GMV: a high-flying dream that has already exceeded 40 years

At the beginning of the 80s, GMV was just a project that Juan José Martínez García was thinking about in his office at the Polytechnic University of Madrid while he directed the working group of the Flight Mechanics Chair at the School of Aeronautical Engineers. Martínez García was ahead of his time, he had worked for the European Space Agency (ESA) and knew well the academic and economic environment and industrial capabilities of our country. He detected the opportunity to develop a space project and founded a company with young and brilliant engineering students. GMV (Flight Mechanics Group) was born, the seed of the current multinational group and a name of significance surpassed by the strong growth and diversification of the company.

Since its inception, GMV has had the support of public institutions due to its strategic importance for the Spanish technological ecosystem. 40 years later, the company is one of the technological tractors from Spainwith a presence in several crucial space programs in Europe and the world. This happened in 2018, with the award of the largest contract in the Spanish space industry to that date (maintenance and evolution of the ground control segment of the European Galileo satellite navigation system, for 250 million euros).

Talent and diversification, keys to success

Those responsible for GMV, who always thought of excellence as the best path to leadership, knew that the space sector could not be the only option for this group of brilliant minds. GMV stopped being a space company and, through the transfer of its technology, began to compete in other areas. As Pedro Schoch, director of Corporate Development, Marketing and Communication, explains, “when you start to grow, concentrating the entire business on a single activity can make the company vulnerable and dependent on political or economic decisions, so you must always be attentive. to new opportunities. For this reason, GMV began to transfer talent and technological developments to other areas, to new sectors.

The success of this decision speaks for itself: beyond space, GMV is gaining strength in areas such as defense, being awarded eight European Defense Fund (EDF) projects in 2023; Intelligent Transportation Systems, with the award, also in 2023, of a $26 million contract to improve the experience of public transportation users in Houston, USA; or automotive, where the group stands out for its positioning solutions for autonomous vehicles. Jesús B. Serrano, CEO of GMV, points out the importance of diversification associated with profitability and the evolution of the company: “We have developed cutting-edge space technology that we seek to make profitable in other sectors.” With examples like BMW: «They wanted to develop a system based on high-performance satellite navigation, focused on their autonomous cars. From 2022, its first autonomous cars will circulate in the US with GMV technology.

These projects are a small sample of a journey of technological improvements that has had an impact on society: from the State administration to the citizen, including the business community. There’s more… The Tres Cantos-based company is a technology giant whose turnover comes 75% from international projects. With clients on five continentssubsidiaries in 12 countries and presence in more than 80, its insignia is printed on such relevant projects as the Eurodrone program, the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), the leadership of the TARTAGLIA consortium (AI in health systems); the security of the ground control system of the ESA Galileo satellites or the AgrarIA project.

All this, while the group continues to position itself as a firm reference in space technology, participating in several projects framed in the second generation of Galileo (G2G), the Hera planetary defense mission of the European Space Agency, or SouthPAN, an initiative of Australia and New Zealand to provide both countries with satellite navigation services, in which GMV plays a key role. In 2023, GMV acquired the startup Alén Space, a pioneer in developing New Space in Spain, and in 2024 it won a large contract to lead the LEO-PNT in-orbit demonstration mission belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA).

Vision and technological talent

Nothing would be possible without a team in continuous search for excellence that Martínez García, father of the current president, Mónica Martínez, already envisioned. «Our philosophy has always been to have the best, who make the youngest want to learn from them. You learn with effort and with contact with people, with great professionals, in an enriching environment,” explains Ignacio Ramos, corporate director of People and Infrastructure Strategy.

The search for technological talent (scarce in almost all of Europe) is, as Ramos highlights, a basic problem whose solution involves rethink the education systemsince the volume of technological profiles required by companies today is not satisfied with the current educational offer. «Guiding young people towards technology from an early age could reverse the work situation in Spain and Europe. The economic and job expectations are really attractive for this type of profiles, but there are still young people who do not have enough information,” he says.

Leadership is achieved, he adds, “with curious people, with initiative and the ability to visualize the technologies of the future.” Those technologies that GMV has been visualizing throughout its history, that have led it to be the company it is today and that predict an exciting future, with great challenges and full of possibilities. At least another 40 years.