The Viking women of the blue economy

Ten women gathered last Monday at the headquarters of the Fundació Barcelona Capital Nàutica. They drew attention because they wore a curious makeup in the form of blue stripes that crossed their faces. On a T-shirt, one could read Lagertha, the name of a pioneering program for female entrepreneurship in digital technologies within the framework of the blue economy. The ten are selected to be part of the program, whose objective is to increase the number of women executives in the economic sector related to the sea, thus reducing the tremendous gender gap in the field of ICT.

It is a program that combines online and in-person training, both on land and on board vessels. The name with which it has been baptized, Lagertha, which the organization and participants proudly display, evokes the legendary Viking queen who was the partner of Ragnar Lodbrok, another of the heroes of the Norse sagas. We were able to follow the adventures of both in the television series Vikings.

Lagertha symbolizes the overcoming and leadership of women who knew how to occupy a place of relevance in that society of warriors, who participated in battles and even led them. The campaign image is precisely the face of a woman with Viking war paint. One crosses the face below the eyes, passing over the nose. Two others, shorter, run parallel below the first. These are the same paints that the ten Lagerthas enthusiastically displayed on Monday at the program's presentation. The message is clear: we are here and we are going to fight.

The initiative is led by A Bordo Lab, an entity that uses the blue economy to promote sustainable and regenerative innovation in public and private organizations. The program has obtained the collaboration of the Fundació Barcelona Capital Nàutica, Telecos.cat and Ship 2B Foundation. The three contribute their knowledge in blue economy and digital technologies. It is also co-financed by the Generalitat through the Next Generation funds of the European Union.

The ten participants in the program have been selected from several dozens of candidates, entrepreneurial women, executives, and project managers. The Lagertha Project will last five weeks and, according to its promoter, Patricia González, CEO of A Bordo Lab, this first edition has been designed to provide "an initially local response, but globally replicable and scalable." The initiative is aligned with the principles and objectives of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. A few months ago, UNESCO established at the headquarters of the Fundació Barcelona Capital Nàutica the first and only Ocean Decade Collaborative Centre (DCC) dedicated to the blue economy, which positions the Catalan capital as a global reference in this field.

In the words of Patricia González, the Lagertha program wants participants not only to learn about advanced digital technologies in artificial intelligence and augmented reality but also to integrate them as "a fundamental tool to multiply their regenerative impact." To this end, the initiative is, adds the CEO of A Bordo Lab, "an immersive experience on land and at sea that seeks the deep transformation of entrepreneurs and their projects to achieve a triple impact: environmental, economic, and social."

The blue economy, the set of activities related to the sea, is today an expanding sector in Catalonia and one of the strategic axes in the development of Barcelona and its metropolitan region. It is estimated that there are currently about 1080 companies with technologies linked to the sector, with a turnover close to 5.6 billion euros and employing almost 24,000 workers. According to a report by ACCIÓ, 38% of these companies are less than 10 years old, and 99% are SMEs.