MARitime cluster Management Education Development

<< Background >>Clusters are important contributors for the green economy. They are essential policy tools for supporting sustainable growth and jobs across the Mediterranean as well as boosters for innovation and diversification of the Blue Economy. However, although cluster management is highly demanding and requires a large set of skills, to date training opportunities are still too few for the present and future maritime cluster. Therefore, MarMED aims to fill this gap providing substantial contributions to the upskilling and reskilling of current and future Managers of maritime clusters. Throughout its contribution, MarMED successfully addressed the following needs: 1. Ecosystem level: lack of adequate training and poor staff development; 2. Labour Market Level: lack of definition for the role of a Cluster Manager and the necessary set of skills; 3. Training system level: lack of mission-oriented training course in the Mediterranean region for Cluster Manager; and the 4. Professional development level: as cluster management requires innovation, knowledge, and hard and soft skills, there is a lack of a systemic multi-level approach to leadership and cooperation in view of new professional profiles.<< Objectives >>MarMED main goal was to provide substantial contribution to the upskilling of Maritime Clusters Managers responding to the emerging needs of increasing the level of innovation and competitiveness for this professional profile of the Blue Economy. Accordingly, it aimed also to enhance job opportunities and career development in the sector. In detail, MarMED project enabled the Consortium to achieve the following objectives: 1. Bridging the gap between the existing needs and the current skillset of Maritime Clusters Managers ensuring upskilling of human resources and the outline of an innovative professional profile for an increased competitiveness of Maritime Cluster in the Mediterranean area and, overall, the boosting of innovation and sustainable growth in the Blue Economy Area. 2. Establishing a viable cooperation mechanism between research entities/VET Providers and industry to enable Mediterranean Maritime Clusters to become drivers in the domain of the Blue Economy Innovation and Sustainable Growth in the area and beyond. << Implementation >>MarMED was implemented in 24 months during which a series of activities for each WP were realized. We started from the analysis on Maritime Clusters Managers skills Gaps, analyzed under the Framework of the new sustainable Blue Economy Policies (WP2). On the basis of this analysis, it has been designed a new Curriculum for upskilling and reskilling of the Blue Cluster Managers functioning as a permanent capacity building system for Cluster Managers. Prior to designing the Curriculum, partners worked on the methodology and designing of the training activities and content (WP3). Later on, the piloting practical training was delivered on the e-learning platform and after a selection process of participants has been assured to be performed successfully. This process has also planned to deliver 8-hour learning module, in which trainers were trained on the general structure of the training, on the use of the digital platform, on the assessment methods and the expected results. This pilot training programme contributed to the accreditation process started under WP4 according to the EQF level. Finally, several activities concurred to the implementation of the stakeholder mobilization and related set of recommendations (WP5). << Results >>Overall, the Marmed project achieved the following concrete outputs:1. Comprehensive Gap analysis report on upskilling and re-skilling needs of Mediterranean Maritime Clusters. 2. Innovative training system (online MOOC platform) for capacity building of Blue Clusters Managers.3. Innovative and accessible OER learning providing all the necessary materials and contents with the support of different methodologies. OER was built according to Universal accessibility standards.4. Set of Recommendations on Blue Clusters Managers Training and capacity building, addressed to all the actors of the Blue Economy ecosystem. Other concrete results have been fully achieved such as a deeper impact on a high number of stakeholders in the Mediterranean ecosystem on the importance of the Maritime Cluster Manager as a new professional role in the sector. Moreover, the project pioneered the implementation of the first Maritime Cluster’s training course in the Mediterranean region. The project enhanced synergies among Maritime Clusters as well as their competitiveness in the sector due to the upskilling and reskilling of Blue Cluster Managers. Finally, it raised awareness on the importance of this role for blue economy sector.