This committee brings together around forty stakeholders from our sectors in the Greater South-West: manufacturers (large groups, SMEs, start-ups and digital services companies), education providers (engineering schools, business schools, universities and private training organisations), research laboratories, France Travail, APEC and recruitment agencies.

Three key topics have brought all these stakeholders together and are being addressed by working groups:

•     Discussions on AI: preparing and raising awareness amongst young (and not-so-young) employees regarding the use of generative AI; the responsible, ethical and effective integration of AI within organisations (in the context of digital transformation); and the roles that could be transformed by the introduction of AI.
•     Skills-based approach: How can we define a common framework (shared by industry and training providers) to optimise the skills-based approach? How can we strengthen the relationship between training providers and industry to improve agility and efficiency?
•     Attractiveness: How can we raise awareness amongst younger generations (secondary school pupils) of the challenges and opportunities within our sectors (even before discussing specific roles)? How can we encourage the ecosystem to actively engage with young people (through visits, exchanges, etc.)?

This Strategic Committee is a dynamic platform designed to bring together and unite all those—primarily from industrial organisations—who wish to contribute to these issues.

To cement its position and commitment to skills-related issues, Aerospace Valley has signed the European Commission’s Pact for Skills. Launched in November 2020, it promotes joint action aimed at maximising the impact of investment in the upskilling and reskilling of professionals.

It calls on national, regional and local authorities, businesses, social partners, cross-industry and sectoral organisations, chambers of commerce, education and training providers, and employment services to work together and make a clear commitment to investing in the training of all people of working age across the EU. Aerospace Valley has demonstrated its commitment by placing particular emphasis on the sectors most relevant to its members.

Aerospace Valley has secured the European Skills4ACD+ project as a partner in the consortium. This project, which forms part of the Erasmus+ programme and brings together 13 partners from seven European countries, aims to:

•     Strengthen Europe’s capacity to anticipate and respond to emerging skills needs in the aerospace and defence sectors.
•     Design and support pathways for upskilling and professional reskilling towards careers in aerospace and defence.
•     Support SMEs in this field and foster cooperation between large groups and SMEs on training.
•     Create and foster a resilient and sustainable ecosystem centred on industrial skills in Europe.

As part of this project, Aerospace Valley has been tasked with leading a work package focused on skills development. This includes, in particular, identifying skills shared with other sectors, creating reskilling pathways and a training platform, as well as a mentoring scheme to support SMEs.

With regard to facilitating its ecosystem of training providers, Aerospace Valley signed a partnership agreement with IPSA at SIAE 2025. The aim of this agreement is to implement joint initiatives to facilitate and accelerate understanding of the aeronautics, space and drone sectors through, for example, themed conferences organised by Aerospace Valley members for the benefit of IPSA, or by encouraging IPSA students to take part in various hackathons organised by the Aerospace Valley Cluster.

Finally, the Cluster remains strongly committed to addressing issues relating to the attractiveness of the aerospace and space sectors, particularly with regard to increasing the number of women in the industry. It is in this context that the Cluster organised a conference as part of the Toulouse Space Festival in May 2025, highlighting the career paths of four women from our sectors: 

OUTLOOK

Aerospace Valley is continuing its collaboration with Airbus Defence and Space, which has renewed its confidence in the organisation following the signing of the OmanSat contract. The cluster will be responsible for supporting the skills development of 10 engineers from the Omani Space Agency. The agreement also provides for support programmes for the participants and their families to facilitate their stay in Toulouse. These programmes form part of a long-standing cooperation spanning several years between entities within the Airbus Group and Aerospace Valley.