Hexagon's Manufacturing Intelligence Business Area and
Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing have opened the 2026 Future Skills Challenge, a global online competition that asks gamers and sim racers to test the data-led instincts advanced manufacturing now runs on.
Young people face a harder route into work at the same time as manufacturers struggle to recruit for increasingly digital engineering roles, and the Challenge sets out to make transferable abilities more visible and encourage diverse talent to explore new paths.
The global youth unemployment rate rose to 12.4% in 2025, the equivalent of 67 million people aged 15 to 24. In the UK, the youth unemployment rate reached 16.2% between April and June 2026, while as many as 1.9 million manufacturing jobs could go unfilled by 2033.
Manufacturing careers are increasingly digital, yet it can be hard for people to see themselves in those roles because they are not exposed to industry unless its on their doorstep or they are studying engineering.
Employers need people who can interpret information, understand complex systems, and make confident decisions as software, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) become more widely used.
Sim racing shows how those abilities transfer. Sim drivers and race engineers use telemetry, simulation, and rapid feedback to understand performance, decide what to change, and learn for the next run. Manufacturing teams – including those building Formula 1 cars – work in a related cycle, using digital twins and production data to improve products and processes in the real world.
Morgan Ashurst, Esports & Gaming Lead, Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing, commented: “Elite sim racing is about far more than the driver’s instincts. Drivers and race engineers work with live data, changing conditions, and constant trade-offs. They have to communicate clearly, learn quickly, and make decisions under pressure.
“Those behaviours have clear relevance in high-performance engineering and modern manufacturing. The Challenge is a chance to test yourself, compete for some brilliant prizes, and discover where a passion for racing or gaming could lead your life.”
With questions crafted by British Mensa, the world’s leading high IQ society, Hexagon and Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing, the Future Skills Challenge takes participants through fast-moving scenarios built on data and logic. Competitors must race against the clock through 10 questions, that will test their speed, analysis, strategy, and problem-solving under pressure. No engineering qualification, manufacturing experience, or competitive racing background is required.
Prizes for the winning contestants include a Fanatec sim rig, a trip to the Red Bull Technology Campus, and a tour of the Oracle Red Bull Racing factory, as well as a range of merchandise and prizes.
Emanuel Viklund, President, Portable Metrology Division, Hexagon, commented: “Young people are looking for meaningful work, while manufacturers need more people who can use data and technology with confidence. Manufacturing has changed enormously, but the routes into it have not evolved as quickly.
“Sim racing helps make that transferable potential visible. The Future Skills Challenge helps people recognise and test abilities they already have.”
More than 1,100 people completed the inaugural Future Skills Challenge in 2025. Its three highest-performing entrants were a Spanish software engineer, a UK rail roster clerk, and a former F1 Esports engineering lead from Germany. Their varied jobs and backgrounds show why a job title reveals only part of someone’s potential.
The 2026 competition will culminate in The Future Skills Forum at MK-7, an invitation-only summit at the Red Bull Technology Campus in Milton Keynes on 17 November 2026. Top-performing entrants will join leaders from manufacturing, education, and technology for the prize presentation, behind-the-scenes access to the campus, and industry panels exploring how the manufacturing industry can reach a wider pool of talent and create clearer routes into increasingly digital and highly rewarding careers.
At the event, Hexagon will also announce its pilot Introduction to Advanced Manufacturing programme, designed to give people with no previous industry experience an accessible first look into modern production careers.
Take the Future Skills Challenge at:
win.gs/Hexagon-Future-Skills-competition Entries are open worldwide until 21 October 2026.
Pic: Sim Racing Championship. Credit: Tom Platinum Morley