Aerópolis was present with its own booth in this sixth edition, which exceeded 8,500 business meetings

Aerospace & Defense Meetings-ADM Seville 2022 closed its sixth edition with a record number of 1,251 professional participants from 29 countries, which will undoubtedly contribute to promoting the reactivation of the Spanish and Andalusian aerospace industry in particular. With this balance, it reinforces its character as a business event in the aerospace sector, by becoming a privileged framework for commercial relations between the Andalusian and Spanish industry and a forum where announcements and alliances are made, such as that of Airbus, to become the first manufacturer of a zero-emission commercial aircraft, and the Extenda and Tedae agreement to promote the internationalization of the sector.

The final figures are already known, 1,251 professionals from 323 companies, from 29 countries, participated in ADM Seville 2022, holding 8,500 b2b meetings. In addition, the records achieved by participating professionals and represented countries, since the first edition in 2012, show the muscle recovered by the industry in this event after weathering the downturn caused by the pandemic. ADM is also confirmed as the epicenter of foreign trade to the point that two out of three of the attending companies were foreign, thus consolidating its character as an international trade fair and a benchmark event for the Spanish aerospace sector.

ADM Seville, organized by the Regional Ministry of the Presidency, Public Administration and the Interior, through Extenda-Andalucía Exportation and Foreign Investment, and by the company BCI Aerospace, a specialist in international meetings in the sector, had the institutional support of the Andalusian Government, with its Head for Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities, Rogelio Velasco, who opened the event on June 8.

Likewise, ADM gathers the main manufacturers of the European, Spanish and Andalusian industry: Airbus, the largest European manufacturer, as the main partner of the event; with Aciturri and Alestis, as platinum sponsors; Aernnova, Sofitec, Aerotecnic and Gazc, as gold sponsors; and with Grupo Sevilla Control and UMI Aero Group, as silver sponsors. It also has the collaboration, as institutional support, of the rest of the agents of the Spanish industry, through Tedae (Spanish Association of Technological, Defense, Aeronautical and Space Companies), and the Andalusian one, with Andalucía Aerospace, the Andalusian aerospace cluster. In addition, the event is supported by the IDEA Agency, of the Regional Ministry of Economic Transformation, with whom Extenda shares a booth, through the common project ‘Invest in Andalusia’; Aeropolis, Aerospace Park of Andalusia; the Technological Park TecnoBahía de Cádiz; CATEC-Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies; and Invest in Spain (ICEX), of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.

The CEO of Extenda, Arturo Bernal, highlighted “the success of the commitment, both by the public and private sectors, to make ADM the epicenter of the aerospace sector business in Spain”. “We work with the aim of boosting the national leadership in exports to the Andalusian aerospace industry and this event, in which we have registered record figures, has shown that we are on the right path for the reactivation of a strategic industry for our Region”, stressed Arturo Bernal.

New commitments in ADM

ADM is, therefore, an event of maximum interest for the industry, which has also had the institutional support of Tedae, with which Extenda has signed a collaboration agreement to promote and boost the Andalusian aeronautical industry internationally, space and defense. The CEO of Extenda, Arturo Bernal, and the president of TEDAE, Ricardo Martí Fluxá, signed this agreement that includes the recognition and promotion of ADM Sevilla and Feindef as international reference trade fairs in Spain for these sectors, with the incorporation of TEDAE to the organizing committee of ADM Seville, on behalf of the Spanish industry and in coordination with all the sectors it represents.

Likewise, ADM serves as a forum for company announcements, such as the one made by the main partner of the event, Airbus, to become the first aeronautical company to fly a commercial aircraft with zero emissions, thus evidencing its commitment to sustainability and progress to become clean aviation by 2050.

Among the projects announced by the companies within ADM, it is necessary to mention the one that emerged through Galáctica, made up of European partners, among which is the CTA (Technology Corporation of Andalusia), which aims to promote the creation of new industrial value chains around the textile and aerospace sectors. With the support of the EU, two Andalusian companies have come together, Solar MEMS Technologies and Titania Essays and Industrial Projects, to create their new prototype aimed at optimizing horizon sensors for satellites.

On the other hand, in its three days, ADM Seville has addressed the main challenges of the sector in Spain and has learned about important developments in the Andalusian and Spanish industry and its path for the coming years; and an intense business activity focused on the internationalization of the Andalusian and national aerospace cluster as a whole has been developed. Among the topics discussed are advanced mobility, sustainability, robotics or artificial intelligence. In addition, the business of aerospace startups was promoted in the new Aerolabs space.

Conferences, meetings and visits

The opening session of the event, on June 7, was dedicated to professional conferences and round tables on area sustainability, flying taxis in Jaén and advanced mobility, and was attended by the Vice Regional Minister of Economic Transformation, the mayor of Seville, Antonio Muñoz, the national coordinator of Airbus Spain, Jorge Caro Terrón; the president of TEDAE-Spanish Association of Defense, Security, Aeronautics and Space Technologies, Ricardo Martí Fluxá; and the CEO of Extenda, Arturo Bernal. Likewise, on the 8th, the Head for Economic Transformation, Rogelio Velasco, officially opened the event, together with the Mayor of Seville, Antonio Muñoz.

On June 8 and 9, debate panels and more than 8,500 b2b business meetings previously arranged and organized through a system of crossing agendas and interests continued to be held, establishing privileged contacts between the contracting agents of the companies international and national and Andalusian.

International weight

ADM occupied Hall 2 of FIBES, where 205 booths were located. They corresponded to some of the 60 large participating contractors and exhibitors from 29 countries, among which are six aerospace clusters from different regions and countries.

In its sixth edition, ADM Sevilla saw its ability to serve as a business lever for the supply chain of this industry strengthened, by having large global manufacturers, Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier, up to 60 large contractors, of which two out of three were foreigners. Also present were Hall 2 of FIBES, international Tier 1 (first level manufacturers), such as Collins Aerospace and Dassault Aviation (France), Pratt & Whitney (Canada), Premium Aerotec (Germany), MD Helicopters (USA), BAE Systmes ( United Kingdom) or Avio Aero and Leonardo SPA (Italy).