ASOCIACION MADRID PLATAFORMA AERONAUTICA Y DEL ESPACIO - MPAE

Their core work

MPAE (Madrid Cluster Aeroespacial) is a cluster management organization that connects aerospace and space companies, SMEs, and research actors in the Madrid region to foster industrial collaboration and technology transfer. Their core work involves building cross-border and cross-sector value chains — linking companies across European cluster networks to open new markets and co-develop solutions. They also run innovation hub programs that help space-sector start-ups scale up by facilitating cross-fertilization between space technologies and terrestrial industries. In practice, they act as an intermediary that turns institutional cluster membership into concrete business and technology matchmaking.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first project (2016–2019), MPAE focused on inter-cluster infrastructure: building cross-border networks, creating value chains across sectors, and embedding SMEs in re-industrialization and smart specialization frameworks. By 2019–2021, the language shifted toward execution — technology transfer, cross-fertilization, and scale-up — suggesting a move from network-building to enabling concrete market outcomes, particularly within the space sector. The trajectory points toward positioning MPAE as a platform that not only connects actors but actively channels space technologies into new commercial applications.

MPAE appears to be deepening its role in space-to-market technology transfer, moving from generic cluster management toward specifically enabling aerospace and space start-ups to scale through structured hub models.

How they like to work

MPAE has taken the coordinator role in their largest and most complex project (ACTTiVAte), demonstrating capacity to lead pan-European consortia, while also functioning as a cluster node participant in more specialized programs like Go2Space-HUBs. With 19 unique partners across 8 countries from just 2 projects, they operate through broad, diverse coalitions rather than tight recurring partnerships. Working with them likely means entering a wide European cluster network — they are connectors by nature, not deep technical specialists.

MPAE has engaged 19 unique consortium partners across 8 countries — an unusually wide network for just 2 projects, reflecting their cluster association model where each project brings together multiple regional networks. Their geographic reach is pan-European, with natural density in Spain and likely Southern/Central European aerospace clusters.

What sets them apart

MPAE occupies a specific niche as the organized voice of Madrid's aerospace and space industrial cluster — not a research lab, not a company, but the network node that connects regional aerospace actors to European programs and foreign cluster partners. For a consortium that needs a Spanish aerospace cluster representative with demonstrated experience leading cross-border technology transfer projects, MPAE fills that role directly. Their dual presence in both SME innovation programs and space-sector hub development makes them a bridge between industrial cluster policy and the emerging NewSpace economy.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ACTTiVAte
  Led as coordinator with EUR 871,749 in funding, this was a pan-European cluster collaboration project explicitly targeting cross-border SME value chains and re-industrialization — the clearest demonstration of MPAE's capacity to orchestrate complex multi-country cluster consortia.
• Go2Space-HUBs
  Signals MPAE's pivot into the space economy — connecting local start-up hubs with space technology applications and scale-up pathways, relevant for anyone building NewSpace or downstream application consortia.