More than 600 of the most talented young professionals from across Europe will gather in the city of Gdańsk, Poland next year to compete at the European “Skills Olympics” for a chance to become recognised as the best of the best in 50 different skills and trades.
EuroSkills Gdańsk 2023, organised by WorldSkills Europe, is the eighth edition of the biennial EuroSkills Competition. The aim of the event is to bring together young people, educators, governments, and industries to help prepare the workforce and talent of today for the jobs of the future.
In Gdańsk, international teams of young people under the age of 25 from 31 countries will perform their skills in front of an expected 100,000 visitors from across Poland and abroad.
Competitors will showcase expertise in a wide variety of professional skills, covering everything from bakery to web development, from joinery to mechanical engineering design, and from architectural stonemasonry to mobile robotics.
The young apprentices will be challenged to complete a test project or series of projects within strict time frames over the course of three days. The projects demand complex technical knowledge and capabilities that the young people are learning and mastering through their studies and work-place training.
Landscape gardening competitors, for example, are tasked to construct an entire garden from scratch, using hard and soft landscaping, selecting and planting trees, flowers, shrubs, and lawns, and creating water features, paths, and walls, using natural and sustainable materials.
EuroSkills Gdansk 2023 is scheduled to take place between 5-9 September 2023 at AMBEREXPO. The event was originally due to take place in St Petersburg, but following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, WorldSkills Europe announced in March that the event would be relocated. Gdańsk was confirmed as the new host on 16 June 2022 following a unanimous vote by WorldSkills Europe Member Countries at the organisation’s 2022 General Assembly.
“Congratulations to Poland on their successful bid to host EuroSkills 2023,” said Teija Ripattila, Chair of the Board of WorldSkills Europe. “We applaud WorldSkills Poland for their courage and commitment to organise a EuroSkills Competition, especially at such short notice,
“We look forward to working closely with WorldSkills Poland to deliver an unforgettable Competition in Gdansk, uniting people through skills and showcasing the highest standards of excellence of young professionals in Europe,” Ripattila added.
Visitors to the free-admission competition will be able to watch the competitions in action and have the opportunity to try hands-on job-related skills at the many ‘Try-a-Skill’ demonstrations. The tens of thousands of school-aged young people who visit will be encouraged to turn their passions into a profession.
Hosts cities for subsequent EuroSkills’ in 2025 and 2027 have also been confirmed – EuroSkills 2025 will take place in Herning, Denmark and EuroSkills 2027 will be co-hosted by Germany and Luxembourg in Düsseldorf.
For more information, visit: worldskillseurope.org.
Image: Skills Heroes from EuroSkills Graz 2021. Courtesy of WorldSkills Europe.