Digital-Economy Firms Back Iranian Team at WorldSkills Shanghai

Eight Iranian digital-economy organizations are providing financial or technical support to members of the country's national skills team at WorldSkills Shanghai 2026. The published 22-name roster covers 20 skills, from cybersecurity and cloud computing to refrigeration, cooking and aircraft maintenance. One person on the list is marked as an alternate.

The backers are the Tehran E-Commerce Association, ArvanCloud, Spara Security Group, Lyan Capital, Digikala, JIBit, BitPin and Fanap Campus. The association has named the first seven organizations as supporters of technology disciplines in Iran's national skills competition; Fanap Campus is also listed among the Shanghai delegation's backers. The reporting does not specify each sponsor's contribution or identify which entrants receive its support.

Iran's team departed on September 19. The 48th WorldSkills Competition opened in Shanghai on September 22 under the slogan “Master Skills, Change Your Future” and runs through September 27. Competition rounds are scheduled for September 23–26. WorldSkills expects more than 1,400 competitors from over 70 countries and regions across 64 skills.

How the team was selected

The first round of Iran's national skills competition took place in Isfahan on October 15, 2025, drawing about 1,300 participants across disciplines. Winners advanced through a final selection stage to form the team sent to Shanghai. The published roster includes entrants from Tehran and provinces across the country, including Hormozgan, Isfahan, West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Fars, Ardabil and Khuzestan.

Ten names in the roster are associated with eight technology-related skills: robotics, cloud computing, cybersecurity, web-based systems administration, mobile app development, software development, graphic design and web design. The mobile app development entry is specifically marked as an alternate, so the list should not be read as ten confirmed starters in those fields.

Iran's published Shanghai roster

Earlier results and the next competition

WorldSkills says Iran joined the organization in 2000. Iran's cybersecurity team won silver at WorldSkills Lyon 2024. The official WorldSkills results record eight Medallions for Excellence for Iran, awarded to high-scoring competitors who did not win a gold, silver or bronze medal. The original Persian report counted five such medallions.

For the 2022 Special Edition, the original Persian-language report recorded one bronze and four Medallions for Excellence. The official WorldSkills results, however, list one gold, one bronze and five medallions for Iran. In 2013, the official Leipzig results show two silvers, one bronze and eight Medallions for Excellence, matching the original report's account of Iran's strongest showing in that period.

The next WorldSkills Competition is scheduled for November 15–20, 2028, in Aichi, Japan. The original Persian-language report says an Iranian registration deadline for the next cycle had been extended to October 7, 2026; that is a domestic application deadline, not registration for the international event itself.