Pika Aero and DGM France win IATA CBTA Center Innovation Award 2026 | News
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Pika Aero and DGM France have each been recognized as winners of this year’s IATA Competency-Based Training and Assessment Center (CBTA Center) Best Innovation Award.
The award, presented at the 4th IATA CBTA Center Conference, held alongside the 2026 IATA World Cargo Symposium (WCS), recognized both companies’ progress in using artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver hands-on training solutions.
Pika Aero was recognized for its immersive CBTA-based dangerous goods training technology. Using AI, students progress through short, focused lessons combined with realistic operational scenarios that evolve in real time, based on each individual’s performance.
DGM France’s AI-powered solution provides customized training based on each learner’s existing knowledge and experience. Post-training validation highlights an individual’s progress during training and provides structured feedback to identify any remaining training gaps.
Raising training standards
“As Pika Aero and DGM France have demonstrated, AI has become a key enabler in providing realistic training environments that strengthen safety and improve compliance. We are proud to count both companies among IATA’s network of CBTA centers and encourage others to follow their lead in raising training standards across the industry,” said Frederic Leger, IATA Senior Vice President Products and Services.
“Even as a newly accredited CBTA Center, we are truly honored to receive the IATA CBTA Center Best Innovation Award. We owe it to our customers, who place their trust in us not only to provide the highest training standards, but also to push us to raise the bar in building a truly immersive training experience,” said Baptiste Sesmat, Director General of Pika Aero.
“We approached the Dangerous Goods training as a systems engineering challenge. When the CBTA requirements were introduced, we did not adopt a traditional course model, but developed a new approach. Competencies must be designed, measured and continuously refined. Our AI-enabled CBTA model introduces structured personalization within a regulated governance framework, ensuring that safety performance is not assumed but demonstrated,” said Vytautas Volskis, President of DGM France.
Encourage innovation
Launched in 2023, the IATA CBTA Center Best Innovation Awards encourage the development of training solutions that improve operational efficiency, safety and sustainability.
The selection process for the IATA CBTA Center Best Innovation Award 2026 included an evaluation by an independent jury composed of industry experts, IATA representatives and independent validators. Entries were judged on their innovation, potential impact on industry priorities and sustainability, ease of use, feasibility of implementation and evidence-based effectiveness.
