CATEC played a prominent role at ADM Sevilla 2026, the largest business event in the aerospace and defence sector held in Spain and southern Spain, which brought together more than 300 companies and over 1,000 professionals from the industry in Seville from 19 to 21 May, with the aim of exploring business opportunities and technological and innovation partnerships in this field. Specifically, our technology centre acted as an institutional partner for this event and took part in several of the technical conferences on the programme, which featured leading experts and executives from major industrial and technology companies in Spain and internationally.
We took part in the panel ‘Generative AI and Digital Twins’, which was moderated by our Scientific Director, Anibal Ollero, with Francisco Javier Pérez Grau, Head of the Perception and AI Unit, speaking alongside other experts including Sandra de Lucas, Head of Digital International at Airbus Spain; Juan Pineda Fabra, Systems Engineering Director – Aerospace & Defence Division at Akkodis; Luis Miguel Marín Aparicio, Digital Continuity & Manufacturing Director at Capgemini; and Alberto Reguera, Head of Aerospace & Defence at Multiverse Computing. During this panel discussion, the key experiences of each organisation in applying these types of technologies in the aerospace and defence sectors were presented.
Our colleague emphasised that “at CATEC, we see these tools as a great aid to efficiency and innovation within the industry, and they have brought about a genuine revolution, although we must be able to apply them effectively in practice”. In this regard, he noted that “digital twins must become a data infrastructure, serving to replicate and validate autonomous systems and ensure use cases so that it becomes a fully integrated system”, and that our centre “has been working with them for model training”.
Pérez Grau emphasised that “at CATEC we have been working intensively with AI tools, particularly in areas such as aerial robotics, through the development of various projects and services”, whilst reflecting on their incorrect or abusive use without any discernment or critical thinking. “We must harness the potential of AI, but not trust everything it says and produces, especially in the case of the younger generations, who are growing up with it.” Finally, he stated that “we have an obligation to go one step further in bridging the real and digital worlds, and that we must continue to develop these technologies with tests of feasibility, responsibility and safety so that they become a 100% reliable reality in a few years’ time”.
In addition to this panel, CATEC also organised the round-table discussion ‘The role of drones in current conflicts’, which was moderated by our Director of Avionics and Systems, Antidio Viguria. Speakers at this session included Diego Fernández Infante, CEO of ARQUIMEA; Juan Mahón Iglesias, Director of Business Development for Weapons & Ammunitions at the Indra Group; Félix Hernanz Beltrán, Defence Advisor at Swarming Technologies LLC (Zelenza Group); and Miguel Ángel de Frutos Carro, Managing Director of UAV Navigation-Oesía Group.
During the discussion, the experts analysed the role drones are playing in new global defence and security scenarios following the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran, and the growing importance of autonomous systems, which are currently under rapid development and focusing not only on the technology itself but also on services for specific missions (drone detection, defence against UAS, etc.). They also took stock of technological advances in this field and the major challenges that lie ahead, for example, in terms of optimising the use of human resources and the electromagnetic spectrum, which are the two most critical factors in military conflicts.
Organised by Andalucía TRADE, part of the Regional Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Regional Government of Andalusia, and the company BCI, Aerospace & Defense Meetings Sevilla 2026 brought together, in its eighth edition, more than 1,000 professionals from 320 companies in the global aeronautics, space and defence industries, hailing from 30 countries across four continents, including leading international contractors and manufacturers (OEMs) such as Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, Pratt & Whitney, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Comac, ArianeGroup, Turkish Aerospace Industries, Saab, Leonardo SPA and Pilatus, as well as the main companies and institutions in the sector in Andalusia and Spain. The event generated over 8,000 business meetings aimed at fostering business and collaboration among the participating companies.
