On 29 March 2022 over one hundred participants from seventeen countries, representing stakeholders from education, industry and policy, attended the MATES hybrid Final Conference. The full presentations and recording of the event are available below. The overall messages of the conference have also been summarised in a conference executive summary. The project has also produced a more detailed Full Conference Report which provides more insights into the presentations and panels and how they relate to the overall impacts of MATES.

Held both in Brussels and online, the conference opened with presentations from Commission representatives Andreea Strachinescu (DG MARE) and Julie Fionda (DG EMPL), each of whom laid out the European strategic context for the Blue Economy in which MATES has operated. After the opening session, the MATES project coordinator Lucía Fraga (CETMAR) and other MATES partners delivered overviews of the project’s Maritime Technologies Skills Strategy, Legacy Brochure and the Sustainability and long-term Action Plan. These documents demonstrate the comprehensive approach and impacts MATES has brought to the evaluation of the skills and occupational needs within the Blue Economy, particularly the shipbuilding and offshore renewable energy sectors.

The MATES partners have also engaged with two large-scale Pact for Skills partnerships; connecting to the Shipbuilding Pact and driving the Offshore Renewable Energies Pact. During the final conference, a panel of users of the project outcomes shared their views on the impact achieved to date. The extent of these impacts were showcased through success stories from the project’s activities and demonstrated how the MATES strategy is being transferred to key actors at both the regional and European levels.

Since 2018, MATES has focused on bridging the gap between skills demand (market needs) and skills provision (training offer) within the maritime technologies sectors, in particular the Shipbuilding and Offshore Renewable Energy. MATES has addressed this mismatch through several initiatives, in particular the testing of 11 Pilot Experiences. As one of the first Blueprint projects launched by the EU Skills Agenda, MATES has now paved the way for a more collaborative approach to better align educational opportunities and labour market needs. While the project closes at the end of April 2022, MATES partners plan to continue exploiting the project’s results.

All presentations from the conference are available here.

The conference agenda is available here.

A recording of the conference can be viewed on the MATES YouTube here.