At this year’s event, competitors competed for world recognization across 61 skills, including Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Mechatronics, Mobile Robotics and Optoelectronic Technology. In South Korea, the eight skill competitions took place at KINTEX, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, from October 12 – 17.

Fifty-one competitors represented South Korea across 46 skills — and 22 among them are representatives from Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Samsung Heavy Industries. They competed in 17 skills as representatives for their country and company.

A History of WorldSkills Competition and Its Impact

▲ The WorldSkills Competition 2022, a competition featuring skilled technicians from around the world, was held from October 12 – 17 at KINTEX, Goyang. 133 competitors from 35 countries participated in a total of eight skills, including Information Technology (IT) and plastic die engineering.

The WorldSkills Competition began in 1950 as a place to share the latest technologies, exchange information and build relationships amongst the world’s skilled young talents. In pursuit of these goals, the WorldSkills Competition was held periodically in member countries to research, develop and further advance new training methods and vocational training systems amidst a rapidly changing industry.

As this industry evolves, so too does the WorldSkills Competition. Compared to 2007, 14 new skills have been added in the areas of advanced IT and convergence technology, such as Cloud Computing, Mobile Applications Development and Cyber Security. The number of member countries has also increased from 49 in 2007 to 85 in 2022.

How Samsung Sponsors the Next Generation of Innovators

At the heart of Samsung’s business philosophy is an emphasis on technology, an idea that manufacturing and skilled talents are the foundation of driving future growth. In line with this vision, Samsung has been cultivating countless talented young professionals by sponsoring the WorldSkills Competitions and the Korea National Skills Competitions for 16 years.

In December 2006, Samsung Electronics signed the Skills Promotion Agreement with the Ministry of Labor. Samsung has also been sponsoring the National Skills Competition and Team Korea for WorldSkills Competitions since 2007. Moreover, of all the skilled specialists that have competed in the National Skills Competition, Samsung has hired approximately 100 of them each year since 2007. The young professionals hired by Samsung have competed in the WorldSkills Competition as national representatives and won a total of 28 gold medals, 16 silver medals and 8 bronze medals so far.

Samsung Electronics decided to sponsor the WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition with a contribution of 1.5 million euros in recognition of all the competitors who trained during the pandemic, which caused the competition to be postponed by a year. This year is especially significant for Samsung as Heedong Lee, an employee from Samsung’s Mobile eXperience Business Division will join the competition as the WorldSkills Ambassador and Asia-Pacific representative for the WorldSkills Champions Trust. Lee previously won the gold medal in CNC Milling at the WorldSkills São Paolo 2015.

The Spotlight on National Representative Donggeun Lee

Donggeun Lee (age 24), the silver medalist of IT Network Systems Administrations at the Korea National Skills Competition in 2015, competed in Cloud Computing at this WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition. After joining Samsung, Lee trained as the national representative candidate in IT Network Systems Administration for the WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017. In 2020, he achieved his dream of joining Team Korea and competing in the WorldSkills Shanghai 2021. However, the competition was delayed by a year due to the pandemic. With one more year of preparation under his belt, Lee will now compete in the WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition.

“I’m mesmerized by cloud computing as it is the ultimate integration of advanced technologies with an infinite scope of application,” said Lee. Surprisingly, he had no information about the skill competition when he first entered Yangyoung Digital High School. He learned about the WorldSkills Competition through his teacher, and ever since, he began to receive training to try and win the gold medal at the WorldSkills Competition. “The WorldSkills Competition has been my dream for a long time,” said Lee. “I’ve been doing my best to achieve this dream, and now I’m ready to face it head-on.”

While preparing for this year’s competition, Lee emphasized that staying up-to-date on the latest trends was very important. “I’d like to become the person who not only shows interest in the latest trends but also creates and leads them,” said Lee, regarding his career after this competition.

WorldSkills Champions Unleash Their Full Potential at Samsung

Samsung has a history of fostering WorldSkills Champions, frequently hiring skilled young professionals from the National Skills Competitions in Korea. Read more about the stories of Samsung employees who went above and beyond their achievements at the WorldSkills Competition and are now unleashing their skills in their fields.

Last year, Samsung Electronics committed to being the headline supporter of WorldSkills Shanghai 2022, which was cancelled in May due to the pandemic. In June, WorldSkills International announced that the Special Edition of the 46th WorldSkills Competition would take place around the world, ensuring the continuation of the over 70-year tradition of hosting international skills competitions.

“WorldSkills is grateful to have tremendous support from Samsung Electronics for WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition,” said Chris Humphries, President of WorldSkills International. “As the WorldSkills community pulls together in new ways, Samsung Electronics’ partnership ensures that we can recognize the achievements of the world’s top skilled talent and enhance our ongoing work to advance global skills development and excellence.”

The unique event will encompass 61 international skill competitions, which will take place across Europe, North America, and East Asia from September to November of this year. Over 1,000 competitors from 56 countries and regions are expected to participate.

“Samsung Electronics decided to support WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition, since we fully understand how important the WorldSkills Competition is for young competitors, who have trained hard for years during the pandemic, and we recognize that it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them,” said Dr. Woosup Han, Secretary General of Samsung Skills and VP of Samsung Electronics. “I firmly believe that we, the WorldSkills family, will overcome the challenges and in return make this special competition successful.”

Samsung Electronics is a Global Premium Partner of WorldSkills. This partnership has been ongoing since 2007 and supports both organizations’ goals to empower future generations to achieve their full potential and pioneer positive social changes.

For more information on WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition, please visit worldskills2022se.com.

On May 20 in Kazan, Russia, Simon Bartley, President of WorldSkills International (seated left), and DS Jang, Secretary General of Samsung Skills at Samsung Electronics, are taking part in a signing ceremony announcing Samsung’s sponsorship of WorldSkills Kazan 2019. Standing behind them is Rustam Nurgalievich Minnikhanov, President of the Republic of Tatarstan, of which Kazan is the capital.

Every other year, hundreds of talented young people from around the world gather to compete in the WorldSkills Competition – also known as the “World Championships of Skills.” This year’s competition, held from August 22 to 27 in Kazan, Russia, will mark the seventh consecutive time that Samsung Electronics has sponsored the prestigious event and the fourth consecutive time that the company has served as WorldSkills’ sole Overall Event Presenter (OEP).

WorldSkills Kazan 2019 is expected to draw approximately 1,400 competitors from 67 countries. Contestants will showcase their skills while representing their country in competitions spanning nearly 60 trades and vocations, including carpentry, engineering, culinary and graphic design, and much more.

The goal for this and each WorldSkills Competition is to inspire competitors to reach new heights and help them turn their passion into a profession. For Samsung, the competition presents a valuable opportunity to support vocational training in countries around the world, and nurture the development of future engineers.

“Samsung Electronics’ sponsorship of our event is meaningful because Samsung believes that companies should play a big role in helping teenagers hone their skills and create their own careers,” said Simon Bartley, President of WorldSkills International.

Samsung has a long history of supporting young workers’ professional pursuits. In addition to hosting the annual Global Samsung Skills Competition, which offers a platform for its skilled employees to enhance and showcase their skills excellence, the company has been a sponsor of Korea’s National Skills Competition and a consistent supporter of Team Korea in the WorldSkills Competition since 2007.

Korea will send around 50 competitors to this year’s WorldSkills Competition, 19 of whom hail from Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Samsung BioLogics. These talented young Samsung employees will compete in a total of 15 categories, including mechatronics and mobile robotics.

In addition to contributing 1.5 million euros to this year’s event, Samsung plans to install an on-site experience zone that will offer competitors and visitors an up-close look at the company’s latest innovations.

“Samsung has deeply understood the importance of skilled workforce for industry and strongly believed that their skills excellence leads to the competitiveness of their companies and countries,” said DS Jang, Secretary General of Samsung Skills (a division of Samsung Electronics). “That’s why Samsung has participated in WorldSkills movement over ten years and supported young professionals making their dreams and hopes come true through skills excellence.”

Samsung Electronics, the world’s leading manufacturer of consumer electronics and mobile devices, and WorldSkills Russia, the agency of development for professional communities and skilled workers, announced that they signed an agreement of mutual understanding for their cooperation on educating and training the Russian National Team members at the Samsung Skills Training Center in Suwon, Korea, in preparation for the young professionals’ WorldSkills Competition 2017 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Samsung Skills is a subdivision of Samsung, created with the purpose of supporting young professionals’ dreams by promoting skills excellence. The training sessions will be held from March 2016 to August 2017. During that time, intensive training sessions will be organized with the participation of WorldSkills Champions from Samsung Skills and other guest experts.

Members of the national team were chosen from the WorldSkills national competitions in 2015. Two members for “Mobile Robotics” competency, Pavel Fadeev and Andrey Dybanov, both fourth-year students at Kazan’s College for Information Technologies and Communications, were chosen at the  WorldSkills Hi-Tech-2015, the second national championship for working professions that took place in October, 2015 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Another participant, Albert Mineev, a second-year student at the Kazan National Research University, was invited to join the team at the First Inter-University WorldSkills championship on Mechanical Engineering Design-CAD that took place in December 2015 at the Moscow University of Mechanical Engineering.

“We highly appreciate the cooperation from organizations that provide trainings for modern, highly skilled workers. We have something to learn, and at the same time, we have educational institutions that already provide the highest level of trainings to prepare highly skilled specialists. We are confident that this mutually beneficial partnership will benefit both the Russian Federation and the countries with which we cooperate,” said Alexander Klimov, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

“We thank Samsung Electronics for the opportunity to develop skills such as ‘Mobile Robotics’ and ’CAD’ within Samsung Skills. Thanks to Samsung’s technologies, we can use our championship and training systems as a driver for the Russian economic system in the context of trainings for skilled workers,” said Robert Urazov, General Director of WorldSkills Russia.

“Today’s agreement is an example of how we should learn from the best. We recognize Samsung Skills, which internally produces effective training programs. We are pleased to collaborate with our colleagues and learn from their best,” said Dmitry Peskov, Director of “Young Professionals” Direction at the Agency of Strategic Initiatives.

“We are very pleased that today, Samsung, which already has a successful partnership with the Republic of Tatarstan, is entering a new phase of partnership to prepare our experts for participation in the upcoming WorldSkills championships in 2017 and 2019. I am sure, with Samsung’s help, the participants will obtain good results,” said Vasil Shaykhraziev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia.

“In the framework of the new agreement, we will continue fulfilling our commitment of providing education for the championship participants in order to create a competitive national team using all the experience we have gained from participating in previous WorldSkills Competitions. Supporting gifted young people is our strategic priority. Today, on behalf of Samsung Electronics, I am glad to officially announce our commitment to educate and train Russian participants for the WorldSkills Competition in 2017,” said  Uitack Kim, President  & CEO of Samsung Electronics CIS .

“We are entrusted with the great responsibility and honor of educating Russian specialists in the lead-up to the WorldSkills Kazan in 2019. We will do our best to meet the championships’ high expectations. We believe that our long-term experience and innovative approach will allow us to educate the competition participants at an appropriate level and help increase the prestige of technical professions among young people,” stated Dong Seob Jang, Secretary General of Samsung Skills and Vice President of Samsung Electronics.

This is not the first time that Samsung Electronics has offered training sessions for the WorldSkills Competitions. In 2014, Vietnamese participants took part in similar sessions and won the first medal for their home country at the WorldSkills Competition Sao Paulo in 2015. Such initiatives will help Russia to gain global experience in the technical professions realm, which corresponds with the goals of the WorldSkills Russia Union: to study the best world practices in the area and increase the number of Russian participants in international competitions in accordance with WorldSkills standards.

Samsung Electronics has supported the WorldSkills movement as a Global Partner and a top-level sponsor of WorldSkills Competitions since 2007. Samsung has also been an official provider for the WorldSkills Russia Union since May 2015, offering long-term support for WorldSkills in Russia.