The European Commission, through the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE), has awarded the Blueskilling Innovation project, which includes Técnico. The award ceremony took place on 21 November, at the 11th Atlantic Stakeholders Platform Conference (ASPC 2024) in Bordeaux.

Blueskilling Innovation won the Atlantic Project Award in the “Blue Skills and Ocean Literacy” category. Led by Foro Marítimo Vasco, the project aims to promote sustainable shipbuilding practices. The consortium has focused on training people to use digital tools more effectively and adopt new technologies that ensure clean energy.

Participating in the project are researchers from the European aquaculture sector, including specialists in maritime and river transport, shipbuilding, ports and infrastructures, and offshore wind energy (turbines or wind turbines at sea). The Portuguese team is led by Ângelo Teixeira, a professor at Técnico and a researcher at the Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC).

The activities carried out are valued at 1.92 million euros, 1.44 of which is funded by Interreg Atlantic Area – a programme to support transnational cooperation in the Atlantic regions of Portugal, Spain, France and Ireland, co-funded by the European Union.

The Atlantic Project Award recognises actions relevant to the implementation of the Atlantic Action Plan 2.0. in Europe, in five categories. The “Blue Skills and Ocean Literacy” category is aimed at projects, initiatives and actions that boost blue skills and blue jobs, featuring quality education, training and lifelong learning, and that promote ocean literacy.