The International Meeting on VT 2023 focuses on the human side of the people who will work and live in a different world

• Under the title "Moving towards the unimaginable", the event takes place in Donostia-San Sebastian on November 22 and 23
• The President, Iñigo Urkullu, opened the meeting with the participation of nearly 400 people from twenty-three countries from Europe, Africa, Asia and America
• This year's theme focuses on the need to define what the Human Being will be in the future. A future with a great development of technology, but with a great need to strengthen and boost humanity. The future was analysed from the perspective of scientists, experts in Artificial Intelligence, philosophers and even a Buddhist master.

The President, Iñigo Urkullu, opened the International Meeting on Vocational Training 2023 held on 22 and 23 November in Tabakalera under the title "Moving towards the unimaginable". The event was also attended by the Minister of Education Jokin Bildarratz and the Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs of the European Commission, Nicolas Schmit, via video link. Some twenty experts of international relevance in areas such as science, technology and human development took part with their presentations and in the various thematic panels organised.

Combining technology and humanity

During the opening ceremony, the President, Iñigo Urkullu, said, referring to the theme of the meeting, that “the reality around us is changing at breakneck speed. What is new today will be obsolete tomorrow”. However, in response to this finding, he asked several questions. “Does anything go in the face of such advances? What is ethical and what is not? Where are the boundaries, and by whom or on what basis do you set them?”.

As he pointed out, “technological evolution will require us to clearly and precisely reinforce the role of the human being. We are getting to know increasingly complex environments. It is important that we understand that, over the next 20 years, we are not going to live in a world of incremental change, but in a world of disruptive change.” But in the words of the President, “this reality should not frighten us, but motivate us. It is true that the unknown can be unsettling for some people, just as it can be a stimulus for others”, and he stressed the need to “be prepared for these changes”.

He reiterated the Basque Government's commitment to Sustainable Human Development. “The challenge facing us in the future is simple, but only on paper: we must be able to combine technology and humanity. To be able to combine technical advances with an ethical vision. Our model is Sustainable Human Development and this means that progress must always put people centre-stage. Knowledge, creativity and talent come from people. It is people who lead the changes, and they also establish the limits and rules of the game. Training in values, technical training, skills training and vocational training in general are the key to all of this in the Basque Country,” he pointed out.

The human being of the future

Previous congresses organised by the Department of Education have focused on topics such as the development of the fourth industrial revolution and the advance of technology and Artificial Intelligence, with particular emphasis on the type of training that people must have, to be able to take on this technological development and the new jobs that will come up in the future.

This year, on the basis of the themes addressed in previous editions, the International VT Meeting wanted to go a step further and reflect on what the human being will have to be like in the future, in this context of technological evolution. That is to say, what evolution should a human being make, in the face of the changes that are coming. What must the human being be like in this still unimaginable context? What values should they have? How should they work or socialise? It is intended to reflect on the very concept of the human being. This year's meeting focuses on the human skills that professionals collaborating with machines using Artificial Intelligence will need to have, that is, on the personal skills that people who will interact with robots will need to acquire.

Nearly 400 people participated in the conference, professionals in the field of vocational training from 23 countries who have shown interest in the approach of Basque Country VT, how human beings must evolve to face an unprecedented change in their lives: personal and professional interaction in a digitised world. Reflections will revolve around three fundamental points:

• Point 1, intelligent technologies: among other topics this focused on the most recent developments in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, intelligent systems and the robotics revolution combined with the above.
• Point 2, life and technology: focused on the influence of future technology on our lives (smart cities, new organisational concepts, health, etc.)
• Point 3, the human being in the face of the advance of technology, focused on human values in the face of the influence of technologies that will be developed in the future.

For this reason, this year's papers and thematic panels included the participation of scientists and experts in Artificial Intelligence, but also philosophers and even a Buddhist teacher, among professionals from other branches and areas of knowledge.

A program with science and philosophy

After the institutional opening, Pedro Miguel Etxenike, President of the Donostia International Physics Centre (DIPC) Foundation, gave a presentation entitled "Science, culture and future" on the importance of science in our lives.

The second lecture was given by the Deputy Minister of Vocational Training, Jorge Arévalo. Under the title “The audacity of being human”, attendees were able to follow an intervention that took place in interaction with holograms. The Deputy Minister's speech focused on the importance of people in order to progress in a future that could be exciting. In addition, the aim was to show how technology is advancing as a means of learning and the possibilities offered, for example, by holograms, which facilitate the recreation of an exact three-dimensional image of the object to be shown. Likewise, this technique has also sought to symbolise human interaction with technological advances.

After a break, the General Director of the Basque Artificial Intelligence Centre, Laura Marrón, and the Digital Transformation expert, analyst and advisor Marc Vidal, took part with their presentation on the “Basque Country artificial intelligence ecosystem” and the way in which jobs will evolve; the creation of new types of jobs.

The first day completed with four panels of experts in discussions that took place between 3pm and 5pm. The first, “Technology, innovation and the future” and the second on the coexistence of people and Industry 5.0, i.e. the transition “From Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0”. The third panel focused on “The challenge of being human in an intelligent 5.0 society” and the fourth panel was held under the title “VT in the face of the challenge of intelligent technologies”.

The second day featured presentations from Professor of Philosophy, José Antonio Marina, who gave a talk on where humanity is heading, and Doctor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biologist María M. Caffarel, who explained how science will change our lives. This was followed by the Buddhist master Lobsan Zopa's talk on conscious human development. The International VT Meeting concluded with a final panel entitled “Ideas from human beings”.