AmCham Industry Committee at the AmCham Diner at EEC 2026 – breakfast meeting: Skills of the Future and Workforce Development for Modern Industry

We kicked off the second day of AmCham Diner with a 3M-hosted breakfast meeting, continuing the discussion led within the Industry Committee co-chaired by Mariusz Wawer, 3M, focused on the future of skills and workforce development for modern industry.

This morning’s discussion highlighted how rapidly evolving technologies - automation, robotics, and above all digitalization - are transforming today’s manufacturing landscape. Modern factories increasingly resemble high-tech environments, where employees not only operate advanced, high-value machinery but also oversee complex processes and collaborate in real time with experts across the globe.

A key theme of the conversation was the growing importance of aligning workforce competencies with these changes. From graduates entering the job market to experienced employees upskilling in new ways, continuous learning is becoming essential. The discussion also underscored the critical role of collaboration between industry and education—technical schools, vocational training centers, and newly established sectoral skills hubs.

The conversation continued right after our meeting with Prof. Andrzej Szeptycki, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, allowing us to further exchange perspectives and connect insights from both discussions.

Today’s meeting once again created a valuable space where industry practitioners and public policy stakeholders can exchange perspectives, share experiences, and work together toward practical solutions. It is through this kind of dialogue that we can better connect the worlds of business and education, shaping initiatives that respond to real needs.

We were glad to be joined by: Maciej Tauber, Educational Research Institute; Marzena Drela, AmCham; Magdalena Okulowska, PhD, Wroclaw Agglomeration Development Agency (ARAW); Anna Przybył, Branżowe Centrum Umiejętności SkyPort w Katowicach; Tomasz Michalski, Amazon; Jacek Lewandowski & Karolina Pokorska, Coventry University Wrocław; Julian Krzyżanowski, PepsiCo; Anna Timofiejczuk, The Silesian University of Technology; Robert Bednarz, Rockwell Automation; Sebastian Nowak, L3Harris Technologies; Luiza Luranc-Jaworek, ManpowerGroup;Magdalena Brzezińska, Grupa Żywiec Sp. z o.o.; and Andrzej Czarnecki, Pratt & Whitney/RTX.

Our discussion was moderated by Mariusz Wawer, 3M and Mateusz Jurczyk, AmCham.