AIMEN technology center

AIMEN is a private non-profit Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) founded in 1967 and headquartered in O Porriño (Spain), where it operates more than 11,000 m² of state-of-the-art research and testing facilities and employs over 330 highly qualified professionals. AIMEN has established itself as one of Europe's leading technology centres in advanced manufacturing, materials engineering and industrial digitalization. Over the last decade, AIMEN has successfully executed more than 300 R&D&I projects and has participated extensively in European collaborative programmes, including over 75 Horizon Europe projects. Through long-standing collaboration with major industrial stakeholders, the centre has developed strong expertise in transferring advanced technologies from research to industrial deployment across highly demanding sectors such as aeronautics, automotive, energy, and advanced manufacturing. Particularly, AIMEN has a well-established track record within the aerospace ecosystem, actively participating in European initiatives, including the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, and collaborating with leading aerospace OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, SMEs and research organisations. This experience provides a strong foundation for supporting the development of next-generation space systems and manufacturing technologies. AIMEN's capabilities are structured around two main pillars particularly relevant to the space sector:

Advanced Materials and Structures:

•Thermoplastic and thermoset composite technologies.

•Advanced metallic materials and alloys.

•Multifunctional and smart materials (including nano-enabled functional materials and self-sensing structures).

•Materials characterization, qualification and testing.

Advanced Manufacturing Technologies:

•Large scale robotic additive manufacturing for polymers, composites and metals (AFP, ATL, FFF, FPF, DED).

•Laser-based manufacturing, including DED, laser cladding, welding, high-precision laser micromachining/functionalization and hybrid manufacturing.

•Advanced joining technologies for metallic and composite structures.

•Out-of-autoclave composite processing (VBI, LRI, LRTM, RTM, hot-press curing).

These capabilities are complemented by extensive expertise in digital technologies, including:

•Robotics, autonomous systems and industrial automation.

•In-line monitoring, quality assurance and non-destructive inspection.

•Computer vision and optical inspection systems.

•Digital twins and predictive maintenance.

•Artificial intelligence and machine learning for manufacturing and materials design.

For the space sector, AIMEN is particularly interested in applications related to lightweight structures, advanced materials, additive and hybrid manufacturing, high-performance structures, structural health monitoring solutions, and in-space manufacturing. By combining advanced materials expertise, manufacturing process development and digital technologies under one organization, AIMEN can support the development, qualification and industrialization of innovative space solutions from early-stage concepts to higher TRL demonstrators.