World Championship of Skills in Stuttgart in October
After the cancellation of WorldSkills 2022 in Shanghai due to COVID-19 restrictions in China, new opportunities came up for the WorldSkills competition: The WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition will be held decentralized in 15 countries. Germany benefits directly from this: 9 of 62 competitions will take place in Germany, three of them in Stuttgart, at the beginning of October parallel to the Motek and Vision industrial trade fairs. This gives schoolchildren, trainees, students, vocational teachers, and university lecturers the opportunity to experience vocational training at the highest level in an exciting competition atmosphere. The host of the competition in Germany is WorldSkills Germany. Olaf Scholz, the German federal chancellor, has taken over the role of patron for the Team Germany.
At the Stuttgart exhibition center next to Stuttgart airport, visitors can watch three competitions on one spot from October 4 to 7, and at the same time, find out about the latest innovations at the Motek trade fair, the leading fair for automation, assembly, and handling technology. In parallel, the Vision trade fair, the world's leading trade fair for machine vision, will showcase innovations in current and future technologies. This provides a unique combination of industrial practice and technical education. For trade fair visitors, but also pupils, trainees, students, vocational and university teachers, the visit is therefore double worthwhile. The competition is a training ground for tomorrow's experts, and it offers HR managers a platform for finding qualified employees.
WorldSkills Competitions
Every two years, young professionals from all over the world compete in the World or European Championship of Skills. They measure their talent in the individual trades in compliance with the demanding WorldSkills standards. The participants qualify beforehand through a national selection process.
In Stuttgart, 26 international teams in Mechatronics, eight teams in Industry 4.0 and seven individuals in Water Technology will compete to determine the world champions. Over the course of four days, the teams, each consisting of two specialists, will develop solutions for highly technical tasks on learning systems provided by Festo Didactic. Festo has been a 'Global Industry Partner' of WorldSkills since 1991. Global Industry Partners play a key role in the cooperation between industry, education, government, and policy makers. Their common goal is to improve vocational education and the recognition of skilled professionals around the world.
Skill 04 Mechatronics
The Mechatronics competition has been run on Festo Didactic Modular Production Systems MPS since it was first held in 1991. The concept is based on competence-oriented education and training in mechatronics and automation technology as well as on robust industry-related equipment. The high modularity of the system makes it possible to combine components, modules, and stations to create a production line tailored to specific learning objectives and scenarios.
Skill 48 Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 is a new official skill in 2022. The eight teams in the competition will develop their solutions on the Festo Didactic CP Lab System. This cyber-physical learning and research platform teaches basic and in-depth knowledge of digital, fully automated production technologies as well as the construction and programming of digital plant networks. The individual modules of the platform reflect the stations of real production plants. This creates ideal conditions for learning many technologies such as AI, MES, IT security and energy management.
Skill 55 Water Technology
The skill Water Technology is part of the WorldSkills competition for only the second time. The seven competitors are working on the modular learning system Environmental Discovery System EDS Water Management, which depicts the core processes of a water and wastewater treatment plant in the form of a water cycle from source to treatment plant and back again. With the current challenges of global warming and water scarcity, professionals such as water technicians are very much required. The official competition equipment, which is based on the demanding WorldSkills standards, is also provided from Festo Didactic in this discipline.
Skill 62 Renewable Energy
Brand new to the competition this year is the skill Renewable Energy. This competition will be held from October 15 to 18 at the Miyako fair in Kyoto, Japan. Festo Didactic is providing its Nacelle wind turbine learning system as competition equipment for the first time. With this system, future wind technicians prepare for real-life operating, troubleshooting and maintenance situations. The umbrella organization WorldSkills International is thus responding to the changing situation on the labor market in close cooperation with its members and partners, and by introducing new skills is specifically supporting the training of skilled workers in future professions.
"The promotion of the competition in Germany underlines the importance of vocational training in times of a shortage of skilled workers. Festo has been cooperating with WorldSkills for already more than 30 years to develop the skills of young people," explains Dr. Oliver Niese, Member of the Management Board at Festo Didactic, about the upcoming event.
Those who would like to follow the competition live on site can register via this registration link and get their ticket for free on the WorldSkills Germany website .
Festo is a global player and an independent family-owned company with headquarters in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany. Festo has set standards in industrial automation technology and technical education ever since its establishment, thereby making a contribution to sustainable development of the environment, the economy and society. The company supplies pneumatic and electrical automation technology to 300,000 customers of factory and process automation in over 35 industries. Digitalization, AI and the LifeTech sector with medical technology and laboratory automation are becoming increasingly important. The products and services are available in 176 countries. With about 20,600 employees in over 250 branch offices in around 60 countries worldwide, Festo achieved a turnover of around €3.65 billion in 2023. Each year around 7% of this turnover is invested in research and development. In this learning company, 1.5 % of turnover is invested in basic and further training. Festo Didactic SE is a leading provider of technical education and training and offers its customers worldwide comprehensive digital and physical learning solutions in the industrial environment.
