Lidia Rossi and Mariachiara Sormani from our partner ForMare, the Italian maritime academy, did a great job to get the SkillSea project on the agenda of the Naples Shipping Week conference, the Festival della Diplomazia in Rome and the Business2Sea event in Portugal. Lidia and Mariachiara explained their role in our recent (internal) newsletter.

Ladies, tell us about your drive to get the SkillSea project on the agenda’s of international maritime events.

Lidia (left on photo): “Thank you for your question. We are indeed strongly committed not only in participating to existing events but also in organizing dedicated slots to present the SkillSea project at national, EU and international level. We are doing our best in order to do so, since we do believe on the need to raise awareness and spread the word on the importance of the project and its development.”

Mariachiara: “This year has been really challenging since the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impacta lso on our planned participation to events. But luckily after the initial confusing months we understood that we could convert the challenge into an opportunity to organize and join more events than those planned, via remote participation. We are all putting a lot of effort in the project and we believe it is worth spreading the news!”

Was it difficult to interest the event organizers for SkillSeaor were they familiar with the project?

Lidia: “Luckily, all the organizers that we have contacted so far were interested in our participation. I wouldn’t say that we had many difficulties in making them familiar with the project. Also, digitalization and environmental changes are the challenges of the future so this is a ‘trending topic’ for the sector.”

Mariachiara: “SkillSea is indeed an interesting project with many relevant partners. The organizers of the events are interested to know more about it.”

Did you get any feedback?

Mariachiara: “Absolutely! We always receive compliments by the audience when showcasing the project’s activities. People are interested and want to learn more about the development of the project and we can’t wait to let them know.”

Lidia: “We received positive feedbacks and reactions after all the events we have joined. This is a positive note. It means that we are managing to raise awareness and curiosity on our activities.”

Any tips for other SkillSea partnerswho want to bring the project to the attention of event organizers?

Lidia: “All the events that you consider relevant for the project are more than welcome. Each occasion can count.”

Mariachiara: “We aremore than happy if you could all help us mapping the national, EU and international events.”

SkillSea now has its own Advisory Board - counting 13 members with different backgroundsand from different countries. The role of the Advisory Board is to advise theconsortium as well as individual workpackage leaders regarding the projectcontent and overall progress. 

The board has met for the first time (online). Thirteen persons had accepted the invitation to join thisboard. It is a mixed group consisting of,among others, professors, former captains,ship-owners and policy makers. After a short introduction, the board was informed about the background of SkillSea on the basis of a presentation by Penny Serveta of the European Shipowners CommunityAssociation (ESCA), one of the socialpartners who initiated the SkillSea project in 2017. Thereafter STC’s Job de Groen gave a brief update on SkillSea. Project coordinator Diedrick Jansen then explained to the members of the advisory board their role and theway in which they are informed.

SkillSea is proud to be part of Business2Sea, an international event dedicated to facilitate interaction among people and organizations and to promote projects and businesses within the marine economy. On Monday November 16 SkillSea is part of the virtual conference session 'Towards a pact for skills in the maritime industry'

Business2Sea is an event organized by Fórum Oceano, one of the driving forces of the Portuguese maritime cluster, togehter with Spanish Cetmar foundation, that works to improve the marine environment, its resources and all the sectors involved.

The conference session will present how skill requirements in the blue economy will likely change in the future as a result of emerging trends such as digitalisation, the rising demand for more sustainable practices and the adoption of new technologies.

Framing the session, the Pact for skills of the European Skills Agenda will be presented as a new engagement model to encompass efforts from Industry, public and private employers, social partners, education and training providers and employment agencies.

The session will also showcase the outcomes and proposals of complementary projects focusing key sectors such as shipbuilding, blue renewable energy and maritime transport. It will launch a debate on the needs for reskilling and upskilling activities to move in a timely way towards a more efficient and sustainable future.

For this event our Italian partner ForMare collaborated with the colleague's of Project MATES. Buisness2Sea is a local event for the European Vocational Skills Week #EVSW2020  

Like to join? Register here.