AgroSpace kicks off to promote the use of space technologies in rural areas as a tool for innovation and climate change resilience
• The 12 entities of the AgroSpace consortium met last week for the first time in Barcelona, host city of the NewSpace Economy Congress 2025
• The project is co-funded by the European Union through the Interreg SUDOE programme and coordinated by the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)
• AgroSpace totally aligns with Interreg SUDOE’s efforts on preserving natural capital, adapting to climate change, and enhancing social cohesion in South-West Europe
The AgroSpace project celebrated its kick-off meeting last week in Barcelona. Co-funded by the European Union (EU) through the Interreg SUDOE programme, AgroSpace aims to connect the agriculture and the space sectors, promoting the use of space technologies in rural areas as a tool for innovation and climate change resilience.
Coinciding with the NewSpace Economy Congress (NSEC 2025) celebration, representatives from the different entities of the AgroSpace’s consortium met at the headquarters of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), in Castelldefels (Barcelona). The IEEC coordinates the 12 partners developing the project, which are: Asociación de empresas aeroespaciales AndalucÃa Aerospace (Andalusia); Agri Sud-Ouest Innovation (Occitanie); Aerospace Valley (Occitanie); Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Services and Navigation of Barcelona (Catalonia); Centro Operativo e de Tecnologia de Regadio (Alentejo); Hidromod-Modelação em Engenharia Lda (Lisbon); Universidade de Vigo – Facultade de Ciencias Departamento de QuÃmica AnalÃtica e Alimentaria (Galicia); Chambre interdépartementale d’agriculture de la Charente-Maritime et des Deux-Sèvres (Nouvelle-Aquitaine); Institut national d’enseignement supérieur pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement (Occitanie); Symington Family Estates – Vinhos S.A. (North Portugal) and ELLIOT CLOUD (La Rioja).
These entities, which go from research centres to commerce and agriculture chambers, clusters and companies from both sectors, as well as end users, will together develop a cross-sectorial innovation strategy with a three-axis action plan for innovation: research, market and politics.
The Government of Catalonia, the Spanish Space Agency (AEE), Portuguese Space Agency, Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES), and the Occitanie region, which was the invited region in this NSEC 2025 edition, are some of the highlighted Associate partners. Â
AgroSpace has a budget of 2,5 M€, 1,9 M€ of those coming from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and is expected to deploy during the next 3 years.
Space technologies to transform agriculture
AgroSpace aims to boost space technologies adoption in rural areas as a tool for innovation and climate change resilience. To achieve this goal, three demonstrators will be implemented: one from a chamber of agriculture to improve assessment of climatic damages, in order to better compensate farmers; another for the efficient management of agricultural resources at a large winery; and a third to validate a methodology based on open calls to identify agricultural challenges and space solutions.
This strategy, also based on training and awareness-raising actions, is expected to generate effective and transformative solutions transferable to wider territories and represents an innovative approach compared to current rigid funding systems. AgroSpace totally aligns with Interreg SUDOE’s efforts on preserving natural capital, adapting to climate change, and enhancing social cohesion in South-West Europe.
The best scenario for a kick-off
Besides the first consortium meeting, AgroSpace was also presented during the NSEC 2025, celebrated on 3 and 4 July in Barcelona. The congress aims to establish Catalonia as a leading hub for space technologies. Organised by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and the Government of Catalonia, the event has the collaboration of the IEEC, the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC), i2CAT and the KIMbcn Foundation.
Alberto GarcÃa-Rigo, head of IEEC’s Knowledge Transfer Office, and Anne-Lise Stephan, European Project Manager at Aerospace Valley, presented AgroSpace during the first day of the congress, to promote awareness of the project as well as the future call for space solutions in 2026.
Contacts
IEEC Communication Office
Castelldefels, Barcelona
E-mail: comunicacio@ieec.cat
About the IEEC
The Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC — Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) promotes and coordinates space research and technology development in Catalonia for the benefit of society. IEEC fosters collaborations both locally and worldwide and is an efficient agent of knowledge, innovation and technology transfer. As a result of more than 25 years of high-quality research, done in collaboration with major international organisations, IEEC ranks among the best international research centres, focusing on areas such as: astrophysics, cosmology, planetary science, and Earth Observation. IEEC’s engineering division develops instrumentation for ground- and space-based projects, and has extensive experience in working with private or public organisations from the aerospace and other innovation sectors.
The IEEC is a non-profit public sector foundation that was established in February 1996. It has a Board of Trustees composed of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC), and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). The IEEC is also a CERCA centre.