DesignVerse joins Eurocontrol at Airspace World in Lisbon

DesignVerse will join EUROCONTROL at Airspace World 2026 in Lisbon, following the software startup's recent work on aviation systems used across Europe's air traffic management network.

The company will attend alongside EUROCONTROL representatives after disclosing details of its role in the Integrated Network Management programme. Its software was used to modernise a legacy aviation application more than 15 years old in just over a month, compared with an estimated six months using conventional development methods.

That work places DesignVerse in a closely watched area of the aviation technology market, where operators and public bodies are trying to update ageing software without disrupting services that require high reliability and strict oversight. Air traffic management systems are among the most regulated forms of critical infrastructure, making large-scale software change slow and expensive.

Founded in Bucharest and employing staff across Europe, DesignVerse sells an AI-based software platform that uses a customer's documentation, design systems and internal rules to generate software in line with existing architecture and engineering standards. The approach is aimed at organisations with complex legacy systems, including aviation operators, banks, cyber security groups and government bodies.

The Lisbon appearance also follows DesignVerse's announcement of a USD $5.5 million seed funding round. It has also passed USD $1.1 million in annual recurring revenue in less than five months, with customers from what it describes as highly sensitive and mission-critical sectors.

Modernisation push

The aviation sector has been exploring whether AI can shorten software development cycles for older systems that remain central to daily operations. For suppliers, the challenge is to show that faster development does not weaken governance, safety or security requirements.

DesignVerse said its work with EUROCONTROL is part of that broader effort. EUROCONTROL previously said the startup had helped in "modernizing our software systems at an accelerated pace, without compromising the reliability, safety and security that remain the highest priority for our sector."

Andrei Manolache set out the company's view of the market opportunity.

"Aviation is one of the most operationally complex and highly regulated industries in the world, which makes modernization incredibly challenging. What we are now seeing is that AI can fundamentally accelerate how critical systems evolve, without sacrificing the consistency, reliability and governance that organizations like EUROCONTROL require. Airspace World brings together many of the organizations shaping the future of aviation infrastructure, so it is an important opportunity to continue conversations around how AI-powered software modernization can help the industry move faster and operate more efficiently," said Andrei Manolache, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of DesignVerse.

Technical approach

Its system creates what DesignVerse describes as a context layer using each customer's design systems, component libraries and technical documentation. That information is then used to generate software that matches the client's existing or intended front-end and back-end technologies.

Robert Dragutoiu described the process in more detail.

"Our technology builds a system-level context layer from each customer's design systems, component libraries, and technical documentation, enabling software to be produced seamlessly in alignment with existing architecture and engineering standards, without months of custom integrations," said Robert Dragutoiu, Chief Technology Officer of DesignVerse.

For aviation organisations, the appeal of that model lies in reducing the time needed to replace or update older applications that are deeply embedded in operations. Many such systems were built years ago and remain difficult to change because they are tied to strict operational processes, specialist interfaces and security requirements.

While DesignVerse has highlighted aviation as a prominent use case, it is also targeting customers in other regulated sectors where legacy software remains widespread. Those include financial services, cyber security and public infrastructure, where software changes can involve long testing cycles and extensive internal review.

Airspace World, organised by CANSO, is one of the aviation industry's main gatherings on airspace management, air traffic management modernisation and digital systems. DesignVerse's presence with EUROCONTROL underlines how software modernisation, and the role of AI in that work, is becoming a more visible theme in discussions around Europe's aviation infrastructure.