8 March 2013
Innovation Labs are go!
By Seán Kearney, WorldSkills Foundation
It has been a busy start to 2013 for WorldSkills Foundation, with the launch of two ‘proof-of-concept’ Innovation Lab projects. Through the WorldSkills network, Innovation Labs aim to focus on real-world challenges in the vocational education and training field, promote international exchange of knowledge and skills, and create new working partnerships between WorldSkills Member countries/regions and other stakeholders.
But the key ingredient for Innovation Labs will be our WorldSkills Champions. Our goal is to offer more opportunities to collaborate, learn, and gain further world-class expertise after the competition experience.
The first Innovation Lab has just been completed: a partnership with the award-winning Australian not-for-profit organisation Healthabitat. Their ‘Sanitation Studio’ was a week-long project in Dhulikhel village, Nepal; combining an experienced team of plumbers (including representatives of WorldSkills Foundation Global Founding Partners IAPMO and RMIT University) with a team of Australian architecture students, working alongside community representatives to design and install new toilets, rainwater and biogas systems.
Grant Stewart (AU), WorldSkills Plumbing and Heating Chief Expert (13 years after competing in the same discipline at the 1997 WorldSkills Competition) also joined the Sanitation Studio as a Foundation representative. You can see more from his experience, plus further outcomes of the project on YouTube.
Our second Innovation Lab is a partnership with the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in Singapore, to be hosted at the brand new campus of Creativity & Innovation that opened in January 2013. This three month project, commencing next week (11 March), will oversee development of state-of-the-art 3D and Virtual Reality technologies for training in Floristry.
After an open call for interested Champions, ITE selected two participants: both from WorldSkills Web Design competition backgrounds. They are Natã Barbosa (21) from Brazil, and Wouter Niekus (27) from the Netherlands. We wish them both well in their adventure and look forward to sharing their experience through WorldSkills’ social media channels over the next three months!
Speaking from Singapore at the signing of an official MOU, WorldSkills Foundation Chairman and former WorldSkills International President Tjerk Dusseldorp said:
“The Foundation aims to develop a range of "Innovation Labs" that bring together the best of our skills Champions from around the world, working together with a host community to create practical solutions to challenges which apply well beyond the location of the particular Lab. The recently completed Lab in Nepal is a great example of this.”
ITE CEO Bruce Poh added:
“I am confident that our new MOU will mark the beginning of a strong and fruitful partnership between ITE and WorldSkills Foundation. I am certain that both institutions and the interns will reap maximum benefits through this win-win partnership. More importantly, we hope to promote and create innovations in VTE that can contribute to excellence in technical education that can be replicated and shared globally.”
WorldSkills Foundation is continuing to develop further small, smart and simple Innovation Lab partnerships, and will release more information to Members as these opportunities become available. With each new project, our goals are to promote the mission and values of WorldSkills, and to continue driving the development of international vocational education and training, creating benchmarks for others to follow.
Is your organization interested in hosting a WorldSkills Innovation Lab? Could you create opportunities to tap into the very best of our WorldSkills’ Champion talent? Get in touch at innovation.labs@worldskillsfoundation.org.