introduced the centre’s actions at the ICTS stand and at the IACTEC-Space stand, and held bilateral conferences with establishments and corporations in the sector to establish synergies and rising alternatives in scientific instrumentation, Earth remark and superior astrophysical and house applied sciences.
The IAC’s Director, Valentín Martínez Pillet, highlights the significance of this assembly for the nationwide scientific ecosystem: “BSIFS2025 is a unique opportunity to strengthen the IAC’s position within the Big Science Industry and to drive collaborations that enable us to continue transferring our knowledge and technological capabilities to society as a whole. Participation in forums such as this is essential to consolidating partnerships and anticipating the scientific and technological challenges of the coming years.”
As Deputy Director of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Eva Villaver took part in the plenary session entitled “How to attract talent to the Big Science Industry?” inside the BSIFS2025 discussion board. Villaver pressured the IAC mannequin as a well-established instance of success in attracting and exporting scientific and technological expertise, a mannequin constructed up and strengthened over greater than 40 years of exercise. She additionally underlined the must design particular mechanisms for assessing technological careers, noting that they can’t be measured utilizing the similar standards as conventional tutorial careers. Finally, she referred to as for larger involvement of personal funding in the coaching and growth of expertise, emphasising that private-sector collaboration is essential to making sure the sustainability and competitiveness of the Big Science sector in Spain.
For his part, Álex Oscoz, Head of the IACTEC-Space Department, underlines the strategic worth of attending any such occasion: “For a team like ours, which develops cutting-edge space instrumentation, it is essential to be present at the major Big Science Industry forums. This is where connections are forged, opportunities are explored and efforts are aligned with companies and institutions that can drive our missions and projects. Attending this forum is key to ensuring that the Canary Islands continue progressing as a space sector reference.”
Álex Oscoz Head of the Space Department (IAC) at BSIFS2025
In addition, throughout the discussion board, the IACTEC-Space workforce introduced the advances of DRAGO-3, the new technology of SWIR cameras that may type part of the Canary Islands Constellation (CIC), promoted by the Island Council of Tenerife, in addition to the growth of the compact VINIS telescope, able to acquiring high-resolution pictures in the seen, NIR and SWIR ranges, and the progress of the IACSAT-DUNE microsatellite.
A key discussion board for driving public–non-public collaboration in Spain
BSIFS2025 is consolidating itself as a strategic house for constructing partnerships between corporations, analysis centres and large-scale science infrastructures, bringing collectively procurement alternatives, technological traits and nationwide capabilities in a single frequent showcase. The Big Science Industry strikes billions of euros a yr and generates cutting-edge applied sciences, from ultra-high-vacuum techniques to high-performance computing.
In this context, the participation of the IAC reinforces its management in the Big Science Industry sector. The IAC is the managing physique of certainly one of Spain’s most vital Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructures (ICTS): the Canary Observatories —with the telescopes at the Teide Observatory (Tenerife) and the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma)—, in addition to taking part in a key position in the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and internet hosting a computing node of the Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES) in La Palma. These distinctive amenities, conceived for frontier science, require substantial funding; nevertheless, they provide world-class analysis and technological growth capabilities. By serving the whole scientific group —with each nationwide and worldwide collaboration— these ICTS allow progress in key areas resembling astrophysics and superior computing. Thanks to this consolidated scientific and technological ecosystem, the Canary Islands reaffirm their main position in worldwide astronomy, cutting-edge analysis and high-performance computing.