Atlantic Onboard Internships, a platform created under the European TWINNEDbySTARS project, has been shortlisted for the third edition of the Talento Sostenible Awards, convened by the Fundación Líneas Romero and the Chamber of Commerce of Lanzarote and La Graciosa in the Canary Islands, Spain. The awards ceremony will take place in Lanzarote on 27 March, bringing together projects that combine innovation, social responsibility and environmental impact in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Developed by the marine science company Biosean and represented by Misael Morales, Atlantic Onboard Internships (AOBI) connects young international talent with nautical SMEs in the outermost Atlantic regions of the Canary Islands, Azores, Madeira and Martinique. Through a digital platform, it turns whale‑watching and other nautical tourism vessels into floating classrooms and travelling laboratories, where students and early‑career professionals can complete internships, research projects and practical training while contributing to citizen science.
Rather than creating a separate activity, AOBI integrates academic internships into existing tourism operations, allowing interns to collect data on marine noise, microplastics, and cetacean behaviour while paying passengers. Tourists, in turn, are invited to witness real marine science at first hand, listening to whale vocalisations through hydrophones and learning about ocean conservation and light and noise pollution at sea. This approach deepens the visitor experience while reinforcing the host companies’ commitment to an evidence‑based model of marine ecotourism.
The Talento Sostenible awards seek to “discover and promote new products, services or applications” that are economically viable, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable, with a clear potential for replication in other regions. The winning project will receive a formal certificate and a financial endowment of 5,500 euros, intended to accelerate its development and visibility. In this edition, the organisers have also underlined the need for initiatives to integrate the three dimensions of sustainability and to support the ecological transition of the businesses that implement them.
In the case of Atlantic Onboard Internships, any award would reinforce a model that aims to retain scientific and technical talent in the islands, diversify the Blue Economy and position the Canary Islands as a hub for knowledge‑based maritime tourism. Under this nomination, AOBI’s presence in Lanzarote on 27 March signals the growing recognition of hybrid initiatives that link tourism, science and local development across the outermost Atlantic regions.