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Schedule

WorldSkills Conference 2019

Tracks

  • Roadmaps to thriving societies
  • Skills for evolving economies
  • Towards self-sustaining ecosystems

Day 1: Friday, 23 August

9:30AM

  • Official Welcome and Conference Opening

    Location: Concert Hall

10AM

  • Keynote
    Risk-engineering as the new norm - for this and the next generation
    • Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Former Trader, Risk Specialist, and Author

    Location: Concert Hall

    We are living in an era of uncertainty driven by fast-paced advances in technology, an ever-shifting geopolitical order, and continuous societal transformation. This changing world is forcing us all to adapt, not least by adopting continuous learning.
    We start the third edition of the WorldSkills Conference with advice on how to embrace and thrive in this century of uncertainty.

    Session details

10:45AM

  • Panel
    A world at risk: developing the skill sets to endure, adapt, and thrive
    • Amelia Addis, Regional Representative for ASEAN and Oceania, WorldSkills Champions Trust
    • Tatyana Golikova, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for Social Policy, Russia; Chairman of the 45th WorldSkills Competition Organizing Committee
    • David Hoey, CEO, WorldSkills International
    • Heinz Koller, Regional Director, Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, ILO
    • Jaime Saavedra, Global Director, Education, World Bank
    • Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Former Trader, Risk Specialist, and Author

    The world is facing dramatic transformations: climate change, globalization and a technological revolution that affects every industry. These challenges present great opportunities to harness collective efforts to unlock our full human potential. How can we leverage skills to develop a human-centered agenda for economic and social policy as well as business practice?

    Session details

11:30AM

  • Break

12PM

  • Workshop
    Continuous agile learning
    • Danny Gauch, Director General, Worlddidac Association Switzerland

    Location: Room 2

    To remain versatile in an era of uncertainty and fast-paced change, we need to reconsider our attitudes towards learning. Delegates will be encouraged to challenge their own mindsets, collaborate with others to think imaginatively, and prepare to adopt a self-responsible, solution-oriented mindset.

    Session details

  • Panel
    Different place, same skills - timely transnational cooperation
    • Jens Bjornavold, Senior Expert, Cedefop
    • Manuela Geleng, Director for Skills, European Commission
    • San-Quei Lin, WSI Vice President for Special Affairs and Vice Minister of Labour, Chinese Taipei
    • Cesare Onestini, Director, European Training Foundation
    • Monica Pfarr, Executive Director, AWS Foundation, American Welding Society, USA

    Location: Room 5

    In an increasingly globalized economy, flows of migrants are contributing to profound demographic changes and shifts in work. The need to create new international standards for skills development and applications in global, human-centered workplaces is more pressing than ever. How can countries harness these trends to build an inclusive global labour market, while recognizing diversity and local specificities?

    Moderator: Lyse Doucet, Chief International Correspondent, BBC News

    Session details

  • Panel
    The future of work through the prism of youth
    • Neil Bentley-Gockmann, CEO, WorldSkills UK
    • Nick Chambers, CEO, Education and Employers, UK
    • Gary Condon, Regional Representative for Middle East and North Africa, WorldSkills Champions Trust
    • Laurence Gates, Board member, WorldSkills International
    • Shayne Maclachlan, Communications Campaigns Manager, OECD
    • Jacqueline Tanzer, Regional Representative for Europe, WorldSkills Champions Trust

    Location: Room 1

    What are young people’s expectations and concerns for their professional future? WorldSkills and the OECD have joined efforts to listen to the youth and provide them with a platform for action. This session will address the main takeaways from the survey “Youth voice for the future of work” and delve into the next steps to meet these ambitions and prospects. Moderator: Shayne Maclachlan, Communications Campaigns Manager, OECD

    Session details

  • Panel
    Catching the digital skills wave (before it’s too late)
    • Carla De Bona, UX Designer and Co-Founder, {reprograma}, Brazil
    • Srinivas Reddy, Branch Chief, International Labour Organization
    • Mailis Reps, Minister of Education, Republic of Estonia
    • Maxim Voloshin, CEO, Codewards

    Location: Room 4

    Technological progress and the advent of the digital economy have created new business models and a demand for a more skilled workforce. However, uneven digital penetration across socio-economic landscapes results in a digital skills divide, with many people unable to catch up to the fast-paced digital workforce. What are the cutting-edge, promising skills of this field? And, how can targeted digital skills training allow those who are most isolated to leapfrog back into the market? Looking forward, how will we prevent the digital skills divide from widening further?

    Moderator: Jordan Shapiro, Nonresident fellow in the Center for Universal Education, Brookings Institution

    Session details

  • Panel
    What are green skills? Making sense of the green economy
    • Denise Amyot, President and CEO, Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan), UNEVOC
    • Boris Arseev, Deputy Director of Global Business Development, Rosatom
    • Buti Manamela, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Republic of South Africa
    • Enrico Rühle, Member of the Board, Festo Didactic SE
    • Olga Strietska-Ilina, Senior Skills & Employability Specialist, International Labour Organization

    Location: Concert Hall

    The sustainability issues faced by our societies require a new kind of growth that guarantees that future generations will enjoy the high standards of living that we expect today. With this deepening collective conscience comes a need to explore and develop “green skills” that not only focus on sustainable production and frugal living, but also help us overcome environmental challenges in a systemic way.

    Moderator: Sébastien Turbot, CEO and Co-founder of EKO6, Canada

    Session details

1:15PM

  • Lunch

1:45PM

  • Skills Journeys
    Curated visits to the competitions

    Location: Competition Halls

4PM

  • Workshop
    Making work meaningful
    • Amelia Addis, Regional Representative for ASEAN and Oceania, WorldSkills Champions Trust
    • Abigail Fulton, Vice President, Skills Canada BC, Executive Director of the Construction Foundation of BC
    • Monica Pfarr, Executive Director, AWS Foundation, American Welding Society, USA

    Location: Room 3

    The increasing shift in the values and cultures of our societies, and growing social and economic inequalities bring new expectations in workplaces. How do we move from discontent to fulfillment? This workshop will examine best practices from respective industries and share lessons learned towards more prosperous individuals and communities.

    Session details

  • Workshop
    Training and innovation: a how-to guide
    • Jayshree Seth, Corporate Scientist and Chief Science Advocate, 3M

    Location: Room 2

    In this rapidly evolving technological and digital world, adopting and maintaining the “right” skills can often feel like an impossible task. What are the skills missing in your industry? How can we collaborate to find solutions to close the skills gap? This workshop will explore new ways to train workforces to better adapt to our evolving economies.

    Session details

  • Panel
    Training for tomorrow: Innovations for lifelong learning
    • Paul Comyn, Senior Skills & Employability Specialist, International Labour Organization
    • Carl Frey, Oxford Martin Programme on Technology and Employment, Oxford
    • Marion Plant, Chief Executive, Midland Academies Trust UK

    Location: Room 4

    How do we train for jobs that do not yet exist? How can we prepare the way for continuous learning and lifelong re-skilling? This session will explore the challenges of an ever-evolving labour market and explore innovative possibilities connected to lifelong learning and the future of work.

    Moderators: Oleg Podolskij and Pavel Luksha, Professors of Practice, Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO Member of the Expert Council, Agency for Strategic Initiatives.

    Session details

  • Workshop
    Greening your workforce
    • Nader Imani, Executive Vice President Global Education, Festo Didactic SE

    Location: Room 1

    This hands-on session will explore the green skills necessary for creating self-sustaining work ecosystems. How can sustainability be integrated into your industry's skills standards? What type of technologies and innovations will allow different industries to face the ecological transition and tackle climate change? How can you actively and effectively respond to consumers' evolving mindsets and expectations?

    Session details

  • Lightning talk
    Our planet in 2050: young people's aspirations for an aware and responsible society
    • Nawal Allaoui, CEO, Founder, SEASKIN, Morocco and BeChangeMaker 2019 finalist
    • Kehkashan Basu, Founder, Green Hope Foundation
    • Anna Du, 3M-Discovery Young Scientist
    • Anastasia Fedosova, Engineer and inventor of galvanic waste disposal technology
    • András Volom, Founder and President, V4SDG

    Location: Room 5

    Five young adults take to the stage to share inspiring stories about leveraging skills to overcome environmental challenges, to more effectively incorporate climate change awareness into education and, more generally, to create solutions for a self-sustaining ecosystem.

    Session details

Day 2: Saturday, 24 August

9:30AM

  • Panel
    The final frontier: skills lessons from the stars
    • Scott Kelly, NASA astronaut
    • Sergei Krikalev, Cosmonaut and executive director, Roscosmos State Corporation

    Location: Concert Hall

    This inspirational session will focus on the aerospace industry through a dialogue between two astronauts from very different nations. The astronauts will examine how space and the pursuit of knowledge unites us all. There will be a particular focus on the importance of skills/trades in the space industry. What can on-orbit international collaboration teach us to face complexity together on earth?

    Session details

10:30AM

  • Break

11AM

  • Keynote
    No women? No success for the 4IR
    • Amelia Addis, Regional Representative for ASEAN and Oceania, WorldSkills Champions Trust
    • Neil Bentley-Gockmann, CEO, WorldSkills UK
    • Kathleen Elsig, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Development, The Global Apprenticeship Network GAN
    • Jayshree Seth, Corporate Scientist and Chief Science Advocate, 3M

    Location: Concert Hall

    Advancing gender equality is crucial to ensure a sustainable future. If women — who account for half the world’s working-age population—do not achieve their full economic potential, the global economy will suffer. But as we navigate the shifts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the challenge is even more urgent. How do we ensure equal access to the digital transformation? And, how can we boost access to skills, to ensure women and girls are fully empowered to participate in the coming revolutions?

    Moderator: Denise Amyot, President and CEO, Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan), UNEVOC

    Session details

  • Workshop
    Designing skills pathways for local challenges
    • Kelly Betts, Skills Canada BC, Former President
    • Abdelaziz Jaouani, Senior Expert, European Training Foundation
    • Bruce Poh, CEO, ITE Education Services Singapore
    • Norbert Schoebel, Team Leader, European Commission

    Location: Room 1, Room 2, and Room 3

    Global challenges unite the international community, creating the need for collective action and international standards. However, successful solutions for our most pressing challenges will require us to take into account regional, national, and local realities. During this workshop, we summarize trends and challenges within three tracks: economy, society, and environment. Participants will exchange views on what skills, best practices, and solutions they need for their specific regions to meet demands and close their skills gap. In this workshop, Dmitry Zabirov from the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, will guide participants through a discussion on how a transition to a greener economy can bring solutions to environmental challenges posed for each region, while creating job opportunities relevant to local labour markets.

    Session details

  • Panel
    TVET systems for 2030
    • Borhene Chakroun, Director, UNESCO Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems
    • Manuela Geleng, Director for Skills, European Commission
    • Ekaterina Loshkareva, Moderator, Official Delegate, R&D Director, WorldSkills Russia
    • Anton Stepanenko, Partner, BCG Russia
    • Tatyana Terentyeva, Chief Human Resources Officer, Rosatom
    • Alexandria Valerio, Lead Education Specialist, The World Bank

    Location: Room 5

    Experts and representatives from different regions will examine how TVET systems can be adapted to different types of economies and change drivers, providing tailored solutions to local skills needs. This session will include insights from the research on “TVET models” carried out by WorldSkills Russia and the Boston Consulting Group. What will be required from TVET systems to retrain and reskill the workforces as well as teachers and trainers?

    Session details

  • Panel
    From small seeds: growing skills for sustainable agriculture
    • John Halligan, Minister of State for Training and Skills, Republic of Ireland
    • Mwila Kangwa, CEO, AgriPredict
    • Oleg Stepanov, DG and Co-Founder, LavkaLavka

    Location: Room 4

    A growing global population implies a heightened food demand, which in turn creates more competition for natural resources. The result is a highly stressed ecosystem and increased poverty in rural areas. How can we uncover new processes and approaches to dealing with these issues? This session will examine the role of skills and vocational education in responding to the challenges posed by sustainable growth in agriculture. The discussion will include insights on the development and use of innovative technologies to achieve these goals, opening new possibilities to increase productivity, respectful of natural resources, and improving the livelihoods of rural communities.

    Session details

12:15PM

  • Lunch

12:45PM

  • Skills Journeys
    Curated visits to the competitions

    Location: Competition Halls

1:15PM

  • BeChangeMaker 2019 Pitch Competition

    Location: Room 4

    BeChangeMaker 2019 is a social entrepreneurship training programme by WorldSkills and the HP Foundation. Top five teams have emerged from 270 teams from 38 countries to deliver their final pitches in Kazan. Using nanobubbles for environmental protection and food security, creating pacifiers that filter out smoke and air pollutants, providing renewable energy source for remote communities, using fish skin to produce sustainable luxury leather products, and turning plastic waste into durable construction materials, there young people are using their skills and business ideas to help achieve the Global Goals through their journey with BeChangeMaker.

    Moderator: Lyse Doucet, Chief International Correspondent, BBC News

    Find out more about the finalists for BeChangeMaker 2019: https://worldskills.org/what/projects/bechangemaker/2019/pitch/

    Session details

2:30PM

  • Workshop
    Education ecosystem for the future economy
    • Jan Owen, CEO, Foundation for Young Australians
    • Vishal Talreja, Co-Founder and Trustee, Dream a Dream, India

    Location: Room 3

    In our fast-changing world, traditional forms of education are becoming outdated. We need to redesign our education systems. What are approaches to learning work in this new world? How should traditional education system be transformed to be flexible, adaptive, inclusive, and oriented on individual needs? In this workshop, participants will discuss what an ecosystem approach means, what initiatives and elements of an education ecosystem we already have, and how we can cooperate to develop it. Moderator: Pavel Luksha, Professor of Practice, Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO Member of the Expert Council, Agency for Strategic Initiatives

    Session details

  • Lightning talk
    Five inspirational stories that demonstrate that skills change lives
    • Alexey Fedoseev, President, Kruzhok Association
    • Abigail Fulton, Vice President, Skills Canada BC, Executive Director of the Construction Foundation of BC
    • Mursal Hedayat, CEO, Chatterbox
    • Salinee Hurley, Founder-CEO, Sun Sawang Co.
    • Tijhimise Bruno Karaerua, Regional Representative for Africa, WorldSkills Champions Trust

    Location: Room 5

    Through a series of five short inspiring speeches, changemakers will share solutions through skills to the most pressing social challenges we face, leading the way to an inclusive society. Moderator: Crispin Thorold, Director of Marketing and Communications, WorldSkills International

    Session details

  • Workshop
    Who’s driving? How to design and lead TVET systems
    • Jefferson Azevedo, Coordinator of International Affairs, Conif, Brazil
    • Sue Husband, Director Employer and Employee Engagement, Education and Skills Funding Agency UK

    Location: Room 2

    Countries and macro regions have different drivers for creating and implementing solutions for education systems development. Intended as a follow-up to the panel on diverse TVET systems, this workshop will invite participants to discuss the necessary measures for designing and leading responsive TVET systems that are adapted to local contexts. How can these measures be translated into policies that are effectively implemented? Which actors are responsible for leading these systems?

    Session details

  • Panel
    Create your path: entrepreneurship education to boost skilled people
    • Anastasia Fetsi, Head of Operations Department, European Training Foundation
    • Maxim Kiselev, CEO, ANO Human Capital Development
    • Manish Kumar, Managing Director, CEO, National Skill Development Corporation India
    • Saje Molato, CEO and Founder, Siklab, Philippines and BeChangeMaker 2019 finalist
    • Mikko Sallinen, Head of Learning Experience, Omnia Education Partnerships Ltd Finland

    Location: Room 4

    In a gig economy in which freelancing, and self-employment are becoming the norm, entrepreneurial skills are essential to succeed. Having these skills is essential for young people in their professional careers. Entrepreneurship also opens opportunities to solve social issues. This session will address the frameworks and tools that are necessary to achieve such ambitions. With the participation of candidate(s) from the BeChangeMaker programme.

    Moderator: Shane Mann, Managing Director, Lsect

    Session details

  • Workshop
    Cooperation practices to train agile skilled young people
    • Ranjan Choudhury, Sr. Head, WorldSkills India
    • Kathleen Elsig, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Development, The Global Apprenticeship Network GAN
    • Norbert Schoebel, Team Leader, European Commission

    Location: Room 1

    Strong cross-sectoral collaboration is essential to develop viable paths towards the creation and inclusion of adaptable young people throughout the value chain. Such frameworks, designed and implemented with key stakeholders such as employers, education institutions, policymakers, and students, will succeed if they are adapted to their regional contexts. This session will allow participants to exchange perspectives and discover best practices on concrete solutions, especially apprenticeship programmes.

    Facilitator for Africa: Aggrey Ndombi, National Project Coordinator, ILO, Kenya

    Facilitator for Latin America: Esteban Cubillo Víquez, CEO Founder, Japp.jobs, Costa Rica

    Session details

3:45PM

  • Break

4:15PM

  • Panel
    Developing the next generation of skilled changemakers
    • Sarah Anyang Agbor, Commissioner, Human Resources, Science and Technology, African Union
    • Borhene Chakroun, Director, UNESCO Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems
    • Jos de Goey, President Elect, WorldSkills International
    • Chirag Goel, Regional Representative for Asia, WorldSkills Champions Trust
    • Yulin Lyu, Official Delegate, WorldSkills China
    • Dmitry Peskov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Digital and Technological development

    Location: Concert Hall

    In a world full of changes and challenges, we are at the cusp of a unique opportunity to cultivate diversity, adaptability, and resilience. Acquiring and honing a 21st-century skill set is a central pursuit to flourish, not just survive. Today’s youth have the power to influence the world in which they will grow and which they will bequeath to future generations. It’s time to leverage the skills of the youth to enforce a collective effort for a lasting positive change. We look towards the youth of Asia as the largest cohort of global youth, and the next destination for the WorldSkills Conference (in Shanghai in 2021). What can we learn about where we are going, from the way that they engage with the world?

    Session details