Conference: Future Blue Economy Workforce Conference

St. Petersburg College (SPC) will host a one-day conference in Clearwater, FL that will bring academics together with ocean industry and non-profit leaders to discuss strategies for training the Future Blue Economy Workforce. This conference is organized in response to (NSF 23-134) Dear Colleague Letter: Workshops to Identify Educational Requirements of the future Ocean Technical Workforce. The goals of SPC’s conference are to 1) Bring a diverse group of academic and non-academic representatives of ocean and other blue economy industries together with academic faculty to discuss workforce and training needs. (2) Discuss the targeted educational gaps in the ocean technical workforce that are typically filled by technicians; and (3) Prepare a final report on issues such as current hiring trends, necessary workforce skills, competencies, credentialing and recommendations for new blue economy curriculum. The conference attendance is anticipated to be 100 and will include industry, educators, students and faculty. The conference will help academic organizations identify the technical training requirements that will best prepare the future blue economy workforce and foster enhanced partnerships with the blue economy industry. Results and findings will be shared with a broad audience via a public report. SPC’s Future Blue Economy Workforce conference will result in connections between the regional community colleges and universities and ocean industries, generating a focus on curriculum that will engage students in ocean-related studies and improve workforce recruitment for ocean sciences. The conference will impact the local Tampa Bay community by identifying and addressing workforce needs collectively which will support the overall growth of the blue economy industry. This growth, in turn, has the potential to create more job opportunities across various sectors, especially for underserved populations supported by the local and regional community colleges. The collaboration will have broader impacts as they apply to environmental stewardship. The conference can promote a shared commitment to environmentally sustainable practices ensuring that blue economy industries prioritize conservation and responsible resource management. Finally, the conference will contribute to public awareness about the importance of the blue economy. This award is jointly supported by the Division of Undergraduate Education and the Division of Ocean Sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.