Institute Director Invited to Italian Air Force Aerospace Conference
Francesco Lapenta, Director of the JCU Institute of Future and Innovation Studies, was invited to participate in the “2025 Aerospace Power Conference,” a high-level international symposium hosted by the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare Italiana). The event took place in the Nuvola Convention Center in Rome. With the theme “National Power and the Role of Aerospace Power in the 21st Century,” the event convened senior leaders from defense, space agencies, scientific institutions, and global industry to reflect on the strategic, military and civil, and planetary future of aerospace.
The conference, in addition to keynote panels, created opportunities for expert sessions and exchanges with participants across different disciplines, exploring the broader civil, environmental, and ethical dimensions of aerospace innovation.
What emerged clearly in the conversations with ESA, NASA, SpaceX, and many others present was that aerospace is undergoing a profound transformation. It is no longer confined to national defense or technological prowess. It is becoming a foundational infrastructure, intersecting resilience, environmental foresight, strategic autonomy, and planetary interdependence. From satellite-based climate systems to AI-driven early warning technologies, and from orbital traffic management to the governance of digital commons, aerospace is where new forms of coordination, intelligence, and global cooperation are taking shape. This evolution brings both extraordinary opportunities and deep responsibilities.
In his reflections during the conference, Director Lapenta emphasized the need to radically expand the conceptual and operational horizon of aerospace governance. He argued that the conversation must move beyond sovereignty to stewardship, beyond competition to collaboration, and beyond innovation to inclusion. Aerospace, he noted, must not only serve defense or economic growth, but must also advance planetary care, public knowledge, and human-centered resilience and sustainability.
The Institute sincerely thanks the Aeronautica Militare Italiana and the organizers of the 2025 Aerospace Power Conference for creating a forum where these broader reflections could be voiced and constructively integrated. Their decision to expand, in a small but significant way, the agenda beyond traditional defense concerns, and to invite academic and interdisciplinary contributions on digital sovereignty, environmental foresight, and the civil implications of military aerospace infrastructure, was both timely and forward-looking.
By opening military space and defense planning to cross-sector dialogue, the organizers acknowledged the growing need to reimagine aerospace not merely as a site of strategic advantage but as a shared frontier, one that requires new frameworks for collaboration, ethical foresight, and global governance. The JCU Institute of Future and Innovation Studies, and its Director, will continue to do their best to contribute, in whatever capacity they can, to the emergence of a more humanistic integrated reflection and ethically grounded approach to aerospace innovation and governance.
Among the speakers were:
Dr. Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency
Gen. Bradley Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, United States Space Force
Sen. Bill Nelson, Former NASA Administrator
Dr. Gabriella Costa, ESA IRIDE Project Manager
Lt. Gen. Luca Goretti, Chief of Staff, Aeronautica Militare
Gen. Hiroaki Uchikura, Chief of Staff, Japan Air Self-Defense Force
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, Chief of the Air Staff, Royal Air Force
Prof. Justin Bronk, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
Eng. Stephanie Bednarek, VP Commercial Sales, SpaceX
Eng. Domitilla Benigni, CEO, ELT Group
Eng. Massimo Comparini, Managing Director, Leonardo Space Division
Eng. Lorenzo Mariani, Managing Director, MBDA Italia
Mr. Masayuki Eguchi, Head of Space Systems, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Ms. Mara Motherway, VP Strategy, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Maj. Gen. Philippe Adam, French Space Commander
Maj. Gen. Jefferson J. O’Donnell, Commander, U.S. Air Force Personnel Center
