Naval Group
As an international naval defense player, Naval Group is partnering with countries seeking to maintain and control their maritime sovereignty.
Throughout the entire life cycle of vessels, Naval Group develops innovative solutions to meet its customers’ requirements. Naval Group designs, produces, equips, integrates, supports and upgrades submarines and surface ships, as well as their systems and equipment, right up to the final phases of deconstruction and dismantling.
Naval Group’s unique know-how in autonomous systems, underwater weapons and drones place the company as a leader in the sector. As a high-tech company, it draws on its outstanding expertise, unique design, production resources and ability to establish strategic partnerships. It also provides shipyard and naval base services.
Naval Group has a long experience in training people and customer. The company designs a high range of training programs for Navies and its employees.
Ever mindful of the issues concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR), Naval Group signs the UN Global Compact. Located on five continents, the group generates global revenue of 4.355 billion euros and employs 16,722 people around the world.
Maritime Association for Southern Sunnmøre (MAFOSS)
The Maritime Association for Southern Sunnmøre (MAFOSS) was founded in 1969 under the name “The Workshop Association in the Ulstein Region”, with the goal of promoting the shipbuilding industry in the region and developing forms of cooperation to strengthen the competitiveness of its member companies.
MAFOSS covers a region consisting of seven municipalities in Southern Sunnmøre, Norway (Volda, Ørsta, Vanylven, Sande, Herøy, Ulstein, and Hareid), often referred to as “the Seven Stars.” The member companies represent an almost complete maritime and marine value chain: from idea and design, through equipment and components, to construction, assembly, testing, and final delivery.
As of today, MAFOSS has around 35 member companies, including four shipyards, the largest Norwegian subcontractors, smaller companies with detailed expertise, as well as classification and consulting services.
Jan Thormodsæter is the Managing Director of MAFOSS.
Under his leadership, the organization has placed strong emphasis on restructuring, skills development, and apprenticeships, as well as on finding increasingly better joint solutions to the challenges faced by its member companies.
This includes participation in the Erasmus+-funded program LeaderSHIP, where MAFOSS has the privilege of learning from the best in Europe in areas such as education, best practices, and overall understanding of the industry's challenges.
A highly educational and valuable project to be part of!
Some of the key areas MAFOSS has focused on recent years include:
- Skills development projects: For example, the MAKOMP project, which aims to enable smarter sharing of resources and capacity among member companies, as well as upskilling of skilled workers.
- Recruitment and apprenticeships: Ensuring access to vocational expertise and working to mitigate fluctuations in orders and staffing levels.
- Strategic collaboration: Working across industry, the public sector, and education to solve shared challenges such as infrastructure (road, sea, air), educational offerings, and creating strong framework conditions for the maritime sector.
Under Thormodsæter’s leadership, MAFOSS has strengthened its role as a regional facilitator: bringing member companies together, highlighting their needs and challenges, amplifying their voice to politicians and public authorities, and continuously working on innovation and future-readiness.
To get in touch with MAFOSS and Jan, please e-mail jan@mafoss.no or phone +47 92467700.
Further information about MAFOSS to be found at www.mafoss.no
Damen Workforce Romania
Damen Workforce Romania (DWR), part of the Damen Shipyards Group, is an international workforce solutions provider and trusted partner to the shipbuilding industry.
Our Mission
We deliver skilled professionals for naval shipbuilding, supporting both local and international projects with responsibility and commitment.
Our Vision
We deliver what we promise.
Our Values
Fellowship and teamwork, craftsmanship and quality, long-term responsibility and sustainability, client focus and entrepreneurial spirit.
Our Services
- Workforce selection and recruitment
- Training in our own training center
- Professional testing and certification support
- Employment, payroll, and travel arrangements
- PPE provision and full documentation assistance
Training Center
In our own training center, we can qualify workforce according to our client’s needs and / or organize development and multi-skills activities. To date, about 4200 people have been trained in various occupations such as welding, steel fitting, piping and mechanical.
Our Expertise
We provide highly qualified specialists with extensive shipbuilding experience, including certified welders, pipe fitters, electricians, mechanics, engineers, QC inspectors, and project managers. Our teams contribute to projects ranging from tugs and ferries to naval vessels, yachts, dredgers, and ice-breakers.
Through professionalism and reliability, Damen Workforce Romania ensures added value and success for European and international shipbuilding projects.
Meyer Turku
Meyer Turku is one of the world’s largest and most modern shipyards. We build the world’s most modern and environmentally friendly cruise ships, ferries, and special vessels together with our partner companies. Over the years, the Turku shipyard has built over 1,300 new vessels for clients across the world. Meyer Turku Oy operates at the Turku shipyard where ships have been built since 1737. Meyer Turku Oy is owned by the Meyer family.
Building cruise ships requires not only highly professional metal industry workers but also top expertise in design, project management, technology and product development. With our over 2,000 skilled workers, Meyer Turku can offer unrivalled expertise. This is why it is important to maintain our employees’ high level of expertise and ensure our personnel’s wellbeing.
Meyer Turku Shipbuilding school has a long-standing tradition (1962) training shipbuilding professionals in Finland. It’s one of the few schools still operating in Finland that is maintained by a company. The school works in close cooperation with all departments of the company and organises centralised training and courses for the personnel of Meyer Turku Oy and its subsidiaries. Many of our employees work as teachers and lecturers in addition to their own work.
Meyer Turku is involved in LeaderSHIP in several work packages, particularly WP4, which focus on piloting training programs
Contacts
Sini-Kukka Malmberg, Head of HR Process and HRD,
sini-kukka.malmberg@meyerturku.fi
maritime Technology Cluster FVG
mareFVG (Maritime Technology Cluster FVG) is a non-profit public-private consortium established in 2009 and based in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Italy. The cluster serves as the regional reference point for companies, universities, research centres, and training institutions active in the maritime sector, with the mission to boost the competitiveness of the regional maritime ecosystem at national, European, and international levels.
Core Activities:
- Networking and Collaboration: promoting interregional and international partnerships among the cluster’s members;
- Project Support: assistance to cluster members for R&D projects, administrative reporting, and technical implementation;
- Innovation and Open Innovation: organizing workshops, events, and matchmaking initiatives to connect research results with end users;
- Training and Orientation: support in designing school and university pathways, customization of professional courses, delivery of school laboratory activities, and career guidance in maritime professions;
- Observatory and Mapping: continuous mapping of regional stakeholders—over 1,300 maritime companies registered as of late 2024—to analyze skills and technological needs, guide regional policies, and support the establishment of new entities in the territory;
- Technology Transfer: organizing thematic seminars and technical events on emerging maritime technologies
In 2025-2026, mareFVG is undergoing a strategic transformation to expand its scope beyond maritime technology to include aerospace, underwater economy and renewable energies. This evolution, driven by regional stakeholders and major industrial players, positions mareFVG as a multisectoral innovation hub designed to address the technological challenges of the future.
Besides a dedicated project team, the cluster relies on a multidisciplinary team of experts with advanced technical and administrative skills, who can be engaged based on specific project needs and their areas of expertise.
Contacts:
Cristina Cesaro cristina.cesaro@marefvg.it
Flavia Fortin flavia.fortin@marefvg.it
Wendy Lenarduzzi wendy.lenarduzzi@marefvg.it
Roberta Padovan roberta.padovan@marefvg.it
NAVANTIA
Navantia is a high technology company with a particular focus in defence, naval shipbuilding and green energies.
A reference in the design, building, integration and life cycle support of ships for the Spanish Navy and international customers. Its activities in defence include complex systems integration and smart services, such as data based predictive sustainment or augmented reality enabled training. Navantia is adopting 4.0 technologies in shipyards and products.
Spanish and state owned, Navantia is commited to support sustainable development both economic, social and environtmentally. It is a member of Spanish network for UN Global Compact.
With a long track record of collaboration with Universities, Navantia has launched a network of centres of excellence (CoEx) with a focus in diferent technologies and an initiative to foster and attract open innovation (Monodon).
Contact:
Paula Ochoa Nava – Competence Manager (pochoa@navantia.es)
Paula Garrido Dos Santos – International HR Business Partner (pgarridods@navantia.es)
Université de Toulon - Center for Vocational Education and Training
The Center for Vocational Education and Training (Campus des Métiers et des Qualifications d’Excellence – CMQe), hosted by the University of Toulon and specialized in the maritime economy, is involved in the LeaderSHIP project. This involvement is aimed at expanding and diversifying the training offer in the maritime sector, while strengthening European cooperation in the field of education.
As the leader of Work Package 5, the CMQe’s day-to-day work on the LeaderSHIP project focuses on the practical implementation of the Quality and Risk Management System. Activities such as feedback and risk analysis, performance assessment, tracking the achievement of project objectives, and conducting satisfaction surveys are designed to directly support project management and assist partners in achieving the desired outcomes.
The Centre for Vocational Education and Training specializing in the maritime economy has been hosted by the University of Toulon since 2017 and is designed to:
- Connect with companies and offer training tailored to maritime professions;
- Build links between companies, secondary schools, vocational high schools, and universities to deliver relevant training programs;
- Anticipate future skill needs by integrating the latest technological and environmental innovations;
- Support professional skill development by promoting continuing education, apprenticeships, and initial training from high school through to higher education.
Established in 1968, the University of Toulon boasts six faculties — Communication; Literature and Foreign Languages; Law, Economics and Management; Sports Sciences; and Science and Technology — encompassing a wide range of departments. It also includes one engineering school and two institutes for technology and business administration. The University offers a broad selection of programs, with more than 100 degrees and options at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
Contact
Philippe Buffe de Mornas, CMQ Executive Director, philippe.buffe-de-mornas@univ-tln.fr
Emilie Descheemaecker, Project manager, emilie.descheemaecker@univ-tln.fr
Marion Leclerc, CMQ communication manager, marion.leclerc@univ-tln.fr
Organisation webpage
Università di Genova – UniGe
DITEN Polo Navale (DITEN - Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering Unit)
Education: Founded in Genova in 1871 as Regia Scuola Superiore Navale (Royal Naval High School), then part of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Genoa since its establishment in 1935, nowadays DITEN Polo Navale is part of the Polytechnic School of the University of Genova and carries on the tradition of education in the field of naval architecture and marine engineering, graduating more than 50% of the Italian naval architects and of the technical Officers of the Italian Navy. As a member since foundation of WEGEMT, a network of about 30 European Universities operating in the field of Naval Architecture, DITEN Polo Navale organised, among the others, graduate and post-graduate schools attended by students from U.E. and outside. It has cooperation agreements with several universities worldwide, of course under the Erasmus Programme in EU.
Scientific activities: The academic staff of DITEN Polo Navale is active in the fields of:
Hydrodynamics (prediction of ship motions and resistance, numerical and experimental analysis of propellers, numerical modelling of hull shapes, ship and offshore structures stability).
Ship structures (design methods for ship and offshore structures, marine composites, reliability methods, fatigue analysis of ship structural components, noise and vibrations, FSI).
Ship propulsion plants (evaluation of environmental impact of marine transport, dynamic simulation of power plants, diesel electric propulsion, low pollution prime movers).
Research links: In addition to projects funded by the Italian Government and/or by Italian companies, DITEN Polo Navale participated as contractor or sub-contractor in various programmes in co-operation with European and worldwide Industries, Research Centres and Classification Societies.
Available facilities:
Hydrodynamic Lab (IDRO): towing tank and cavitation tunnel for propeller tests.
Marine Structures Testing Lab (MaSTeL): equipment for static, fatigue and dynamic tests on large or full-scale specimens, ship motions and sea trials in general, vibration and structure-borne noise, structural monitoring, development of equipment and specification for unconventional testing.
Drives and Experimental Automation for Marine Systems (DrEAMS) Lab: mechatronics, modeling and simulation of fluid power systems, diagnostics, monitoring and preventive maintenance, testing of non-conventional fluidic units, analysis of vibro-acoustic phenomena associated with drives and vacuum technology.
Contact us:
Prof. Cesare Mario Rizzo cessare.rizzo@unige.it
Prof. Marco Gaiotti marco.gaiotti@unige.it
Prof. Tatiana Pais tatiana.pais@unige.it
Prof. Gianmarco Vergassola gianmarco.vergassola@unige.it
GICAN
GICAN, the French maritime industry association, is the trade association for over 300 manufacturers and organizations in the French maritime sector.
The association, which celebrates in 2024 its 125th anniversary, brings together shipyards, systems manufacturers, equipment suppliers, subcontractors, engineering companies, naval architects, the naval aviation industry, as well as companies and organizations from the maritime ecosystem.
The organisation has three main missions :
- Defend the interests of the French maritime industry with regional, national and european public and political players, to promote an institutional and political environment favorable to the development of our industry, in both the civilian and military arenas.
- Promote French maritime technological and industrial expertise by highlighting the expertise of its members, both in France and abroad.
- Support the development and competitiveness of the maritime industry by participating in the structuring of the sector to meet the challenges faced by manufacturers : innovation and its financings, training and skills with support to CINAV, The National Campus for the sea industry.
GICAN is involved in LEADERSHIP in several work packages and in particular WP 2 with to realize the mapping of upskilling and reskilling support and financing schemes, that includes the identification at EU, national and regional level, and the highlight of best practices to be upscaled.
Groupement des Industries de Construction et Activités Navales (GICAN)
Contacts
Philippe MISOFFE, Managing Director
Mélanie VERON FOUGAS, European Policy Manager
Anne-Hélène LAOT, Project Manager skills and attractiveness, anne-helene.laot@gican.asso.fr
Turku Vocational Institute
Turku Vocational Institute (TAI) is a vocational education institution with 10,198 students annually and 641 staff members. TAI has been operating in Turku, Finland since 1998. Vocational upper secondary qualifications further vocational qualifications and specialist vocational qualifications in various fields, including mechanical engineering and production technology, building services engineering and electrical and automation engineering.
TAI’s primary missions are:
- Developing individuals’ skills
- Serving and developing the working life
- Fulfilling social responsibility through its services
TAI is involved in LeaderSHIP in several work packages, particularly WP3 and WP4, which focus on designing a European sector-wide agreed “core” curricula and training programs and delivering these core curricula and training programs.
Contacts
Mikko Hauninen, Training Manager for Mechanical and Metal Engineering and Building Services Engineering
Hannu Immonen, Managing Director/ Service Area Director, Vocational Education