France hosts world's largest skills competition

The Olympic Games in Paris may be over but the world's largest skills competition is underway in the French city of Lyon. More than a thousand participants from roughly 70 countries are taking part in over 60 challenges spanning vocations ranging from artwork to welding.

Teams say the Workskills Expo is a collaborative environment, an opportunity to share industry tips and tricks. But winning gold can help launch the professional careers of those taking part. The participants are predominantly young – the age of the Chinese delegation is just 22 – and people are only allowed to take part in the expo once.

"I think for their own career for the whole of their life and then they can join this field and they can have a very good start of their journey, their life," said Team China's jewelry expert, Ningxin Zou. 

China has sent a delegation of more than 200 people, including 68 active participants, competing across 59 different disciplines. Shanghai was originally scheduled to host this event in 2021. Delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the expo will head there in 2026. 

This biannual event is seen as an opportunity to try and address problems faced around the globe. One of this year's events is water treatment, where teams are tasked with creating clean water systems under the careful watch of independent judges.
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"Urban water sewage treatment, under industrial water reuse are the fundamental ways to solve this problem. So water technology is very important today," said Team China's water technology expert, Zhan Wang. 

The 2024 Worldskills Expo opening ceremony was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron and over 12,000 spectators at the LDLC Arena in Lyon. 

"We believe that everything is possible with skills. This competition is all about sharing – sharing skills, sharing knowledge, sharing happiness, sharing success," said Max Roche, President of Worldskills Lyon 2024, at the ceremony, adding: "We want to welcome everyone no matter where he or she comes from."
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The nearly week-long competition is free for the public and a major focus of the expo is to engage young people with the working world. From bread-making workshops to virtual reality car painting, visitors have the opportunity to see various professions up close. For competitors, the event can also be a learning experience. 

"They're able to come here and see how they match up against other countries. It's a benchmarking system as well as an individual assessment of the competitors who are representing their nation," said Shawna Bourke, Director of Marketing and Communications at Worldskills International.

Several days of tough competition will culminate in a medal ceremony on Sunday. The hope is that these competitors will inspire a new generation of skilled workers to come out of the woodwork.

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