Belgium opens first TUMO centre as Armenian education model builds new bridge

Belgium’s first TUMO centre has officially opened in the heart of Liège, at La Grand Poste.

The new innovative centre, designed for young people aged 12 to 18, will allow students to develop key future-oriented skills free of charge, including programming, artificial intelligence, robotics, video game development, graphic design and other digital disciplines.

The opening of TUMO Liège marks an important development not only for Liège and Wallonia, but also for Armenian-Belgian relations. The educational model created in Armenia is now operating in Belgium, becoming a new platform for digital education, creativity and career orientation for young people.

For Wallonia, the project fits into a broader vision for the region’s strategic development. Wallonia’s Vice-President and Minister of Economy, Industry, Employment and Digital Economy, Pierre-Yves Jeholet, stressed that the region faces several major challenges, including industrial recovery, strategic autonomy in healthcare, energy, agri-food and defence, as well as improving the competitiveness of companies.

According to him, achieving those goals requires new-generation skills and highly qualified specialists.

“Wallonia must overcome various challenges. We know that we face the issue of reindustrialising our territory and economic activity, as well as the question of strategic autonomy in sectors such as healthcare, energy, the agri-food sector and defence. Therefore, we must work on the competitiveness of our companies, but also on talent and education,” he said.

Minister Jeholet particularly highlighted the importance of fostering young people’s interest in digital and technological fields.

“TUMO, which comes from Armenia, brings with it Armenia’s entire experience and expertise in the digital sphere. It is very important for us to have a centre like TUMO in Wallonia and Liège in order to inspire vocations among young people. Without talent, we cannot overcome these challenges,” Jeholet noted.

According to Armenia’s Ambassador to Belgium, Tigran Balayan, the opening of TUMO Liège is not only an educational initiative, but also an important example of the international recognition of Armenia’s innovative potential. For him, the project also carries symbolic significance, as an Armenian brand is being presented in Belgium through education, development and future skills.

“Today is a moment of Armenian pride. I believe that at this stage we have many reasons to be proud, but for me this is also highly symbolic. Innovative Armenia, in the country where I have the honour of representing ours, is bringing an Armenian brand that brings education and development,” he said.

The ambassador also stressed the importance of the support the programme has received from both the Walloon government and major Belgian companies. According to him, this demonstrates that the Armenian educational model is not only accepted, but also highly valued in Belgium.

“The fact that this programme is financed both by the Walloon government and by major Belgian companies shows that it is accepted, understood and highly appreciated by all those stakeholders. This is a very serious achievement for Armenia, but also an important achievement for Belgium, Wallonia and Armenian-Belgian relations,” the ambassador emphasised.

Tigran Balayan also noted that efforts are continuing to expand TUMO’s presence not only to other Belgian cities, but also to Luxembourg.

“We continue our work not only towards having TUMO centres in other Belgian cities, but also, for example, in Luxembourg. I hope we will soon have developments in that direction as well,” Balayan added.

For Thomas Lenoir, director of TUMO Liège, the opening of the centre is the concrete result of long-term work. According to him, the arrival of the first students has already shown that the Armenian model works successfully in Belgium as well.

“Our dream began on Monday, because from Monday onwards we started welcoming the first students to TUMO. This is the real result of many weeks of teamwork. Seeing the first young people come in a little shy and then leave with broad smiles, saying they had a great time and would return again, is a real source of pride,” he said.

Thomas Lenoir stressed that TUMO’s strength lies precisely in its universality. The model is capable of working in different countries and environments, regardless of students’ prior knowledge or technological background.

“It is wonderful to see that the model created in Armenia, which is the same across the world, also works in Belgium. TUMO’s strength is that it offers something universal, regardless of young people’s prior knowledge or their level of preparation in these fields. In the end, everyone is able to move forward,” Lenoir said.

During the preparatory phase for the opening, one of the main challenges was ensuring all technical and organisational standards. TUMO operates according to unified international standards: the equipment, space design, learning environment and the entire experience must meet the same quality requirements regardless of whether the centre is located in Yerevan, Paris, Beirut or Liège.

Support from TUMO’s central office in Armenia also played an important role in the process. According to Thomas Lenoir, it became fully clear only after the opening why the Armenian side had been so consistent on quality standards.

“Now that the centre has opened, I understand why Armenia was so rigorous regarding quality standards. It is part of the TUMO experience. When they say students come first, it is not just a slogan — everything is genuinely designed for young people,” he noted.

TUMO Liège can host up to 129 young people during each session. Two sessions are planned daily, while the centre will be able to welcome around 600 students per week. The annual target is to train between 1,000 and 1,500 young people from Liège and surrounding areas.

The programme is also supported by local partners, including Ethias. For the company, supporting TUMO Liège means participating in a project that prepares young people for major digital transformations while strengthening the IT ecosystem of Liège and Wallonia.

As Jean-Christophe Peterken, director of Gré-Liège, emphasised, the initiative is built around inspiring young people to pursue future professions.

“With TUMO, our collective objective is to inspire every young person to choose studies and career paths in STEAM fields — science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. These are sectors that lie at the heart of our region’s competitiveness,” Peterken stressed.

The opening of TUMO Liège is therefore far more than the launch of a new educational centre. It represents an important meeting point between Armenian innovative experience, Wallonia’s economic vision and Armenian-Belgian cooperation.

The centre is becoming a platform where young people can discover their talents, develop digital and creative skills, choose future professions and become active participants in a new technological reality.

Participants at the official opening ceremony agreed that TUMO Liège is also a powerful symbol: it demonstrates that an educational model born in Armenia can inspire, educate and develop young people in different countries around the world, while at the same time giving new substance to cooperation between Armenia and Belgium.