Maria Lekakou is Professor in Maritime Economics in Department of Shipping, Trade and Transport, and Dean of the School of Business Studies in University of the Aegean, she is coordinator of the Committee for Blue Economy named “Aegean Archipelago”. She has a longstanding experience in shipping and maritime policy, in Minister of Mercantile Marine, National Regulatory Authority for Maritime Transportation, National Steering Committee for Cruise and European bodies and fora. Maria Lekakou isCoordinator for R&D projects mainly in the area of sustainable Blue Economy, soft skills and competences, through developing innovative educational material based on the case study methodology (ISOLMET) or for building syllabus for post graduate programs for Emerging issues of maritime business (MINE EMI) or Facilitating and fostering the design and implementation of EUSAIR flagship actions and projects in the Adriatic – Ionian Macro-region (IDEAL EUSAIR) or National Projects for island transports. Evaluation, Redesign and Monitoring measures for reducing intra-regional disparities, containment and cohesion of the island populations Development of Island Transport Equivalent or Regional projects, Cruise Carrying Capacity: The case of Santorini island She runs the initiative Blue Aegean for the promotion of ocean literacy and sustainable blue economy by organizing European Maritime Days, BLUEHACATHONS AEGEAN BLUEGROWTH COMPETITION and Living Labs for developing sustainable business ideas. The Blue Aegean was selected as national winner for introducing entrepreneurial skills for European Enterprise Promotion Awards in 2020.