WorldSkills Competitors to Help Drive Future Growth Sectors

Managing Director of the HEART/NSTA Trust and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), WorldSkills Jamaica, Dr. Taneisha Ingleton, has described competitors preparing for WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 as economic assets in development.

“The teams in this room are not hobbyists. They are the early professionals of a world that has not fully arrived yet. Autonomous mobile robotics and unmanned aerial systems are actively reshaping agriculture, disaster response, environmental monitoring and transportation globally. These are not niche technologies, they are growth sectors and they generate jobs that are high-skilled, well-paying and future-proof,” she said.

Dr. Ingleton was addressing Monday’s (June 8) opening ceremony for the WorldSkills Jamaica and Studica Robotics Invitational Training Camp, held at Cardiff Hotel & Spa in Runaway Bay, St. Ann.

Participants from Barbados, China, Singapore and Brazil joined members of the Jamaican team for the five-day camp, which commenced on June 8.

Dr. Ingleton reasoned that when Jamaica invests in training young people to compete at the international level, it is an investment in the technical workforce that local and foreign industries will demand in the near future.

“The 48th edition of the world’s most prestigious skills competition opens on September 22 and every day between now and then is currency. This week, you spend it here. What you are building in these sessions is not academic. It is applied, it is consequential and it is yours if you are willing to own it,” she charged the competitors.

In her remarks, HEART/NSTA Trust Deputy Managing Director, Dr. Cheryl McLaughlin, said the road to Shanghai requires discipline, resilience, technical mastery and international exposure.

“This camp is really that strategic milestone. It’s designed to sharpen the capabilities of our competitors and to ensure that they’re fully prepared to compete among the best young skilled professionals in the world,” she said.

She pointed out that the technologies being explored at the camp are rapidly reshaping industries across the globe.

“Around the world, automation, artificial intelligence and robotics are defining how goods are produced, moved and delivered,” she said.

Citing the World Economic Forum, Dr. McLaughlin shared that technological transformation will continue to significantly reshape labour markets over the coming years, increasing demand for advanced technical, digital and problem-solving skills.

She added that the future workforce will require adaptability, technological proficiency and continuous learning.

“The skills being developed here are, therefore, not only competition skills; they are future workforce skills. I encourage you to embrace every challenge, every lesson and every opportunity that this camp presents. I want you to push yourselves beyond your comfort zones, learn from one another, remain curious, disciplined and committed to excellence,” Dr. McLaughlin urged.

From September 22 to 27, the WorldSkills Jamaica team will compete in four technical areas, namely, unmanned aerial systems (UAS), autonomous mobile robotics, optoelectronics technology and information and communications technology (ICT) network infrastructure.