CoVE Sales
Building Europe’s future sales skills
Connects education, business and research to close the skills gap in modern sales.
6
Countries
Italy, France, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Poland.
13
Partners
Universities, VET providers, companies and industry organisations.
48
Months
A European effort to close the skills gab in modern sales.
20,000+
Our 2030 goal
Through events, resources, networks and dissemination.
CoVE Sales brings education providers, universities, companies and sector organisations together
ERCULES is a European Erasmus+ Centres of Vocational Excellence project dedicated to the future of sales education. Across Europe, companies need sales professionals who can work with digital tools, AI, customer insight, complex B2B relationships and new forms of value creation.
At the same time, many education and training programmes still struggle to reflect how sales roles are changing in practice. CoVE Sales brings education providers, universities, companies and sector organisations together to close that gap.
The project develops a shared European taxonomy of emerging sales roles, modular training pathways, AI-supported learning methods, applied innovation labs and activities that make sales careers more visible, inclusive and attractive. Particular attention is given to women in sales and to stronger collaboration between education and working life.
At the same time, many education and training programmes still struggle to reflect how sales roles are changing in practice. CoVE Sales brings education providers, universities, companies and sector organisations together to close that gap.
The project develops a shared European taxonomy of emerging sales roles, modular training pathways, AI-supported learning methods, applied innovation labs and activities that make sales careers more visible, inclusive and attractive. Particular attention is given to women in sales and to stronger collaboration between education and working life.
“CoVE Sales is about making the future of sales education concrete. Our task is to turn European cooperation into practical curricula, stronger skills, better learning methods and closer links between education and business.”
Prof. Silvio Cardinali, Project Coordinator, Università Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM)
Our work
From taxonomies to ecosystems
01
European taxonomy of emerging sales professions
02
Six modular training pathways
03
AI-powered didactics for sales learning
04
AI Sales Applied Innovation Labs
05
Women in Sales Network
06
Skills ecosystems for the future of sales
What we’re building
Six interlocking workstreams.
Sales Role Taxonomy
A shared European map of sales roles, tasks and competences — the foundation for modern curricula.
Training Programmes
Co-designed VET, university and continuing-education modules built with industry partners.
AI & Learning Factories
Pilot environments where students practise sales with AI tools, real data and real customers.
Open Educational Resources
Cases, datasets, lesson plans and assessment instruments, free for educators across Europe.
Women in Sales
A dedicated network of research, role models and events tackling barriers to entry and leadership.
Skills Ecosystems
Regional partnerships connecting schools, universities, employers and policy actors around sales.
Who it’s for
Built with and for four communities.
For educators
VET teachers, lecturers and trainers building or updating sales curricula. Materials, methods and peer exchange.
For companies
Sales-led organisations seeking talent pipelines, work-based learning and a voice in curriculum design.
For students & jobseekers
People entering or pivoting into sales — including women, returners and career-changers.
For researchers & policy
Researchers, networks and policy actors working on skills, labour markets and the future of sales.
Resources
Teach, sell, lead, research? All materials open.
All public CoVE Sales outputs — reports, teaching cases, podcasts, white papers, taxonomies and tools — will be published here as they are released, under open licences wherever possible.
Women in Sales
Opening sales careers to more women.
Women remain underrepresented in many sales roles and especially in sales leadership. CoVE Sales addresses this through research, role models, events and a dedicated network — so more women see sales as a place to build a career.
Latest
News, events and resource launches.
kickoff photo
Project news
15 May 2026
CoVE Sales kicks off across six European countries
Thirteen partners convene in Ancona to align on a four-year programme modernising sales education.
webinar still
Webinar
02 Jun 2026
AI in B2B selling — what teachers need to know now
A 60-minute briefing with Salesforce, IÉSEG and Hochschule Neu-Ulm. Open to educators across Europe.
cover artwork
Resource launch
20 Jun 2026
First draft of the European Sales Role Taxonomy is out
A working paper mapping 27 sales roles, their tasks and the competences they require. Comments welcome.
workshop scene
Workshop
12 Jul 2026
Designing a learning factory for AI-augmented selling
Two-day workshop in Aalborg with Intenz, UCN and partner companies. 24 places.
group photo
Partner meeting
03 Sep 2026
Consortium meeting #2 — Poznań
WIPH hosts the consortium for the second working meeting. Public sessions on the afternoon.
speaker portrait
Women in Sales
24 Sep 2026
Three things keeping women out of sales leadership
New CoVE Sales research synthesises 30 interviews with mid-career sales women across five countries.
