From Ecosystem Gaps to a Future-Ready Workforce: Mapping the Spanish IAM Skills Transformation

The integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs), U-space services, and future electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) operations is transforming the Spanish aviation ecosystem and generating new requirements for technical, operational, regulatory, and institutional skills. While Spain has established a favourable environment for innovation through demonstrations, public initiatives, and stakeholder collaboration, the development of clear education and training pathways remains essential to support safe and scalable implementation. Within the AIRMOB project, a project co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ Programme (Project No. 101194074), the Spanish Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) analysed these challenges through ecosystem assessments, stakeholder consultations, and surveys involving industry, education providers, students, and public institutions. This poster presents the resulting Spanish IAM Skills Roadmap as a structured pathway linking the current IAM ecosystem, identified skills gaps, strategic priorities, educational actions, and the future workforce. The analysis identified several barriers to workforce readiness, including the limited availability of IAM-specific programmes, insufficient exposure to operational environments, gaps in knowledge related to U-space, eVTOL technologies and regulation, limited opportunities for upskilling and reskilling, and fragmented cooperation between education and industry. To address these challenges, the Spanish CoVE defined three priorities: aligning training with current and future IAM operations, strengthening the capabilities of public authorities and regulators, and anticipating future regulatory and operational competence needs. Recommended actions include modular curricula, lifelong learning opportunities, simulation-based training, practical case studies, and collaboration with industry partners. The roadmap provides a framework to translate ecosystem needs into educational actions, supporting the development of a skilled and future-ready Spanish IAM workforce while contributing to the wider AIRMOB European Transformation Roadmap.