The Taiwan International Skills Competition ranked third in the world, and Zhuo Rongtai announced a bonus of 20.4 million yuan. (Photo by reporter Li Lianghui)
The 48th International Skills Competition (WorldSkills Competition) ended a few days ago. This year, Taiwan won three gold medals, three silver medals, and seven bronze medals. The team’s total score ranked third among the 68 participating countries. The Ministry of Labor held an awards ceremony today (12th). Executive President Zhuo Rongtai pointed out in his speech that the Ministry of Labor will issue a total of 20.4 million in bonuses to Encouraged by the award-winning national players, the government will also provide players with exemptions from examinations to obtain technical scores in skill tests at all levels. It will also use the talent recommendation channel to allow national players to enter colleges and universities to learn more skills. The government promises to increase its efforts in cultivating technical talents. In the face of the AI wave, it plans to cultivate 500,000 AI talents by 2040.
The Ministry of Labor held the 2026 48th International Skills Competition Award Ceremony today. Executive President Zhuo Rongtai and Minister of Labor Hong Shenhan both attended the awards ceremony to the outstanding national players. In his speech, Zhuo Rongtai affirmed the performance of the national players, especially the team uniforms designed by the Ministry of Labor this year, which have received praise from the outside world. Zhuo Rongtai said that the team uniforms are very unique and "the masters are among the people." He believes that the designer should win another gold medal.
Zhuo Rongtai also expressed his gratitude to all the training teams and administrative staff. Because the players performed so well, the Ministry of Labor has already made preparations. The government will award 20.4 million yuan in bonuses to the players and training teams to encourage everyone. In addition, for the national players and players present, the government will provide applications for obtaining all levels of skill test scores without taking exams. It will also use the channel of talent recommendation to allow players to enter colleges and universities and continue to learn more skills. In the future, the government will also be more active in cultivating skilled talents, and all policies will be more complete.
Zhuo Rongtai said that he will ask the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor to further cooperate in response to the trend of skills development, closely connect with the demand for industrial talents in our country, and continue to optimize the curriculum and training content of skills education to meet the needs of the industry. Equipment, technology and technical learning standards must be improved. The government will invest more funds so that the education skills development in schools can be connected with various preparations before entering the workplace, providing a complete skills education development path.
Zhuo Rongtai emphasized that the government is currently comprehensively promoting the AI Top 10, which is to make Taiwan a multi-industry, smart application, and the ultimate artificial intelligence island in the national smart living circle. In the construction of the AI Top 10, although it is planned to cultivate 500,000 AI talents and improve the efficiency of AI services before 2040, the efficiency of AI cannot replace human will, spirit, experience, and sense of responsibility. Therefore, the government will continue to invest 65 billion in education funds to promote the second phase of the higher education intensive development plan, so that each school can develop its own characteristic education and carry out necessary industry-university cooperation, so that national players can further study in the future, hoping to create a stage for the country's future talents to connect with the world.
