Red Digital de Carreras Azules - MarENeT

Description

The project objective is to strengthen the cooperation between marine business sector and academic sector, through a Blue Careers’ Digital Network development. The network is integrated by education centers and industrial sector representatives, it was conceived with the objective to fulfill the needs of updating the professional profiles of marine sector, giving them more visibility for business opportunities in blue economy context. 

Through this consortium, blue economy agents and related value chains (maritime transport, shipbuilding, maintenance and repair, blue biotechnology, fishing and aquaculture), will conduct jointed efforts to offer students and workers, the abilities needed to update and adapt knowledge to the sector current needs and take action on the blue economy development.

To achieve this objective, an executive committee will be defined, to give backup to a trans regional network of industries and education centers that will integrate the Atlantic Maritime Ecosystem Network. Conceived to become the framework support for human capital, this network will offer a global and updated vision of the needs on education and training, also the employment current demand on marine and ports sector along Atlantic basin. The network will be integrated by education and training centers and marine companies that conforms the three main marine sectors, which are: shipbuilding, port logistics and fishing. This will be in charge of the development of Good Practices Code and new tools for the Atlantic marine ecosystem, enhancing the collaboration between its key actors involved, in order to integrate their strengths and identify innovative proposals in the field of each region.

The main tool that will enhance the network integration, it’s an online platform which will be in charge giving support to information exchange between EU agents and to promote also the collaboration actions between the companies and academic sector. This way, the creation of a learning environment and a professional knowledge exchange programme to promote trans regional training courses. This network will be consolidated with the creation of a Marine Knowledge Center that will function as the base to create long term collaborations agreements, a space of collaboration between industrial, educational and public sectors. 

Among the training actions to be promoted will be the implementation and updating of educational programs at the professional and university levels that will cover, among other needs, professional profiles of: market operator and stevedores (medium-level professional training), Port logistics administration according to the Rotterdam model (higher professional training), and Maritime legislation and port logistics (university training).

At the same time, an innovative training program will be launched to create companies in the blue market, integrating innovation centers, social enterprises and investors. 

Through these main objectives, the fundamental challenges and transformations related to the industrial revolution applied to the maritime port sector and to the emerging challenges of environmental changes on a global scale affecting the development of market competitiveness in this area will be addressed. It is also intended to achieve greater opportunities visibility of the blue market, both transversally and through explicit actions.

Activities

The MarENet project look to achieve its objectives, through the development of the following activities:

Activity 1. Adaptation analysis between the training offer and professional profiles’ demand.

Activity 2. Reinforcement of the training offer, aligning the sectorial demand for: training activities development with professors; creation of a digital platform for information, documentation and experiences exchanging (all in digital resources); exchanging programme between professors and students; port logistics, fishing, shipbuilding, biotechnology and renewable energy trainings. 

Activity 3. Entrepreneurship development and promotion: identification of business opportunities, Entrepreneurship Reinforcement Programme (Pre-incubator), Marine Hub creation.

Activity 4. Communication and dissemination activities

Expected results

• Encourage partnerships in the port context focused on promoting job creation and improving maritime training programs.
• To solve specific training gaps based on the market demands of the port context.
  
• To improve the level of knowledge’s transfer from the University to the industry, as well as to improve the level of transfer of the real needs of the industry to the universities and professional training centers. 
• Improve professional skills linked to the maritime-port area. 
• Development of multidisciplinary approaches among the maritime-port area stakeholders, to advance together in the balanced training to the demands of the port market.
• Development of business skills and specialization of young people in three sectors of the blue economy (port logistics, shipbuilding and fishing) adapting them to the new challenges of the century, as well as adapting the profiles to the new emerging sectors (blue biotechnology, renewable energies and ecology of ports), associated with the port environments.