Announcing the winning ideas from VocTech Future of Skills Award 2023

Ufi are delighted to announce the winners of the VocTech Future of Skills Award 2023.

The VocTech Future of Skills Award is a new competition to share and celebrate big, tech-enabled ideas of how changes to the UK skills system could transform the way adults get the skills they need for work.

Award entrants were asked to answer a single question:

"If you could make one change to the skills system to get more adults learning, what would it be?"

We received a wonderful range of bold and exciting visions for what the future could look like, stimulating fierce discussion amongst our judges, a group of nine stakeholders from across the UK skills and adult learning sector.

The two finalists and three winners were announced this evening at the Ufi VocTech Showcase as part of this year’s Week of VocTech.

winners


Left to right: Rebecca Garrod-Waters from Ufi, Ione Banks, Hannah Kirkbride from Career Matters, Gill Scott, Paul McCormack from Belfast Met, Stuart Hill from Assistiv, Dominic Gill from Ufi

The finalists

Firstly, we are delighted to announce two finalists who both submitted impressive visions on how to improve the UK skills system:

Project SmarterStride, from Ione Banks

This entry reflected on the difficulties young people have in knowing which direction to choose as a career, and that many adults still feel the consequences of not knowing. The author suggested that AI could be used to create personalised learning maps by assessing a learner's skills and interests and then recommending multiple avenues for career progression. The AI would provide ongoing practical support and feedback, encouraging lifelong learning.

The judges were impressed by this submission from an individual only recently completing their A-Levels. They thought that it contained some bold ideas around the use of AI and the development of PLMs – Personal Learning Maps.

How to support adults to THRIVE, from Career Matters

This idea aims to tackle failings in the system that contribute to the persistence of poor employment, health, and well-being outcomes in lived experience communities. They are not gaining the skills they need during their time being cared for by the state and face a 'cliff edge' of support as they become adults.

The focus is on designing new ways of working with care experienced communities, and employers, to attract and unleash an untapped pool of talent. Utilising a blended approach; digital platform plus human support, puts in place the 'support scaffolding' that increases chances of success for people who are furthest away from learning.

Judges were impressed by the focus on lived experience, and felt there was potential to expand the thinking that underpinned the submission to create a wider systems change around the way we consider learning, skills, and support. Particularly for those who have faced multiple barriers to progression in life and are most removed from traditional pathways into education, employment or training.

Read about the background to the vision for THRIVE from Hannah Kirkbride.

The winners

After careful deliberation from the judges, we are thrilled to announce the three winning visions:

About the VocTech Future of Skills Award 

Launched as part of Ufi’s VocTech Challenge: Skills for an Economy in Transition, the VocTech Future of Skills Award celebrates the entire VocTech community’s commitment to transforming the way adults get the skills they need for work.

The VocTech Future of Skills Award is a new competition to share and celebrate big, tech-enabled ideas of how changes to the UK skills system could transform the way adults get the skills they need for work.

From August to September 2023, we were looking for bold visions for a better skills system. We wanted to hear imaginative and practical ideas, enabled by tech, for improving the system and radically increasing adult participation in learning. We were interested in ideas that look beyond a new product, supplier, organisation or service, and which consider how different organisations, people and structures could work together to overcome systemic barriers to learning.

We wanted to see ideas that get to the heart of systemic change – this could be through better deployment of technology, changes in policy or systems that enable different ways of utilising tech solutions, or structural change that sees technology utilised in new ways.

The VocTech Future of Skills Award 2023

Explore the competition to get more adults learning.

Find out more