WP10 Stakeholder Engagement and Capacity Building

The task aims to complete the first steps of the capacity development management cycle (i) Needs Assessment (NA), and (ii) Activity Planning. On one side, due to the diversity of skills needed to co-design, to set up and operate the pilots as well as commercialise the generated services, the current capabilities need to be accurately identified. On the other side, all WPs will list the desired capabilities (scientific, technical, managerial, business) that are needed for longterm sustainability. The capacity development needs will be then defined based on the gap between the existent and desired capabilities. For the capacity development needs assessment, surveys, interviews, physical or online workshops, webinars, hackathons and others will be used. The outcomes will be utilised to draft a capacity development plan which will define the detailed topics to be addressed in compliance with the identified needs and technologies developed within Iliad, the targeted groups, the trainers, the methods and tools for communication and the timeline.

• Duration:  M1 - M12
• Task Lead:  Bye Bente (BLB)

This task will establish the Iliad BTBIF, Iliad’s support facility to promote business development and innovation in the circular and digital blue economy of ESB and beyond. The Facility will operate through Iliad partners that will provide services to support technology transfer, business development, identifying possible implementation solutions, business incubation programs as well as relevant best practices, mentoring and coaching of individual companies to introduce innovative products to the markers or present them to investors. The BTBIF will identify capacity and resource gaps to promote business development, leveraging the Iliad DTO and services to bridge gaps. Through the BTBIF, support packages developed for very early start-ups operating in the area to include use of Iliad DTO for business development (T11.5) will be provided. Also, the BTBIF will provide assistance to identify solutions for implementation in terms of: start-up operations (e.g. identification of incubators, third party support for management – legal, administrative), investors (e.g. identification of venture capitalists in the market sector, identification of business angel networks), funding (e.g. identification of financial instruments for start-ups or new businesses from banks, local governments, national funding, identification of crowdfunding platforms and schemes.

• Duration:  M13 - M36
• Task Lead:  American University of Armenia Foundation (AUA)

This task assists the partners in the creation and hosting of local workshops, organised in the pilot countries, which will facilitate the individual, institutional, and infrastructure capacity including exchanges among scientists as well as building long-term partnerships with academia (e.g. universities, vocational schools, high schools, etc). Through the local workshops, sustainable partnerships between local stakeholders will be established and local capacity development, including training, for different end-users will be initiated. The capacity development materials will be provided for local workshops in online repositories in reusable formats.

• Duration:  M12 - M36
• Task Lead:  Sapienza (SAPIENZA)

Regular training and workshops are given to pilot site managers and their technical staff. These workshops aim to develop capabilities as these groups will need to operate the pilots after the duration of the project. The workshops will focus on three different sets of skills: Technical, Managerial, Business and Marketing. Iliad early-career professionals/educators will participate in forming course materials and structure. As a result of the training, the skills (technical, managerial, business and marketing) of site managers will be significantly improved. An annual meeting of site managers is done as a side event in the General Assembly or similar, during which operational issues are discussed and experiences exchanged.

• Duration:  M8 - M36
• Task Lead:  Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (SPA/RAC)

Webinar series, hackathons and summer/winter schools will be organised regularly and form the basis for the Iliad Academy. Targeting early career scientists and young winter/summer schools will build an educated workforce that will be needed for the increased demand and new market opportunities. These summer/winter schools will be a combination of theoretical lectures, hands-on practical sessions and field trips to pilot sites, organised and delivered by partners and guest lectures/experts. The courses address the capacity development needs identified in T10, . The summer/ winter schools shall take place as physical meetings as well as online workshops/webinars. Requests from Charters of Professionals (Engineers, Architects etc) for lifelong learning will be addressed The program/content of these activities will be included in how-to create/update curricula, create MOOCs, and credit systems for lifelong learning systems.

• Duration:  M8 - M36
• Task Lead:  American University of Armenia Foundation (AUA)

National workshops in various countries are planned to demonstrate and present the operational DTO to local end-users and stakeholders. To ensure a wider uptake and knowledge transfer, these sessions will also be made available online via webinars. An interactive story map including virtual reality will be developed in collaboration with WP6 and WP11 that end-users and higher-level entities can explore, showing the progress of the project in an informative and interactive way. Additionally, meetings will be set up to address representatives of the Iliad Advisory Board and transnational Observation and Monitoring initiatives, such as CMEMS, Emodnet, EuroGOOS, C4IR Ocean Data Platform, and GEO Blue Planet Initiative where all key results, novelties and potential of Iliad will be presented. Cross-sectoral workshops with people from different fields (e.g. industry, policy and academia) will be set up to raise awareness of the DTO and its potential in their respective sector.

• Duration:  M24 - M36
• Task Lead:  Bye Bente (BLB)

In connection with Iliad Academy, Hackathons, and educational/training activities, Iliad BTBIF and PIF will organise two competitions that engage youth and young adults to pursue Digital Blue Economy opportunities. One of the competitions will focus on product innovation and business start-ups while the other will focus on policy innovations. Iliad consortium partners will mentor competing teams, offering them their business, technical, and policy know-how.

• Duration:  M31 - M36
• Task Lead:  American University of Armenia Foundation (AUA)

This task integrates Iliad with a global community and innovation hub, centred around the Oceans and Meteorology working group of the Open Geospatial Consortium. The goal is to ensure sustainability of project results and extended collaboration opportunities far beyond the reach of the project consortium. Key element of this activity is the integration of Iliad results into international standardisation activities. The task will interweave project ideas and results with international efforts in the context of DTO and coordinates developments with key partners such as the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO). Working closely with partners on a global scale, this task ensures internationally aligned cooperative developments, knowledge transfer, and sharing.

• Duration:  M1 - M36
• Task Lead:  Open Geospatial Consortium Europe (OGC)