About the Project
to explore career pathways in key
Blue Economy sectors.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
As the blue economy is growing fast and transitioning towards digitalisation and environmental sustainability, increased career opportunities are being offered to qualified workers in emerging and existing sub-sectors. Indicatively, between 2010 and 2030, employment in ocean-based industries is expected to double. However, market data shows that the existing workforce is aging and industries are struggling to attract and retain young talent. The 2021 Seafarer Workforce Report warns that the seafaring industry must significantly increase training opportunities to avoid a serious workforce shortage by 2026.
Many young people find blue economy rather unattractive, associating it with fishing and ship building. For this, starting at school level is key to educate youth on ocean literacy and inform them about existing and emerging blue career opportunities. Teachers and educators shall be ready to accomplish this mission and, thus, contribute in achieving a balance between supply and demand in qualified workforce for the Blue Economy while lowering youth unemployment rates.
Sources:
– The EU Blue Economy Report (2022)
– Seafarer Workforce Report (2022)
– How to build “blue” skills for the ocean economy (Economist, 2022)
GOAL AND OBJECTIVES
The main goal of this project is to raise awareness among young people about Blue Career Opportunities and to provide teachers with tools that enable them to inform and guide their students in this regard. This goal will be met by achieving the following objectives:
- Build an up-to-date dataset on career and training paths in 5 sectors of the Blue Economy (Nautical Tourism, Maritime Transport, Marine Biotechnology, Aquaculture, Marine Conservation)
- Provide career guidance to youths in finding a place in the Blue Economy by creating a gamification tool for skills self-assessment – BlueGeneration Game
- Support students and teachers in discovering individual career pathways in the Blue Economy through the development of an interactive tool – Blue Career Pathway Tool
- “Train the trainers” by providing teachers, educators, and instructors with easy-to-use background knowledge on Blue Careers through an open, online course (MOOC), enabling them to support the guidance provided by the Blue Career Pathway Tool and the BlueGeneration Game.
