Milan snatches the 2024 astronautics host city from Seville

It was not to be. The finezza of the inhabitants of the capital of Lombardy has been imposed on the salero radiated by the neighbours of the capital of Andalusia. The veteran candidature that was presented as favourite, the great Italian city of the north, has defeated the Spanish city of the south, which was participating for the first time.

Milan has won the competition to host the International Astronautical Congress in 2024. The 75th edition of the world's largest space sector event will take place there, organised every year by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), whose governing body of 22 members (*) of different nationalities does not include a single Spaniard.

Italy's economic capital was chosen by the General Assembly of the IAF, an organisation founded in 1951 and made up of 407 delegates from space agencies, companies, research centres, universities, associations and museums from 71 nations. It came at its annual meeting in Dubai on the closing day of the 72nd International Astronautical Congress, which took place from 26-29 October in the largest city of the United Arab Emirates.

The brief decision, which rules out Seville, Budapest (Hungary), Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Adelaide (Australia), states that "the General Assembly approves the recommendation of the Congress and Symposia Advisory Committee (CSAC) and the governing body (Bureau) of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and will hold the 75th Congress in 2024 in Milan, Italy". 

The CSAC is responsible for advising on the selection of congress hosts and sponsors. Its 11 members (**) are empowered to analyse the proposals submitted by each candidate city and to visit the proposed venues. This was the case in the summer with Seville and the other candidates. Finally, they are the ones who make the recommendation as to which is the best venue for the International Astronautical Congress. And so they have done so: the winner is... Milan!

Seville's wish to host the International Astronautical Congress in three years' time was presented for the first time, which was not the case for Milan, which had tried in previous years. For this reason, and in contrast to the Andalusian capital, the Italian city, with its strong aerospace business fabric, was going into the selection process armed with all the national baggage there was and still is. This is what Seville will have to obtain later on by submitting an improved proposal.

The Milanese candidacy is supported by some thirty official institutions at local, regional and national level, including the Italian Air Force, all the country's universities offering aerospace degrees and the Italian Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIDAA). And in a privileged setting that will host the plenary sessions of the Congress: the imposing and avant-garde building of the Milan Convention Centre (MiCO), with an auditorium seating 2,100 people.

Of course, it has the sponsorship of an organisation that Spain lacks, in this case the Italian Space Agency (ASI). For its president, Giorgio Saccoccia, Milan's victory is an "example of how the Italian ecosystem works very effectively in the space sector". True enough. For Alessandro Profumo, the head of Leonardo - the large Italian aerospace and defence group - it is "a victory for the national space industry and for the whole supply chain". 

Milan has also counted and counts on the strength of having the full backing of Mario Draghi's government, both formally, in reality and in "corridor" work. It is a backing that the capital of Andalusia has lacked, which has suffered from the lack of international influence of the Sánchez government and has had weak official support. It was Pedro Duque, former Minister of Science and Innovation, who had to lead the final defence of Seville's candidacy in Dubai.

While Milan's winning proposal revolves around the slogan "Responsible space for sustainability", Seville's proposal was presented under the motto "Life in space, space for life". It is a good approach that was formulated on 29 April by the only official Spanish institution that at that time was a member of the IAF, the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA)

In the letter sent to the IAF by INTA's director general, Air Lieutenant General José María Salom, he argued that the Spanish proposal for the 2024 Congress was intended to show how space technology had contributed to the progress of society, and how it should now "serve to preserve planet Earth and make it sustainable".

General Salom's letter was accompanied by full documentation on the venue for the event, the Seville Conference and Exhibition Centre (FIBES). It also contained the institutional support, an alliance of public and private organisations led by Seville City Council, autonomous bodies of the Ministries of Science and Industry, the Ministry of Economic Transformation of the Andalusian Regional Government, the Andalusia Aerospace Cluster, the University of Seville, the employers' association TEDAE and others, such as Airbus Spain, which leads the aerospace industry in the city of the Guadalquivir.

As a consolation prize for the frustration over Seville, the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), directed by Javier Ponce, has been admitted as a new member of the IAF, along with 49 other entities. Until 2021, the Centre has not felt the need to join the world's most important space forum, or at least it has not made it known. Because it has plenty of reasons to belong to the IAF. Could it be that it is only now that the CDTI is listening to the drums of the unstoppable and imminent creation of the Spanish Space Agency?

For decades, the CDTI has represented Spain at the European Space Agency (ESA). Its tasks include promoting, fostering and financing Spanish space programmes, projects and missions. It also acts as a partner in bilateral initiatives with space agencies of third countries and with regional or global space organisations.

It is reasonable to suggest that Seville should renew its approach and resubmit its candidature. The next Astronautical Congress will be in Paris in September 2022, where the 2025 venue will be decided. If it fails, it should try again in September 2023 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where the 2026 host city will be chosen. And if not, let him try a third time in Milan in October 2024, where the 2027 host city will be decided. That's the way it is.

(*) The Bureau or governing body of the International Astronautical Federation is made up of 22 members of different nationalities: the president, the Austrian Pascale Ehrenfreud, and five Americans, two Austrians, two Germans, two French, two Italians, one Emirati, one Japanese, one Israeli, one Russian, one Indian, one Belgian, one Chinese and one Norwegian. In short, not a single Spaniard.

(**) The Congresses and Symposia Advisory Committee (CSAC) of the International Astronautical Federation is made up of 11 members: two Americans, one Canadian, one Czech, one Italian, one Mexican, one Chinese, one Japanese, one Austrian, one French and one South African. No Spaniards.