Awaken
Awaken curiosity, knowledge and new possibilities. Make talent, capabilities and pathways visible so young people can see their opportunity to act.
Programme · Agenda
Three days. Two venues. One question still taking shape.
The Grand Jam 2026 unfolds across three days — Awaken, Connect, Believe — in Getafe: 3 and 5 November at Teatro Federico García Lorca; 4 November at Teatro Calle Madrid - Carmen Machi. This preliminary programme remains in development until production is finalised.
The experience at a glance
Connect
Understand that major challenges require connections between people, knowledge, disciplines, institutions and territories, rather than isolated answers.
Believe
Turn what has been awakened and connected into evidence: show what talent can do with knowledge, collaboration, opportunities and space to act.
3–5 November 2026 · GetafeMadrid time
Day 1 · Awaken
Teatro Federico García LorcaC/ Ramón y Cajal, 22 · Getafe
08:30
Arrival
Registration and accreditation
Welcome for teams, delegations and guests.
09:00
Opening
Institutional welcome and opening
Opening of Getafe, Capital of Mars, introducing the mission and international delegations.
10:00
Global Voice
How far can we go?
TRACK 01 — How far can we go
Katya Echazarreta · Fundación Espacial Katya Echazarreta
A real experience that expands our sense of what is possible.
10:35
Global Voice
How do we turn a big idea into a possible mission?
TRACK 01 — How far can we go
Rebekah Reed · Harvard Kennedy School / OSMED
The questions, knowledge, capabilities and decisions that turn a big idea into a possible mission.
11:05
Break
Break
11:25
Conversation
Getafe industry
TRACK 01 — How far can we go
What can we create today that once seemed impossible?
12:00
Conversation
Aerospace clusters
TRACK 05 — Who gets to decide
Luis Lizcano · FEMIA · Leonardo Oliveira · AED Cluster Portugal · Esteban Carrillo · Cluster Aeroespacial de Costa Rica
How do we build the connections that help an industry grow, innovate and create opportunities?
12:45
Youth conversation
What happens when you accept a challenge without yet knowing the answer?
TRACK 04 — What will you do when you do not know
Elena Eglelme
13:00
Mars Challenge
What comes next
What opportunities do we need to create so more young people can discover what they can do?
To be confirmed
Break
Break · time to be confirmed
14:30
Global Voice
How far can you go when you start opening paths and opportunities?
TRACK 01 — How far can we go
Federico Nespoli · European Space Agency
15:00
Competition
CHAMPS · Presentations I
Five tracks in action
First round of presentations to the jury.
16:00
Break
Break
16:15
Competition
CHAMPS · Presentations II
Five tracks in action
Second round of presentations to the jury.
17:15
Global Voice
How do we move forward when we do not yet have all the answers?
TRACK 04 — What will you do when you do not know
Jennifer Rochlis, PhD · OSMED / Advancing Frontiers
A human-systems and complex-environments perspective on moving forward while answers remain incomplete.
17:45
Closing
AWAKEN → CONNECT
A synthesis of the day and the opening question for Day 2: what must we connect to make it possible?
Day 2 · Connect
Teatro Calle Madrid - Carmen MachiC/ Madrid, 54 · Getafe
08:00
Challenge
Team welcome and orientation
Operational start of the Multicountry Challenge.
09:00
Opening
CONNECT
What do we need to connect to make it possible?
09:15
Global Voice
What must a person know and be able to do when facing problems they do not yet know?
TRACK 04 — What will you do when you do not know
Andreas Schleicher · Director for Education and Skills · OECD / OCDE
09:50
Global Voice
What must we understand about humans before designing for extreme conditions?
TRACK 02 — What keeps us alive
Erik Antonsen, MD, PhD · OSMED / Baylor
10:25
Conversation
Industry + technology + materials
TRACK 01 — How far can we go · TRACK 03 — What must we protect
José Manuel Jiménez Cerezo · Thales
What knowledge and capabilities make a mission technically possible?
11:30
Conversation
Space agencies
TRACK 01 — How far can we go
Juan Carlos Cortés Pulido · Spanish Space Agency
Where do we want to go, and what challenges must we solve to get there?
12:20
Panel
OSMED
TRACK 02 — What keeps us alive
What happens when different disciplines work together on the same human problem?
13:10
Global Voice
Are we designing the future for every way of thinking, learning and participating?
TRACK 03 — What must we protect
13:30
Break
Lunch
Operational break for teams.
14:30
Global Voice
What happens when scientific knowledge reaches new generations and gives them the capacity to act?
TRACK 03 — What must we protect
Rosa Doran · President / Director · NUCLIO
14:55
Panel
Innovation + territory
TRACK 03 — What must we protect
Ulises Alejandro Fernández Gamboa · Chihuahua
How do we build territories that turn young talent into innovation?
15:45
Global Voice
How do we turn an uncertain problem into a challenge we can begin to solve?
TRACK 04 — What will you do when you do not know
Javi Pascual · Beach Challenge
16:10
Global Voice
How can education keep pace with today’s challenges?
TRACK 03 — What must we protect
Luís Loures · President · CCISP · Portugal
16:30
Break
Break
16:45
Global Voice
How can innovation advance without losing sight of people?
TRACK 02 — What keeps us alive
P. Harold Castilla Devoz, CJM · Rector General · UNIMINUTO · Colombia
17:10
Rectors’ panel
Universities facing the future
TRACK 04 — What will you do when you do not know
Ana Capilla · Director General of Higher Education and Science · OEI
How do we prepare young people for challenges we do not yet know how to solve?
17:55
Closing
CONNECT → BELIEVE
A synthesis of the connections built and an introduction to the final day.
Day 3 · Believe
Teatro Federico García LorcaC/ Ramón y Cajal, 22 · Getafe
08:30
Arrival
Registration and access
Teams and juries move to the evaluation spaces.
Main programme
09:00
Opening
BELIEVE
What happens when we give talent the opportunity to show what it can do?
09:20
Global Voice
What must we demonstrate to believe that something we have never done can be possible?
TRACK 01 — How far can we go
Michelle Rucker · NASA / OSMED
10:10
Conversation
Space agencies
TRACK 05 — Who gets to decide
How do we decide and cooperate when a mission exceeds the capabilities of one organisation or country?
Evaluation · In parallel
09:00–10:40
Evaluation · In parallel
Multicountry Challenge semifinal
Five tracks in action
Teams present their work to six evaluation panels.
10:55
Networking
The Circle
A gathering of participants, speakers, mentors and guests.
11:25
Final Jam Lab
Five finalist teams before the jury
Five tracks in action
What can young people build when they integrate knowledge, creativity and decisions?
12:30
Recognition
Delegations and ORIGINALS projects
Recognising different ways of creating value.
13:05
Awards
International awards ceremony
Recognition of the teams and projects in the international final.
13:40
Closing
Official closing
What will we do with what we discovered here?
13:45
Connection
Photography, press and community
Final gathering of delegations, guests, partners and the international community.
Preliminary programme. Session titles and approaches will be validated with each speaker as production is finalised. Sessions without a named speaker have participation still being finalised. Check this page before the event.
Five questions run through the whole journey
- How far can we go
- What keeps us alive
- What must we protect
- What will you do when you do not know
- Who gets to decide