METASKILLS4TCLF at UITIC 2025, Shanghai – China

From 31 August to 3 September 2025, Shanghai hosted the 22nd UITIC International Technical Footwear Congress, the world’s most prestigious technical event for the footwear industry. Organized by UITIC and the China Leather Industry Association (CLIA), this year’s edition gathered global experts under the theme: “Footwear Competitiveness and Sustainable Development in the Era of AI.”

At a time when the industry is undergoing deep digital transformation, facing urgent sustainability challenges, and reconfiguring global value chains, UITIC 2025 served as a stage for knowledge-sharing, inspiration, and forward-looking solutions.

The METASKILLS4TCLF Example – During the showcase session, CTCP, the project coordinator, presented the key achievements of the European project METASKILLS4TCLF, highlighting its contribution to strengthening skills in the textile, clothing, leather, and footwear (TCLF) industries. The presentation emphasized the importance of metaskills and immersive digital learning in preparing the sector’s workforce for the future.

Special focus was given to the integration of interactive digital content and metaverse-based experiences developed to support training for workers and students in environments that mirror real industrial settings. These solutions allow participants to simulate production processes, test decision-making scenarios, and train transversal skills in an engaging and accessible way.

Key outcomes presented include:

• Development of 36 micro-credentials covering Circular Economy and Digital Fashion.
• Creation of multichannel learning resources, including immersive Virtual Reality content.
• Use of the metaverse to design multiplayer training environments, enabling trainees from different countries to learn together through metaverse labs set up at partner education providers.

This approach creates outstanding immersive experiences, elevating training opportunities to excellence in terms of learner engagement, effectiveness, and efficiency.

The presence of METASKILLS4TCLF at UITIC 2025 reinforced a key message: innovation in skills development is not an optional complement, but a fundamental condition for the TCLF sectors to thrive in the age of Artificial Intelligence.

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