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% 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 organisation.

Commenting on the launch Benedicte Teigen Gude, Executive Vice President HR, culture and, communication, Wilhelmsen says: “Representing more than 80 nationalities, at Wilhelmsen we believe a diverse and engaged workforce is the foundation of our continued success. Although we have made good progress on further improving equality, diversity and inclusion across our entire global network, we and the industry at large still have a long way to go. We need to encourage talented and passionate people to join the maritime world. Actively collaborating with industry peers through The Maritime Innovation Lab is a fruitful and creative way of finding real, tangible solutions to help ensure we make our industry interesting to the broadest talent pool possible, offering an inclusive workplace with equal opportunities for all.”