1 – Brief description of your organisation and your main responsibility in the project
The Polish Chamber of Marine Industry and Water Sports – POLBOAT, established on 2006 to encourage development of the Polish boating industry, is an association of nearly 170 members, generating over 75% of the turnover of the entire sector.
POLBOAT is an organization associating operators of the production, trade, service, design, scientific research and training in the field of boating industry and water sports.
POLBOAT is the voice of the Polish boating industry, not only supporting boat manufacturers and helping them establish business contacts with domestic and foreign partners, but above all representing them and protecting the interests of entrepreneurs, in particular in talks with institutions and government. POLBOAT is also a member of ICOMIA and European Boating Industry.
POLBOAT’s strength is a close cooperation with all its members. That’s why POLBOAT can facilitate the flow of knowledge between higher education and the business sector. Our members are both – large enterprises employing over 1,000 people, with a strong position, excellent management staff, experienced employees, using the latest technologies, interested in implementation of eco-friendly solutions in their projects and building competitive advantages based on sustainable development, but also small and medium-sized companies, as well as start-ups created by young people, aware of the global situation and the direction in which the yachting industry must also follow.
POLBOAT has been cooperating with the Gdańsk University of Technology for almost 10 years in the field of student education, assistance in preparing the core curriculum, organizing visits to shipyards and organizing student internships in companies that are members of POLBOAT. POLBOAT is also strongly involved in the development of vocational education at the secondary school level.
Additionally, POLBOAT has been cooperating with ICOMIA and EBI for years, so we have an experience in collecting data on the production of vessels in Poland. And in 2021 and 2022, POLBOAT prepared two Reports for the Polish Ministry of Development – the first was about the impact of Covid on the Polish industry and the second was about the impact of the war in Ukraine on the boating industry. Both Reports were made with a telephone and face-to-face interviews in group of 100 companies divided into three groups: producers, suppliers, charter companies.
POLBOAT is also the organizer of the Polboat Yachting Festival, the largest and most important boat show in Poland, which, apart from being a place to present the latest models of boats from Polish shipyards, is also an excellent opportunity to organize conferences on topics important to the entire industry.
Therefore, POLBOAT can be useful both in the initial phase of research, later in designing and creating a new curriculum for higher education and vocational education, supporting the development of a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial mind-sets in the EU and finally during the training of trainers and the dissemination of results.
2 – Brief words about why you think this project is necessary
This project is necessary because the boating industry in the future must be more eco-friendly and sustainable.
Currently, companies are increasingly offering more environmentally friendly alternative propulsion systems, and some are also conducting research into the use of natural components such as composites reinforced with flax fiber and biological resins for the construction of boat hulls.
It is important not only to support the development of awareness of needed changes, but to achieve a sustainable change by educating new generations and training workers currently employed in the sector.
The TecoNaut project gives an opportunity to reliable analyze the current situation and propose tools that will permanently change the face of the boating industry in Europe, improving it and making it more sustainable, and is also a great chance that scientific institutions will keep up with changes in the industry and next graduates of vocational education thanks to their knowledge powered by modern training techniques will be able to immediately bring added value to the boating industry.
