On January 18th and 19th, the Basque Maritime Cluster launched “BLUESKILLING INNOVATION” Project in Bilbao. The project’s main goal is to deliver the necessary skills to boost blue innovation, strengthen industrial competitiveness and accelerate the deployment of marine renewables and green shipping technology in the Atlantic Area. The shipbuilding and maritime tech sector have the challenge to lead the maritime digital/green transition and blue innovation to meet the goals of the Green Deal and reach carbon neutral, sustainable and healthy seas by 2050.
On the first day of the meeting, the consortium, consisting of eight European institutions (the Basque Maritime Cluster, Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Bretagne Pôle Naval, Munster Technological University, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, CIFP Blas de Lezo LHII and CIFP San Jorge LHII) met at San Jorge vocational training centre, in Santurtzi. There, the partners made presentations of the project and work packages were developed. In the afternoon, the group visited Zamakona Shipyard’s premises, where the implementation of new technologies in shipbuilding could be seen onsite.
During the second day of the meeting, the team was received in Armintza at BIMEP (Biscay Marine Energy Platform), an open sea testing area with grid connection for the demonstration and validation of wave energy converters and wind platforms. There, the last presentations were done and discussion and conclusions were obtained.
The next face-to-face meeting will be held in Brest (France) in June, and it will be hosted by the Université de Bretagne Occidentale.
The project will finish in October 2026, and it has a total budget of 1,9 million euros.
Source: Blueskilling Innovation project