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An innovation project for the merchant navy in partnership with the École nationale des ponts et chaussées

In 2025–2026, the Deep Blue Foundation set an international team from the ME310 programme a key question for the French maritime sector: how can we improve the lives of merchant navy officers, both on board and ashore, to make the profession more attractive?

The programme

ME310, the design-led innovation programme launched at Stanford University

Developed at Stanford University, the ME310 programme is taught in France by the d.school Paris at the École des Ponts. Over a period of nine months, teams of students work full-time on a challenge set by a partner organisation, alongside a team from a foreign university within the SUGAR international network.

Deep Blue Foundation’s feedback from the d.event on 28 May 2026, in front of the logos of the d.school Paris, Deep Blue and San Francisco State University.

The project

Keeping officers at sea

The French-flagged fleet is growing, but shipowners are struggling to recruit and retain French officers: many leave the sea at around the age of thirty or thirty-five. The Deep Blue Foundation has set the ME310 team the following challenge: how can we improve the day-to-day lives and well-being of merchant navy officers, both on board and ashore, to make the profession more attractive?

Three students from the d.school Paris and three from San Francisco State University spent nine months working on this issue. The project was overseen on behalf of Deep Blue by Lorenzo Specty, Vice-President of the foundation.

The launch of the project with the d.school Paris team and the Deep Blue Foundation on 9 October 2025.

The project in figures

project month
9
interviews and personal accounts
60+
students in Paris and San Francisco
6
prototyped and tested concepts
2

In the field

As close as possible to the sailors

Before designing anything, the team wanted to understand. They met with serving officers and former seafarers, students at the École nationale supérieure maritime, fleet managers and representatives from relevant organisations; they attended trade fairs, visited the school’s campuses and went on board ships to experience the crews’ daily lives.

  • The Blue Economy Conference in La Rochelle, November 2025: a round-table discussion on training, employment and the appeal of careers in the sector.
  • The École nationale supérieure maritime in Le Havre: meetings with cadets and teaching staff.
  • The bridge simulator at the École nationale supérieure maritime in Le Havre.
  • On board a tugboat in the Port of Le Havre, right in the thick of the manoeuvres.
  • A prototype being tested with the crew on board a ship at berth.
  • A summary of the survey: portraits, quotes and the needs of seafarers, displayed on the wall.

The findings

Never really leaving your job

On board, crew members work day and night, weekdays and weekends, following the rhythm of shifts and time changes, amidst the noise, alarms and the ship’s movements, far from their loved ones for weeks on end. The survey showed that isolation, pressure and the inability to switch off weigh more heavily than pay or holiday entitlement.

The saloon, the only communal relaxation area, often retains the feel of a workspace: the same colours, the same lighting, and furniture bolted to the floor or strapped down to withstand the rolling motion. It is not suited either to the wishes of the crew, who change every three months, or to moments spent together: everyone ends up retreating to their cabin.

A ship’s saloon: the only communal relaxation area on board, with fixed furniture and desk lighting.

The results

Two concepts for life on board

Both teams identified two concepts from the research, which they prototyped and tested with sailors. These are avenues for experimentation, not finished products.

The d.school Paris team

CustHome

To breathe new life into the saloon, turning it into a place where you feel at home, where you can really unwind, and where the crew can get together.

The CustHome patch: a fabric hook-and-loop fastener, screwed under the legs of furniture, available in three sizes (chairs and stools; tables and sofas; bar units and shelves). Pull on the tabs, move the furniture, put it back in place: it stays put, no tools required.

The CustHome platform: interior design ideas tailored to different activities (evening drinks, a game of darts, a film night, yoga, a jam session, etc.) and advice on lighting, colours and textures to make the most of the crew’s on-board budget.

The CustHome patch.
A pouffe was moved in a matter of seconds, then secured to the floor again.

San Francisco State University team

BlueCore AI

A voice assistant designed for officers: to complete regulatory documents and retrieve information without interrupting a task, thereby reducing the administrative and mental workload, whilst never replacing the seafarer’s judgement.

The approach

Nine months, from the field to the prototypes

The project followed the three stages of design thinking: understanding seafarers in the field, devising and prototyping solutions whilst testing them with the seafarers, and then developing the most promising concepts.

  1. 9 October 2025Launch of the project with the d.school Paris team and the Deep Blue Foundation.
  2. November 2025Field research: The Maritime Economy Conference in La Rochelle; in Le Havre, the École nationale supérieure maritime, a harbour tug and a seafarers’ hostel.
  3. 18 December 2025Progress report at the Académie de marine in Paris.
  4. February–March 2026In Marseille and La Seyne-sur-Mer: the Euromaritime trade fair, the École nationale supérieure maritime, tours and prototype trials on board ships; a meeting between the teams from Paris and San Francisco in Athens.
  5. 28 May 2026Final presentation at d.event in Paris, featuring a feedback session from the Deep Blue Foundation.
  6. 3 June 2026Presentation at the SUGAR Expo in Palo Alto, California.
  7. 1 July 2026Reporting of results to the Deep Blue Foundation.

Highlights

From Paris to Palo Alto

  • Progress report at the Académie de marine on 18 December 2025.
  • CustHome was presented at d.event on 28 May 2026 in Paris.
  • The project’s stand at d.event: a scale model of the square and fastening patches to try out.
  • The programme teams in Palo Alto in June 2026 for the SUGAR Expo.
  • The CustHome stand at the SUGAR Expo in Palo Alto on 3 June 2026.
  • Submission of the results to the Deep Blue Foundation on 1 July 2026.

Read the announcement of the project’s launch