The Secretary of State for Defence closes out the Congress on Systems Engineering Applied to Defence

The Secretary of State for Defence, Ms Esperanza Casteleiro Llamazares, closes out the Congress on Systems Engineering Applied to Defence, which was held at the CESEDEN facilities on 25 November.

Organised by Ingeniería de Sistemas para la Defensa de España (Isdefe) and the Spanish Association for Systems Engineering (AEIS), in cooperation with the Centre for Advanced National Defence Studies (CESEDEN), the congress fulfilled its objective of helping to popularise the discipline of systems engineering in Spain and encourage discussion on the application of systems engineering

The Congress was geared toward Defence and Security professionals in the Public Administration, academia and industry, and was attended by participants both in person and online.

The Congress programme featured Dr Alejandro Salado from the University of Arizona, who provided an inspiring vision on "Systems Engineering: Myths and Conjectures", and three round tables with the following themes: "The Challenges of Defence Systems Engineering", "The Challenges of Systems Engineering in Education", and "Cooperation in Systems Engineering".

The opening remarks at the congress were delivered by Major General Miguel Ballenilla y García de Gamarra, Director of the Advanced Armed Forces School (ESFAS), CESEDEN, Mr Jesús Alonso Martín, Isdefe's Director of Business Development, and Mr José Miguel Ramón López, Secretary of the Spanish Association of Systems Engineering.

On behalf of Isdefe, Mr Juan Manuel García Montaño, Deputy Director to the CEO, moderated the table on the Challenges of Defence Systems Engineering, and Ms Belinda Misiego Tejeda, Head of the Innovation Department, moderated the round table on Cooperation in Systems Engineering, where Ms Irache Ilardia Larrauri, Head of the Observatory of Systems Engineering, Logistics and Programme Management of Isdefe's Horizons Network and manager of Sustainability and Logistics Management at the company, took part as a speaker.

Isdefe's CEO, Francisco Quereda Rubio, participated in the closing ceremony, and was followed by the Secretary of State for Defence, who noted the need for this congress and expressed her desire that it "continue to be organised because we are at a point where these contents are fundamental".

The congress was broadcast live on YouTube and is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEIUuSF5q-E