Poszytek: Top industry talents compete for medals in Gdańsk

FSRE is involved in a major undertaking – the EuroSkills competition underway in Gdańsk. What are you doing in Karpacz then?

We are trying to promote the knowledge, values and benefits that the EuroSkills initiative brings. It hosts competitions in 42 industries. It’s like an Olympics. These industries define a normally growing economy. These include cooking, carpentry, roofing, electrical installation, floristry, hairdressing, but also super-modern professions of the future, such as cloud computing, mobile robotics, integrating industrial robots or digital architecture. This is a European competition, the most important of its kind, one of a kind. As many as 600 competitors from 32 countries came. These are top professionals who have been through many selection stages and are now competing for medals.

At the same time, EuroSkills is a meeting of industry organisations. There will be an EU Commissioner of the labour market. We have representatives from the governments and parliaments of various countries. This is a top-notch event. The WorldSkills organisation, of which we are a member, trusted us and this year the competition is in our country. In two years, they will be held in Denmark, then in Germany.

Two worlds meet at EuroSkills. On the one hand, the business world relies on top-quality equipment that is used in particular industries. On the other hand, there is the education sector, which provides talent, young people who can use the equipment. These two worlds are talking to each other about the future of the labour market, the economy of the future, what kind of competences to foster, how young people should compete.

What are your first impressions of EuroSkills in Gdańsk?

We were relieved, because in order to organise them, you have to meet strict logistical, organisational and substantive conditions. We waited in suspense for the technical delegates to assess whether the venue was prepared. Their first impression was a great positive surprise, in short – a huge “wow”. We are happy because we have taken over the baton from Austria. We have already received information that we have performed significantly better. The Germans and Danes have said officially that they are learning quite a bit from this and are watching us.

All 42 competitors took off without any problems.

And how complex is this undertaking?

A simple example. Digital machining required the installation of 12 large, highly complex, state-of-the-art and expensive machines. One costs a quarter of a million dollars. It requires proper flooring, preparation and handling. And we have 42 competitors. For the most part, we are dealing with high technology. Even in cooking we have state-of-the-art equipment.

Dr hab. Paweł Poszytek, Director General of the Foundation for the Development of the Education System, Director of the National Agency of the Erasmus+ Programme and of the European Solidarity Corps (9th from the left) with Polish medalists of the EuroSkills 2023

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In Karpacz, business professionals come to you and watch the coverage of the competition. What do they say?

They watch with interest. Competitions around the world have been going on since the 1950s. In Poland, we have only been a member of this community for five years. The United States has been operating since 1956. There, HR professionals from large American companies come together and immediately contract young talent for work. Polish business is watching with curiosity, but does not yet fully understand what this is all about, although we have some excellent Polish partners. Western business, on the other hand, is keen to support us and came in large numbers to this year’s EuroSkills Gdańsk 2023. We want to show as many pictures as possible of the event and the benefits for entrepreneurs so that we can further promote this unique initiative.

There is so much talk about talent scouting. And it’s happening here, at the competition in Gdańsk. Six hundred of the most talented people from all over Europe have come. We invite entrepreneurs to see what skills they have, how they compete with each other. They can be offered work. We want the worlds of education and business to realistically meet there. So that we stop talking only in theory about how important cooperation is. We want to do it in a hands-on way.

And how did the Polish contestants fare this year at EuroSkills Gdańsk 2023?

We have had great success. The Polish team won as many as 13 medals, including three gold in industrial robot integration and electronics, one silver, three bronze and as many as six medals of excellence. We are immensely proud and happy because we have not only managed to organise one of the best European editions of EuroSkills to date, but also to lead the Polish team to such a huge success.