POSEIDON’s Communities of Practice (COP) unite local stakeholders together

One of the main objectives of the POSEIDON project is to establish local Communities of Practice (COP) in the ports of Valencia and Thessaloniki. A COP is a group of individuals who share a common interest or concern and collaborate to achieve both individual and collective goals. These communities focus on sharing best practices, creating new knowledge, and advancing a specific professional domain through a mix of face-to-face meetings and web-based collaborations.

Main motivations for setting up COPs in POSEIDON and key target groups

The primary goal of establishing COPs in Valencia and Thessaloniki is to unite local project partners, external networks, and stakeholders interested in decarbonizing the maritime sector and transitioning to renewable fuels. COP members, positioned along the e-methanol value chain, will provide feedback and co-create results with project partners to prepare for the implementation of new value chains based on e-methanol in Spain and Greece. The target groups sought for COP membership include key industrial stakeholders such as feedstock providers, fuel suppliers, vessel operators, public authorities, project developers, the EU research community, working groups on renewable fuels for shipping, standardization bodies, and the general public.

A COP framework as guiding framework of COP activities

To run the communities and ensure sustained members’ engagement from project start to finish and beyond, it is crucial to defines rules and guiding principles to be followed. This work was carried out from September 2023 to February 2024 and involved Greek and Spanish project partners of POSEIDON and external stakeholders who provided feedback through workshops. It led to the production of a so-called COP framework. This framework stipulates that the COP management will be led by partners FVP, manager of the Spanish COP, and ThPA, manager of the Greek COP: Both COP managers will be supported by partner Steinbeis which act as facilitator for the two communities. It is planned to have at least 1, ideally 2 meetings a year (either online or in person) per community. The COP will be designed as an open discussion and exchange platform that should be an attractive platform to join for external stakeholders with as few barriers to entry as possible. COPs activities will focus on two major aspects: 1. learning activities to empower COP members and provide them with the necessary skills to embark on e-methanol value chain to be implemented and 2. more project-oriented activities focusing on the co-creation of selected research results like the use case scenarios.

COP kick-offs and first workshops

With the general COP framework in place, the next step is to kick off the COPs with first meetings. The Spanish COP was launched with an in-person meeting in March 2024 (link to the article), followed by a second in-person workshop in September 2024, with the participation of project partner ICODOS. The Greek COP will have its kick-off in September 2024. These initial exchanges aim to build trust and formalize a continuous exchange lasting until the project’s end. FVP and ThPA, the COP managers, will ensure that these meetings are conducted in the local language to facilitate better communication and engagement. In autumn 2024, COP members will be invited to give their views on the main challenges to be met to accelerate the transition to renewable fuels and on the main scenarios to be studied for the two use cases of Valencia and Thessaloniki.

We will keep you updated on the activities of the POSEIDON communities of practice.