We are happy to announce that our EuroSpaceHub Forum 2023 has successfully concluded! Three incredible days with our EuroSpaceHub community, partners and guests took place in Can Ventosa, Ibiza, last week, from 3rd to 5th May.
The EuroSpaceHub Ibiza Forum in numbers
During the course of the event there were 71 speakers, including 14 European and Regional Politicians & Policy Makers, 19 Researchers, Academics and University representatives, 25 private sector representatives and entrepreneurs, 5 analog astronauts. The audience included many students and young professionals, some of whom actively volunteered their time, thanks mainly to the IPSA engineering school. We are also happy to announce that during the event, an average ratio of 50:50 male and female participants was achieved among the panelists and that we brought together people from more than 18 different nationalities at the forum. A total of 13 panel discussions took place during the forum. These covered very different topics, but with a common theme: the Aerospace Ecosystem. The forum also hosted several special performances focused on the combination of Music and Space, thanks to the involvement of Leonardo Barilaro “The Space Pianist”, local musicians and DJs from Ibiza. In total, we were able to offer the public 3 moments inspired by music, including two opening performances on Wednesday and Thursday at the Can Ventosa Auditorium and a sunset event entirely dedicated to Music and Space at the historic location of Kumharas.
Bringing innovation and collaboration to the Aerospace industry
The first day of the forum opened with institutional greetings from local political authorities, in particular by Aitor Morras, Director general innovación del Govern de les Illes Balears, and Rafael Ruiz González, Mayor of the City of Ibiza. The goals and meaning of the forum were introduced by Jara Pascual, CEO of Collabwith, and Prof. Bernard Foing, CEO of Lunex, both partners of the EuroSpaceHub consortium and among the main organizers of the event. The welcome ceremony was followed by a live performance by Leonardo Barilaro, aka “The Space Pianist,” who brought his composition “Maleth” to the Can Ventosa auditorium stage. Leonardo Barilaro is Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at MCAST (The Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology) Pianist, composer and Aerospace Engineer. His music has been twice on the International Space Station and it was an honor to hear the notes of his compositions during our event at multiple times: at the opening on the first and second day in Can Ventosa and at the evening event on May 4 at the Kumharas venue.
Following this, panel discussions took place with the speakers on stage. The structure of each panel left plenty of room for free debate among the speakers and for questions from the audience to encourage open conversation on the topics addressed. Each panel was moderated by an expert on the subject and began with a brief introduction by the speakers about their work and their points of argument. Then, the moderator would lead the discussion with questions directed to the individual speakers and the panel, and then conclude with questions from the audience. The panels were conducted in a hybrid manner, with some speakers connected remotely and most of them on stage, in attendance, in Can Ventosa. The topics of discussion were highly differentiated. The first day of the forum mainly focused on Analog Mission and its role in training young students; next, the topics of well-being in Space and the psychiatric and psychological aspects of astronauts were addressed, with also an interesting panel on the role of smells in increasing the well-being of astronauts. A brief panel on the intersection of Art and Space was then held at the conclusion of the first day, which ended with the official announcement of the winners of our “Space & Music” Art Contest. We invite you to read below to learn more!
On the second day, panels focused on the role of innovation and collaboration, with a look at the possibilities offered by digitization. Several interesting discussions took place on the role of startups in aerospace and entrepreneurship in general. Also very interesting in the context of the forum was ISU’s “Pitch your business idea” initiative. During this presentation, experts from International Space University explained to students how to structure their business plan and business idea. Students were invited to draft their own startup presentation plan, to be submitted to ISU Incubator experts for feedback on how to improve their strategy. A special moment then took place on the second evening of the forum in Kumharas. It was an evening panel entirely dedicated to Music and Space, co-organized with DIPEF (Association of Ibiza DJs), thanks to Christian Len, and featuring Leonardo Barilaro “The Space Pianist” and numerous local and international musicians and DJs. The evening was conceived as a social moment to end the conference day. Over the course of it we mixed moments of debate on the role of music and Space with entertaining moments in which the forum guests enjoyed the incredible performances of the DJs involved. Among them were Ibiza’s historic DJ Pippi’s performance with the Space Pianist, Sandra Loewe’s live performance, and Tania Moon’s DJ Set. The backdrop to this beautiful cultural moment was the magical light of the sunset over the Ibiza Sea.
During the event, the two winners of the Music contest “The soundtrack of the Ibizan sunset” we launched in collaboration with DIPEF were also announced. We are happy to share with you the names of the talented winners. AlessandroiLove is the winner of the International edition of the contest, with his soundtrack “Spiritual Sunset”. Valentin Huedo, instead, is the winner of the local contest, with his soundtrack “Wonderful Piano”.
Winner of the International Music Contest: AlessandroiLove
Since his first drum lessons at the age of four, Alessandro’s learning has evolved with piano studies, music production, cinematographic composition, sound engineering, and with the will of continuing learning in the infinite musical universe. Passionate about electronic music, he focused his interest on the professional mix for clubs. He made his public debut in the well-known Café del Mar in Ibiza. A few months later he started his weekly Radio Show “Together to Infinity” on Pure Ibiza Radio. He always stood out for expressing with music not only a capable rhythm to make the body move, but the need to express something else, the power to touch the feelings of his audience and when possible to reach their hearts. In recent years he has been dedicated to his musical productions, focusing on the dream of evolving his own brand, “Ibiza in the City”.
Winner of the Local Music Contest: Valentin Huedo
Born in Ibiza, Valentin is today one of the island’s ambassadors, touring clubs and festivals all over the world. In Ibiza he was resident of Café del Mar for 10 years, Kehakuma (Space), Blue Marlin and recently at WooMoon in Cova Santa. As a producer he has edited on All day I Dream, Music for Dreams or “Do no sit” among others. The track “Wonderful Piano” by Valentin Huedo feat Troels Hammer is part of Valentin Huedo and The MFD Collective album, to be released this year at Music For Dreams
The EuroSpaceHub Ibiza Forum Music and Space Art Contest
During the Forum, we also awarded prizes to the three winning artworks of the “Music & Space” competition, which was held by the EuroSpaceHub Consortium just on the occasion of the event in Ibiza. For this edition of the contest, each participant was required to produce a digital artwork inspired by the retro imagery of Space Music. The selected graphic designs will be used on the EuroSpaceHub digital platform login page and on EuroSpaceHub brand merchandise (t-shirts), which will be sold on our official store. Proceeds from the sales of these items will be used to partially fund the training of students and their participation in missions as analog astronauts. We are happy to reveal the names of the winners! In first place comes Bernard Nibera Conic, with her artwork “Abstract Space Portal”; in second place is Lidia Aviles, with her “Astro Violin”; while in third place is a local artist, from Ibiza, Toni Planells Riera, with his artwork “Aquesta pagesa a sa lluna”. Here are the winning artworks, their descriptions, and what extra info about the winners!
First classified artwork: “Abstract Space Portal” by Bernarda Nibera Conic
Nibera is an interdisciplinary visual artist transcending the borders of fine art photography, graphic art, and design. Based in Ljubljana, her images simultaneously reveal the beauty of our world and explore the surreal ideas of an alternate reality. She is an academic visual artist with Master’s degree in Visual Communication Design. She has an extensive history of exhibitions, new media installations, and public art displays. She has created animations, music videos, and over 100 album covers for international musicians (2020 – 2023). Her multidisciplinary practice takes inspiration from both nature and the complexities of history. Inspired by the 70s, 80s, and 90s, her work embraces analog technologies conveying a retro aesthetic. “Abstract Space Portal” features retro aesthetic and sci-fi space theme with an astronaut standing alone on the edge of a portal. Through the portal, you enter the world of artificial intelligence in cyberspace.
Second classified artwork: “Astro Violin” by Lidia Aviles
Lidia Aviles is EU Climate Pact Ambassador, International Investors & Relations, European Innovation Council Expert, and Co-Founder of Aelstone; Vetted Sustainability Trusted Advisor EMEA. Previous Director of Operations at Long Duration Energy Storage Council, and Global Operations-Sustainability Leader & Digitalization Manager at Skytanking. She is Sustainability, Metaverse, and Space Travel Scholar. She is Advisory Board Member of Galanthus initiative (UAE), Sanford Royce (UK), Design Thinking Sweden; and Global Advisor at Guidepoint. About her artwork “Astro Violin Space” she described,“The only sound we can hear in space is the frequencies. I wanted to capture the idea behind the importance of capturing the energies even if we cannot hear them… because our senses are not the only channel to prove the existence of something. An astronaut playing the violin in space is that rhetoric.”
Third classified artwork: “Aquesta pagesa a sa Lluna” by Toni Planells Riera
Toni Planells AKA Untaltoni is an Ibizan illustrator who publishes his work in different magazines on the island of Ibiza, as well as commissioned works. As a cartoonist, he publishes his work daily in Periódico de Ibiza y Formentera and periodically in the digital newspaper NouDiari. He has been awarded with different comic and illustration awards locally. He also develops his creativity from photography. About the artwork “Aquesta pagesa a sa Lluna” he described, “This work represents the figure of a ‘pagesa’, a woman dressed in the traditional way of the island of Ibiza, crowned with an astronaut’s helmet. This is an illustration inspired by a traditional song from Ibiza, “‘Aquesta Luna pagesa’, playing with the order of the words to call it ‘Aquesta pagesa a sa Lluna’ in an allegory of the changes that the island has undergone in the last century. As a bootleg, the illustration mixes the Ibizan song with ‘Live on Mars’, by David Bowie, with his phrase ‘from Ibiza to the Northern Folks’. Also, there are references to the science fiction like the owl that holds the protagonist of the illustration, inspired by Blade Runner”.
We want to thank our entire community for these wonderful days together and for making it possible for this incredible event to take place.