The 10th and 11th November, the International Vocational Training Congress “VET in the age of humanity, technology and intelligence” was held at the Kursaal Conference Centre in Donostia-San Sebastián. VET managers and teachers from Somorrostro attended this event in which they talked about the challenges of VET, the company of the future and the role of Vocational Training in it, digital transformation, industry 5.0,… but without forgetting the people, the human side that must have this era of technological development we live in today.

The Regional Minister of Education, Jokin Bildarratz, was in charge of opening the Congress together with the Director of Employment and Social Affairs of the European Commission, Manuela Geleng, as well as the Secretary General for Vocational Training of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Clara Sanz.

The conference was attended by exceptional speakers such as Jorge Arévalo, Deputy Minister of Vocational Training of the Basque Government, Andrés Arizkorreta, President of CAF, Marc Vidal, specialist in Digital Transformation and Industry 4. 0 and considered one of the most influential figures in Digital Economy in Spain, Sue Griffit Smith, Vice President of Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Ivy Tech Community College (USA), Dawn Ward, President World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (UK) and Eva Collado Duran, Strategic Human Capital Consultant, lecturer and writer.

Those attending the International Congress were able to visit various VET centres in the Basque Country, as well as the Basque VET Applied Research Centre – TKNIKA, to find out how issues such as Intelligent Energy and Advanced Manufacturing, Industry 5.0, 3D printing for manufacturing, food and bioprinting, robotic additive manufacturing, high-precision industrial 3D printing, cybersecurity and precision agriculture are being worked on in the Basque Country.