Barcelona loses the race to host the most important space congress in the world

BarcelonaBarcelona falls just short of hosting the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), the world's premier space congress, in 2029. The Barcelona bid was not selected by the organization to host the event, which will ultimately go to Geneva. It should be remembered that the Catalan capital was competing with the Swiss city and Houston to be the host of the event organized by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). The decision was made this very Friday in Antalya, where this year's edition of the IAC is being held.

The Barcelona bid, which was endorsed and promoted by the Catalan and Spanish governments, arrived at the space event with 177 international endorsements, of which up to 77 came from members of the organizing association. Among the most notable supporters were organizations such as the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA). Also included were various national space agencies, among which the French, British, and Brazilian ones stood out.

The bid to host the 2029 IAC was co-led by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Government of Spain, through the Spanish Space Agency (AEE), and the Department of Business and Labour of the Government of Catalonia. A large institutional delegation had traveled to this year's congress, headed by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, and the Minister of Business and Labour, Miquel Sàmper. The institutions had also highlighted the support of several relevant companies in the Catalan and Spanish aerospace sector, such as Indra, Hispasat, Open Cosmos, and Sateliot.

Sàmper defended "the quality of the bid," as well as "the collaboration between different administrations and institutions with the aim that Barcelona hosts the most important space congress in the world." For his part, Hereu championed Barcelona's capacity as a congress-hosting city: "It makes them its own and returns them enhanced." Despite the momentum dedicated to it by the administrations at all levels, however, the Barcelona proposal did not manage to prevail. The IAC brings together nearly 15,000 delegates each year, including representatives from space agencies, startups, and the industry as a whole, and is held every year in a different country, with a local organizer per edition.