The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAI) has honoured Carlos del Álamo Jiménez, Vice-President of the TYPSA Group, with the distinction of Laureate Engineer, at a ceremony held in Madrid on 10 February 2026.
This leading institution in the scientific and technological fields awards such honours to professionals whose work has had a significant impact on technical, industrial and social progress.
Carlos del Álamo, who holds a Forestry Engineering Degree from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, has built an extensive career in land management and environmental conservation, holding senior positions in the public, private and academic sectors.
Carlos has held positions of great importance at the Institute for Nature Conservation (ICONA), which he joined in 1977. Between 1990 and 1996, he was Director-General for Forestry and the Natural Environment at the Regional Government of Galicia. In 1996, he was appointed Director-General for Nature Conservation at the then Ministry of the Environment and Vice-President of the Autonomous National Parks Agency. From 1997 to 2003, he served as Regional Minister for the Environment of the Regional Government of Galicia, receiving the Silver Medal of Galicia in 1997.
In 2003, Carlos joined the TYPSA Group as Chairman of TECNOMA. In 2004, he was appointed a director of the Group and has served as Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the Compliance Committee since 2014.
Throughout his career, Carlos has contributed to the modernisation, sustainability and internationalisation of the sector, having spearheaded the first Galician Forestry Plan (approved in 1992), which marked a milestone in forestry policy by prioritising the efficient control of fire risk and promoting a professionalised and regionally organised surveillance and fire-fighting system.
During the award ceremony, Carlos delivered a speech entitled “Forest Engineering: Mystery and Knowledge of Nature”, which centred on the various dimensions of forestry engineering (territorial, natural, economic, social and cultural) and argued that managing forests involves addressing their complexity through the integration of technical knowledge, an understanding of the environment, dialogue with the various stakeholders involved, and attention to both local and broader needs.
Carlos also warned of current challenges such as the increased risk of forest fires and the underlying structural factors linked to land use, rural depopulation and the abandonment of forests. In the face of these challenges, he called for long-term approaches and professional management of forest areas.
In his speech, Carlos highlighted three key factors for sustaining this leadership in the future: promoting engineering vocations and excellence in education and training; recognising the intellectual value of engineering services in public procurement processes, with quality taking precedence over other criteria; and strengthening society`s engineering culture so that the profession´s daily contribution to public well-being and safety is more widely appreciated.
The event was attended by academics, institutional representatives and leading professionals from the engineering sector, including a large delegation from TYPSA.
This distinction awarded to Carlos del Álamo reflects not only his personal career, but also the TYPSA Group’s collective commitment to technical excellence, responsibility and contribution to sustainable progress.
We at TYPSA would like to congratulate Carlos on this well-deserved recognition, which honours his career and reinforces our organisation’s prestige in the field of engineering.
