The core activity funded under this grant was the Building the Blue: Identifying Educational Requirements of the Future Ocean Technical Workforce conference with keynote speaker, Dr. Edie Widder, held on September 13, 2025 at the  SPC Collaborative Labs EpiCenter at St. Petersburg College. The 1 day session was an in-person event only, with no charge to the attendees.  Parking, attendance, a continental breakfast and working lunch were included for all participants.  

One specific objective was efforts toward developing a broader awareness of the Blue Economy in our region. To accomplish this objective, the production team from PBS, responsible for Changing Seas programming, was in attendance to engage with attendees and film during the event. Additionally, a videographer was engaged attend and produce a feature length video on the conference, as well as 2 “shorts”- short format videos suitable for posting to social media platforms. Additional materials that were developed for public consumption are the Collaborative Labs “Real Time Record” and a whitepaper product developed by the Co-PI on the grant. In this way, opportunities were created for topics and materials to be disseminated to communities of interest. 

Key outcomes and achievements include opportunities for training and development. The conference generated concepts for coursework that we have developed and an awareness of the skillsets that are needed to prepare our students for the Blue Economy 2.0. 

The impact on the development of the principal discipline of the conference are multifold. The conference contributed to ocean science research and societal needs by bringing together educational providers, students, industry and workforce development to discuss aspects of marine education and its intersection with adjacent STEM fields, as well as related industry areas that can be positively impacted through workforce training. With the information gained during the conference, we can create education strategies aimed at improving ocean literacy and strengthening science education, applying comprehensive strategy to direct implementation with students gaining more familiarity with ocean literacy by the power of social media outreach and algorithms. These efforts support the development of human capacity and the highly competent workforce necessary to conduct ocean research and manage ocean resources. 

Jobs in the Blue Economy require skills in more than one specialty.  In addition to skills normally associated with the blue economy, like boat handling, there is a demand for skills normally associated with technical careers like GIS, AI, programming, and statistics. Another consistent theme was the need for soft skills like critical thinking and emotional intelligence as well as a need for mariner training. Educators recommended making the Blue Economy more visible by creating career pathways for job seekers and connecting students with industry.  There was a focus on creating experience-based courses that directly link to real life tasks. The focus would be to bring crossover skills to those who already have training in a more traditional academic pathway like natural sciences. Entry level experience in subjects like GIS, AI, programming, and statistics should be offered. Many of the needs of the Blue Economy mimic other parts of business, industry and employment, which showcases the transfer of skills and interdisciplinary needs. Many skills needed in the Blue Economy are already here, however, clear connections and career pathways to bring them into play are areas for further exploration and development. 

The Blue Economy spans marine and freshwater environments. Given Florida’s extensive coastline, this sector plays a critical role in the state’s workforce and overall quality of life. Top skills identified by industry relate to the explorer’s mindset with “integration between technology and science” and “technical problem-solving skills/troubleshooting”. More can be done to prepare students for a life aboard ship in these capacities, and this is an interesting area of future discussion for academics and industry to pursue.