09:00–10:00
Opening · Wake Up
Cross-cutting
What possibilities appear when we expand what we know, what we see and what we believe is possible?
Host authorities and the Virtual Educa team
Programme · Agenda
The Grand Jam 2026 unfolds across three days — Wake Up, Connect, Believe — moving through Getafe venue by venue. This is the working agenda, live until the last names are locked in.
Every session on the agenda connects to one or more of the five questions that shape The Grand Jam. Filter by the one you care about most.
Explore the 5 questions →01
“What possibilities appear when we expand what we know, what we see and what we believe is possible?”
Cross-cutting
What possibilities appear when we expand what we know, what we see and what we believe is possible?
Host authorities and the Virtual Educa team
How far can we go
How far can we go?
Katya Echazarreta · Mexican astronaut
How far can we go
How do we turn a big idea into a possible mission?
Rebekah Davis Reed · Associate Director, Program on Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement, and Global Policy · Harvard Belfer Center, USA
How far can we go
What are we capable of creating today that once seemed impossible?
Who decides
How are the connections built that let an industry grow, innovate and create opportunity?
Luis Lizcano · FEMIA · Leonardo Oliveira · AED Cluster Portugal · Esteban Carrillo · Costa Rica Aerospace Cluster — plus a Getafe Aerospace Network representative to be confirmedParticipation being confirmed
When you don't know
What happens when you take on a challenge without knowing the answer yet?
A young voice from the Mars Challenge community · moderation to be confirmed
Cross-cutting
What opportunities do we need to create so more young people can discover what they're capable of?
Adelino Sousa · Founder, Mars Challenge · Executive Director, Virtual Educa
How far can we go
How far can you go once you start opening paths and opportunities?
All five tracks
What are young people capable of creating in the face of real challenges?
8 CHAMPS teams and jury
All five tracks
What are young people capable of creating in the face of real challenges?
8 CHAMPS teams and jury
When you don't know
How do we move forward when we don't have all the answers yet?
Jennifer Rochlis · President & CEO, Advancing Frontiers · Former NASA Human Health & Performance Division Chief
Cross-cutting
What do we need to connect to take an idea further?
Organisation
02
“What do we need to connect to make it possible?”
Multi-country Challenge · running in parallel All day
While the stage talks about connecting, international teams are doing it: building a shared answer out of different knowledge, cultures and perspectives.
Cross-cutting
Organisation · Challenge team
Cross-cutting
What do we need to connect to make it possible?
Organisation and overall hosting
When you don't know
What does a person need to know and be able to do when facing problems they don't yet understand?
Andreas Schleicher · Director for Education and Skills · OECD
What keeps us alive
What do we need to understand about human beings before designing for extreme conditions?
Erik Antonsen · Human health architect in space
How far can we go + What must we protect
What knowledge and capabilities make a mission technically possible?
How far can we go
Where do we want to go, and what challenges must we solve to get there?
What keeps us alive
What happens when different disciplines try to solve the same human problem together?
OSMED · multidisciplinary panel
What must we protect
Are we designing the future for every way of thinking, learning and taking part?
Moises Bernardo · Executive Director, NO HUMAN B
What must we protect
What do we achieve when scientific knowledge reaches new generations and gives them the capacity to act?
Rosa Doran · President, NUCLIO (Núcleo de Interatividade em Astronomia e Inovação em Educação)
What must we protect
How do we build territories capable of turning young talent into innovation?
When you don't know
How do we turn an uncertain problem into a challenge we can start solving?
Xavi Pascual · Education innovator, Spain
What must we protect
How do we make education move at the same pace as today's challenges?
Luís Loures · President, CCISP (Coordinating Council of Portuguese Polytechnic Institutes), Portugal
What keeps us alive
How do we keep innovation moving forward without losing sight of people?
Fr. Harold Castilla Devoz, CJM · Rector General · UNIMINUTO · Colombia
When you don't know
How do we prepare young people to respond to challenges we don't yet know how to solve?
Rectors from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Spain and Guatemala
Cross-cutting
What can they demonstrate when they work together?
Organisation and hosting
03
“What happens when we give talent the chance to show what it's capable of?”
Semifinal and evaluation · running in parallel 09:00–10:40
Teams put their solutions to the test before six evaluation panels, while the main stage follows its own path.
Cross-cutting
What happens when we give talent the chance to show what it's capable of?
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid rectorate and Virtual Educa
How far can we go
What do we need to prove to believe that something we've never done can be possible?
Michelle Rucker · Mars Mission Architect · NASA
Who decides
How do we decide and cooperate when a mission is beyond the capacity of a single organisation or country?
Cross-cutting
Participants, speakers, mentors and guests
All five tracks
What can young people build when they integrate knowledge, creativity and decisions?
5 finalist teams and jury
Cross-cutting
In how many different ways can we create value?
Originals delegations and projects · 5 categories, 3 levels
Cross-cutting
The result of the mission.
Finalist teams and organisation
Cross-cutting
What will we do with what we discovered here?
Organisation and hosts
Cross-cutting
Photography, press and community
This agenda is a working document: times, blocks and voices may still change before the programme is final. We only publish names once participation is confirmed; everything else is shown by institution or role until it is.