From Dump to Aerospace Hub: Eduardo Pereira Bids Farewell After Building Fuerteventura’s Technology Park
“A Daring” Idea, Sleepless Nights, and the Future
The Fuerteventura Technology Park was created on a former landfill after the old Los Estancos airport became inoperative. The park’s manager, Eduardo Pereira, recalls this in an interview with La Voz de Fuerteventura on Radio Insular, noting that at the time there was no company, no team, and no activity.
Only a “daring” idea, as Pereira calls it, drove the project in those early years, backed by the island council and a handful of political leaders and entrepreneurs such as Mario Cabrera, Juan Jesús Rodríguez Marichal, and the late Andrés Valerón.
“It was very hard,” he admits, remembering the period after the official inauguration on 12 November 2014 of the archipelago’s first technology park.
The easy part, he says, was building the infrastructure and the buildings. The hard part came afterward: giving life to a technological hub on an island without a university, without an established tech industry, and with a population that naturally asked, “What was this for?”
A turning point arrived when Manuel Miranda, then‑newly appointed Director‑General of the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Information and the Information Society, took charge. Pereira recalls an intense schedule of meetings, highlighting a pivotal encounter with the Director‑General of Indra. He told them that the opportunities Fuerteventura offered could also be found in other Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Sicily, or Singapore, and invited them to look for unique, singular advantages that would make a difference.
Around 2018 the park added to its well‑known benefits—such as a favorable climate and a special fiscal regime—several specific singularities: an extremely predictable climate, safe corridors to the sea, low population density under flight test routes, a weaker jet stream around the Canaries, and a virtually empty airspace southeast of the island, unique in Europe for testing unmanned aerial systems.
Geo Innovation Program 2023 – “The Canary Initiative” Recognised Internationally
From that reflection emerged Geo‑Innovation 2030. The programme was launched in June 2018 at the Telefónica Foundation in Madrid, a day after astronaut Pedro Duque became Minister of Science and Innovation and attended the event.
Pereira smiles at another stroke of luck:
“Where we expected 40 companies, suddenly 200 showed up; where we expected middle‑level managers, we got CEOs. And even if they weren’t coming for us— which I know— it was the moment to talk about our book.”
A market consultation, organised by the public body, attracted about a hundred companies and roughly 200 proposals. This led to around 300 meetings and a massive effort to sort the information and decide what could realistically be done on Fuerteventura.
The outcome is today an aerospace line that Pereira claims is a national and European benchmark—not the technology park itself, but the Geo Innovation Program.
Known in the sector as “the Canary initiative,” it focuses on earth observation, combining satellite data with information gathered by high‑altitude unmanned aircraft (drones or pseudo‑satellites). These systems can operate at about 20 km altitude, linger over a specific area for extended periods, and deliver more precise and continuous data. Applications include wildfire prevention, critical‑infrastructure monitoring, natural‑area surveillance, marine‑pollution tracking, illegal fishing detection, and humanitarian assistance linked to migration flows—a project recently presented in Gambia.
Investment and Real Return
Pereira notes that the initial investment was roughly €18 million, sourced from European funds channeled through an agreement between the Canary Islands Government and the Ministry of Science and Innovation to create technology parks on the islands.
“That money could not be diverted to health or other purposes—it was earmarked for technological infrastructure. It arrived, we used it, and the unspent portion—about €2 million—was returned.”
To date, the park has mobilised over €100 million in infrastructure, European projects, and aerospace‑related activities. Of that amount, around €60 million came from external sources—mainly EU, state, and Canary Islands Government funds—while the Cabildo of Fuerteventura contributed about €40 million in 2020.
Telespazio Ibérica and Leonardo Group have signed an agreement to start working with the next‑generation unmanned aircraft Falco EVO from the Fuerteventura Technology Park.
Those €40 million are not spent directly; they act as leverage to apply for European calls and unlock new financing. The usual model is for the park to co‑fund ≈15 % of a project while the EU provides the remaining ≈85 %, meaning “with those €40 million we can raise more than €200 million in actions.”
Pereira argues this is the way to attract large companies, anchor them in Fuerteventura, and foster technology transfer to local SMEs, covering everything from technical services to design, maintenance, and operational support.
PTFUE – Awaiting Authorization for Europe’s Only Aerospace “Sandbox”
Companies such as Thales Alenia Space, Telespazio Ibérica, Magline, Atechsync, Skydweller, and Aeromedia already operate within the park’s ecosystem, linked to the Canary Geo Innovation Program and the Fuerteventura Stratoport. Some have 15‑year contracts.
The park hosted Europe’s first civil pseudo‑satellite flight. Pereira estimates about 50 direct aerospace jobs, noting that the figure changes rapidly.
In the park’s classic line—the ICT, audiovisual, and innovation sector—there are more than 20 companies, employing between 300 and 400 people.
The park has also trained over 2,000 pilots in drone and unmanned‑air‑system courses, creating a talent pool that many resident companies already draw from.
The biggest pending milestone is the authorization of the southeast island airspace as an aerospace sandbox, a unique European zone for testing unmanned systems from sea level up to 20 km.
Pereira explains that for almost three years the park has been working with the Ministries of Defence, Transport, and agencies such as ENAIRE, AENA, AESA, the control tower, and European bodies to flexibilise regulations so prototypes can be tested under conditions that differ from commercial‑aircraft requirements.
“It will be a before‑and‑after moment,” he asserts, calling the sandbox the most complex, least known, and ultimately the most competitive differentiator for Fuerteventura.
Documentation was submitted 15–20 days ago to the Inter‑ministerial Commission on Defence and Transport, and Pereira expects approval and publication within the year, likely sooner.
Self‑Criticism: Communication Gaps and the Lack of Advanced Vocational Training in Aerospace
Pereira does not hide his own shortcomings. He admits that communication has been a weak point: the park has achieved many “big” things but often failed to explain them clearly.
“Out of fear of announcing something we couldn’t deliver, we only communicated what was already ‘in the basket’.”
Now the park is opening its doors with scheduled visits so the public can see, touch, and understand the activities. “When people come, we show them what we do and perception changes completely,” he says, promising that public visits will soon be open to everyone.
Another pending issue is vocational training for the aerospace sector. Pereira has spent two years trying to launch a higher‑level vocational program in unmanned‑system technologies on Fuerteventura. He believes it would be a “hit,” but laments the slow bureaucracy and calls for a more agile training system that can keep pace with rapidly advancing sectors.
He stresses the need to promote this training, whether through formal pathways or company‑run specialised courses. “It may not be official training, but it works if it provides the skills,” he notes.
Majorero Engineer David Díaz Martínez to Take Over as Manager
After a long career at AENA and 15 years at the Fuerteventura Technology Park, Eduardo Pereira is stepping down for personal reasons. He cites fatigue, the intensity of the role, countless trips, health warning signs, and the desire to close this chapter in an orderly way, especially considering the sector’s impact.
For a transitional period, a dual‑leadership model will be in place to ensure a smooth handover to Sergio David Díaz Martínez, a Majorero aerospace engineer.
Díaz Martínez holds a degree in aerospace engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, a master’s in Space Vehicle Design from the University of Technology of Luleå (Sweden), and a master’s in Public Procurement from the University of Castilla‑La Mancha. He has been with the park for five years and already carries the weight of aerospace projects, representing the entity in international forums.
“I leave with the satisfaction and peace of mind of having built a team of twelve and a project with a bright future—one that started on a landfill and now aims to become one of Europe’s most singular aerospace test zones.”