We are pleased to announce the launch of the AIRMOB project in Ireland, an exciting step forward in building the skills and capabilities required to support the emerging Innovative Air Mobility (IAM) sector. The announcement was made during a recent ÉALÚ-AER project workshop that took place in Shannon, Ireland on the 11th of June 2025, where international, national, and regional stakeholders gathered to discuss the future of aerial mobility in Ireland.
AIRMOB (Developing Skills and Capabilities for Innovative Air Mobility) is a major European initiative bringing together partners from Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Türkiye to form five regional Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs). These will grow into a European Community of Practice dedicated to developing high-quality vocational education and training (VET) aligned with IAM industry needs.
The Irish CoVE is run by FMCI, TUS and Avtrain, its launch served as an opportunity to engage stakeholders from across industry, education, research, and government, who came together to explore how Ireland can prepare its workforce for this fast-evolving field. The formal announcement of AIRMOB’s activities in Ireland was made by Dr. Wassim Derguech, Chief Operating Officer of Future Mobility Campus Ireland (FMCI), during his presentation, The evolution of Innovative Air Mobility in Ireland: Past, Present, and Future. In his talk, AIRMOB was presented as one of the key pillars of Ireland’s strategic contributions to the IAM industry, alongside regulatory enablement, testbed infrastructure, and public-private collaboration. The introduction of the Irish Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) under AIRMOB underscored the importance of a coordinated, skills-driven approach to support the growth of this transformative sector.
One of the highlights of the workshop was a presentation by Šarūnas Navickas from Avtrain, a key partner in both the ÉALÚ-AER and AIRMOB projects. Avtrain shared insights from their skills gap analysis in the IAM sector, shedding light on the need to address gaps across technical, digital, operational, and green skill areas. Their findings ignited an open and lively discussion on the opportunities and challenges of workforce development in IAM.
The day concluded with a panel discussion that covered multiple aspects such as regulation, technology advancements, public engagement and skills development. The skills development discussion focused on the need to create a national strategy for skills development in IAM—one that spans the full educational journey, from early engagement with students to the upskilling and reskilling of professionals already in the field. This aligns directly with AIRMOB’s ambition to support lifelong learning, upward convergence, and inclusive access to future-ready careers.
As AIRMOB moves forward, we look forward to working with all partners and stakeholders to develop flexible, learner-centred training programmes, foster industry-VET collaboration, and strengthen Ireland’s position as a leader in innovative air mobility.
About AIRMOB
AIRMOB (Developing Skills and Capabilities for Innovative Air Mobility) is a large and complementary consortium that is setting up 5 regional clusters (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Tükiye) and will evolve into a European Community of Practice (CoP) committed to provide the diversity of skills required in the emerging sector of Innovative Air Mobility (IAM) that is critical to our current and future quality of life.
The project focuses on the provision of excellent vocational education and training (VET) aligned with the sector’s needs, capacitation of young students, upskilling and reskilling of the workforce, sharing of resources and improving conditions for collaboration in upwards convergence, all contributing to address major European goals and priorities.
AIRMOB includes an analysis of the IAM sector needs and opportunities, that will be the baseline to design roadmaps for high quality VET curricula and resources, to enforce VET-industry win-win collaborations, to promote the attractiveness and acceptance of VET and IAM, and to have a thriving CoP for knowledge sharing and exchange of best practices.
The AIRMOB pathway to excellent VET includes the design of joint curricula and training courses, professional development of teachers and trainers, internships, mobilities and other multi-level collaborations relying on the countries and partners’ diverse expertise to meet the needs of the IAM sector.
Learn more about the project here.
The project consortium, under the coordination of Deep Blue, has 23 members and 11 associated partners, comprising Vocational Education providers, Higher Education Institutions, SMEs, Research Centres, Clusters, Regulatory Bodies and Municipalities. While the 5 CoVEs collaboratively provide vocational training solutions aligned with the needs of the local industry, the CoP plays a crucial role in strengthening cooperation for excellence between the CoVEs, facilitating stakeholders’ engagement and information flow, and providing a platform for sharing resources and opportunities.
Acknowledgement
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. [Grant Agreement number: 101194074]
