WorldSkills International and Samsung mark ten years of global partnership

The President and CEO of WorldSkills celebrated ten years of global partnership with Samsung, at a meeting with Samsung Electronics executives including Vice Chairman and CEO, Mr Boo-Keun Yoon.

During the meetings at the end of January WorldSkills and Samsung reflected on the past 10 years of partnership, as well as the outlook for the next decade. Mr. Yoon noted the joint achievements and expressed Samsung’s willingness to maintain this long-term fruitful partnership.

WorldSkills also presented the first WorldSkills Fellowship to the former Secretary General of Samsung Skills, Dr. Ji Oh Song, who has been a strong and consistent advocate for WorldSkills. This prestigious award recognized Dr. Song’s outstanding contribution to WorldSkills, as well as his commitment to inspiring and advancing the prospects of young people around the world. Dr. Song steered and led Samsung’s support for WorldSkills throughout the last decade. 

The exceptional global partnership with Samsung started at the General Assembly in Shizuoka in 2007, when Samsung was introduced to the WorldSkills community as a new Global Partner. Samsung committed to becoming the first ever Overall Event Presenter at WorldSkills Leipzig 2013, and this momentum continued with WorldSkills São Paulo 2015 and WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017.

In addition to financial support, Samsung has provided equipment that has improved and supported WorldSkills Competitions and WorldSkills as a global organization. This includes mobiles phones, monitors, laptops, cameras, and tablets that helped to deliver electronic marking. This has made WorldSkills processes more efficient, and has allowed Experts since 2013 to complete their assessments far more efficiently.

“Samsung’s long-lasting partnership with WorldSkills has significantly contributed to the achievements made by WorldSkills in the past decade,” said the CEO of WorldSkills, David Hoey. “This strong relationship will continue to provide unique opportunities for young people to demonstrate their excellence in skills, to create platforms for skills development, and to innovate for the future of work through technology.”

The meeting concluded very positively with areas for future collaboration outlined. Both WorldSkills and Samsung remain committed to continue to work together to improve the world through the power of skills.