Global Education Futures
Forum – Kazan
Futures Skills International Forum – Kazan
22-23 MAY, 2015
In association with WorldSkills Russia National Competition in Kazan
2015, 19-24, May 2015
Description of Working Groups
Thematic groups will allow attendees to have focused discussion on changes in specific
domains of the economy, future demand for skills, and transformation that will be required
in education & training systems to accommodate to such demand.
The main issues to be addressed in the discussion are:
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What processes of technological and social change will have the greatest impact on
the labor market?
How will processes in the industrial and service sectors change? What new knowledge
and skills will be required? What skills would become obsolete?
What new forms & methods in technical & vocational training will be introduced to
match the demand for new skills?
22-23 May, 2015 – Futures Skills International Forum – Kazan, Russia
Group 1. Automation and digitalization
This groups will discuss changes in economy and society due to automation of processes in
industrial manufacturing and the digitalization of society (emergence of digital world). The
impact of new manufacturing technologies will be considered, including industrial robotics,
new materials, 3D-printing, biotechnologies, artificial intelligence, etc.
Some of the questions for discussion may include:
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Scenarios for the development of future manufacturing systems, including the
transition to cyber-physical systems (Industry 4.0) and/or highly localized
manufacturing (‘roadless economy’ based on 3D-printing, local energy generation &
smart grids, and unmanned transportation).
Manufacturing of virtual items: developing and serving digital worlds.
Infrastructure supporting future industrial systems: how will transport, energy,
communications and financial sectors of the future look like?
The role of artificial intelligence in digital manufacturing, including: coordination of
industrial production & logistics, development of new products, etc.
Possible roles of human workers in future industrial environments: from ‘button
pushers’ to highly competent ‘supervisors of technology’. Will managers still exist in
the future and what role will they play?
Group 2. Human-focused services
It is widely debated that wide-spread application of industrial & home robotics will push
people out of many traditional industrial occupations, leading to the creation of many new
jobs in the service sector, where people will provide services to people. This group will focus
on sectors where humans can be more efficient than robots or artificial intelligence in the
long term, providing services that satisfy needs of individuals, families and the society.
Trends for traditional and new services with a high degree of creativity, emotional contact,
human-to-human interaction etc. will be discussed.
Some of the questions for discussion may include:
22-23 May, 2015 – Futures Skills International Forum – Kazan, Russia
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Which service sectors will be most vulnerable to application of robotics & artificial
intelligence? Which industries are most prone?
Which human-focused service industries will grow more actively, and why? What new
services could potentially appear? What consumer demands would they be able
meet?
Which services will support the industrial sector (e.g. marketing & sales, product
development & design, finance & management), and which ones will be completely
independent (e.g. personal dieting or fitness)? How will existing and new services
change under the influence of ICT?
Does creativity become a necessary component for any human-focused services in
the future, or it is only required for some types of services?
What will be the dominant economic model for provision of human-focused services:
e.g. independent professionals (as notaries or osteopaths), professional associations /
networks (as engineering communities of practices or medieval guilds), or service
companies (as consultancy companies)? What managerial skills will be necessary in
each of these formats?
Group 3. Education
This group will consider the transformation of professional education systems driven by
globalization, spread of ICT and changes in economic organization. New educational
models that can support skills acquisition from the life long learning perspective will be
discussed.
Some of the questions for discussion may include:
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How should the education system change in order to effectively provide individual
workers with the ‘skills of the future’? What skills should be primarily included in the
curriculum and why?
How will ICT change educational processes, including the transfer of knowledge &
skills and the assessment / evaluation process? What new forms of training can arise
within blended and online learning?
22-23 May, 2015 – Futures Skills International Forum – Kazan, Russia
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How can systems of professional life-long learning be organized? How should
learning and career trajectories be designed? How can they be personalized and how
should they be managed?
What new financial & investment mechanisms can be created around personalized
learning & career trajectories? What is the condition for emergence and spreading of
direct talent investments mechanisms?
What skills should educators have to create & support personalized life-long learning
and other future models of education?
Group 4. Global economic agenda
This group will consider various challenges of the transforming global economy, including
organization & maintenance of global supply / value chains, and governance of global
social, geopolitical and environmental processes. Some of the questions for discussion may
include:
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What are the main trends shaping the future of global markets, and how* will they
influence the organization of global value creation processes, including
manufacturing, logistics, marketing and sales? How will global quality standards be
established, and how will ethical dimensions of value creation (e.g. fair trade) be
maintained?
How will information & communication technologies (incl. Internet of things) continue
to impact the organization of global value chains?
Global security and global financial stability: how will they be preserved? What will be
general skills required of all economic actors to maintain security & stability (as well as
specialist skills that will be required)?
The ‘green agenda’: its continuing influence on manufacturing of goods and provision
of services, as well as on requirements for ‘green’ working spaces. Will environmental
regulations become tougher over time, and in what respects – and how will these
regulations be enforced in the global marketplace? What will be the future
approaches in industrial organization in reponse to these regulations (e.g., the ‘zero
waste’ model)?
22-23 May, 2015 – Futures Skills International Forum – Kazan, Russia
22-23 May, 2015 – Futures Skills International Forum – Kazan, Russia