Hafnia, Anglo American, RightShip, Rio Tinto, Thome Group, and Wilhelmsen have joined forces to launch the Maritime Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Innovation Lab 2022.
The innovation lab is an open competition for interested participants (individuals, institutions, companies, students etc.) to submit their ideas on addressing DEI in the maritime industry.
Shortlisted teams will participate in the innovation lab to hone their pitches in preparation for a ‘Dragon’s Den’ session with industry leaders. The winning team and their idea will be brought to life with collaboration and funding from the partner organizations involved.
With women representing only 1.2% percent of the global seafarer workforce (BIMCO/ICS 2021 Seafarer Workforce Report), and a significant lack of ethnic and female representation in senior roles (Diversity Study Group 2021), the maritime sector lags when it comes to attracting and retaining the talent required to succeed in the face of increasing uncertainty and complexity.
The aim of the innovation lab is to uncover powerful ideas through crowdsourcing and applying rapid and agile methodology from ideation through to product development.
This year’s competition follows the Women in Maritime Lab 2020 which resulted in the creation of SeaCode, a platform offering peer to peer support to seafarers whilst gathering and aggregating industry data. Recently, SeaCode was incorporated within the ISWAN organization.
In announcing this year’s program, Hafnia’s Mia Krogslund Jørgensen (Vice President), Head of People, Culture and Strategy reiterates the urgent need for a collective approach to address change, not only from an organizational level, but from anyone with an interest in driving the tomorrow of the maritime industry.
“Diversity goes beyond gender; however, this is one of the most visible elements and also can be quantified. It encompasses a diversity of skills and competences that are paramount in innovating our journey through the new maritime reality we live in.”
Those interested in driving change in the maritime industry are invited to submit their ideas through the website: https://www.esg-innovation.com/maritime-dei-lab-2022/
The partners Hafnia, Anglo American, RightShip, Rio Tinto, Thome Group, and Wilhelmsen will hold a kick-off webinar on Thursday, 18 August 2022. Save the date with the following link https://www.addevent.com/event/lV14597744 and join the webinar to find out more about this initiative and how you can participate.
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