On 23-24 October 2024, Madeira was the venue for the second co-creation workshop of the TWINNEDbySTARS project, which brought together companies and key players of the maritime and nautical tourism sectors from the outermost regions of the Canary Islands and the Azores. It has been organised in collaboration with Associação Comercial e Industrial do Funchal—Camara de Comércio e Indústria da Madeira (ACIF-CCIM) and Marina do Funchal, and under the leadership of Nautic Ocean and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria—Instituto Universitario TIDES (ULPGC-TIDES).
The first day started with a welcome by Assis Correia, from ACIF-CCIM, followed by the presentation of the project by Isabel Vieira, also a member of ACIF-CCIM. Throughout the day, interesting presentations were made on topics such as whale watching under an ecological approach, with the participation of Declan Hobley from Magic Dolphin and Sara Jardim from VMT Madeira, who explained the company’s commitment to sustainability. Misael Danilo Morales Vargas from Biosean also spoke about on-board education, hydrophones and marine sound data exploitation, along with Duarte Oliveira, who offered a fascinating insight into astrotourism in Madeira.
After these inspirational presentations, participants started the ideation phase under the guidance of Gerard Martinez from Nautic Ocean. The session allowed companies to introduce themselves and exchange innovation ideas, which stressed in the organisation of thematic tables, each with a different topic. Each table saw the participation of companies from diverse regions with a common desire of bringing new business models to reality. .
At the end of the day, Xavier Martinez, from Nautic Ocean, presented the results of the thematic tables, summarising the key ideas, agreements and jresponsibilities that will guide the next steps of the project. Attendees also enjoyed a teambuilding activity in the evening.
The second day started with the intervention of Monica Quesada, from the CLUSTER MARITIMO DE CANARIAS, who participated remotely to talk about business homogenisation and the promotion of certificates. Afterwards, Teresa Gubern, member of ULPGC-TIDES, presented the self-assessment questionnaire of circular and digital maturity for nautical tourism firms, a service created by the project. Training and technical needs of the nautical sector were also jointly identified by the participants.
This co-creation workshop represents a key step in the development of multi-destination nautical tourism products and services, strengthening the local and regional business cooperation in line with the objectives of the TWINNEDbySTARS project.