The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will host the 10th edition of the International Skills Forum (ISF) to drill into key issues confronting education and training across K-12, technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and higher education. As the flagship event of ADB’s education sector group, the forum will bring together key stakeholders in the Asia and Pacific region and beyond—policymakers, academia, private sector, international organizations, and leading global experts—to outline new directions and departures for more impactful human and social development.

The forum will span a wide range of topics relating to education and skills development such as model schools, effective teacher professional development, student learning assessment, skills for fourth industrial revolution jobs, and green transition. It will also discuss digital platforms for education, skills for quality jobs, research and innovation in higher education for climate action, role of microcredentials and blockchain in education, skills for the care economy and creative industries, and education at the intersection of other sectors such as health workforce and medical education, energy transmission mechanism, sustainable agriculture, e-mobility, and smart cities. For investments in education and training to bring individual and economy-wide impact, it is crucial to also discuss and align active labor market policies, gender transformative approaches, effective social protection policies, and enhanced inclusion for people with disabilities.

The sessions will address these topics and issues through keynote speeches, high-level panels, expert presentations, and interactive dialogue sessions. A key feature of ADB’s past International Skills Forum, the innovation marketplace exhibition and demonstrations, will be continued in 2023 with a range of products and services, including EdTech, to be showcased.