Founder & Managing Director
Mr. Ugurcan Acar is a seasoned maritime professional, educator, and project strategist with over two decades of experience at sea, ashore, and across Europe. He is the founder and Managing Director of MARITIME INNOVATORS, a company at the forefront of innovative projects digital transformation in maritime education and training.
Ugurcan Acar’s maritime journey began in Türkiye, where he developed his family’s business before pursuing navigation engineering at TUDEV (now Piri Reis University). He later earned his Bachelor of Science in Marine Studies (Merchant Shipping) from the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom, through a selective academic pathway accredited by the Glasgow College of Nautical Studies. In 2010, he became the first Turkish national to successfully obtain the UK Certificate of Competency from the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) a milestone that opened international doors and led to a mentoring position at Glasgow College.
From 2009 onward, Ugurcan Acar actively engaged in EU-funded research and development, contributing to and leading more than 15 international projects under ERASMUS+ and HORIZON frameworks over 5 million budgets. He served as Project Officer at C4FF (UK) and later as Project Manager at Turk Loydu, before establishing MARITIME INNOVATORS in 2017. His company has secured over 1,2 million euros value in total budget in project funding and is internationally recognised for initiatives like PraC-MARENG, ENDORSEME, SEASAFER, SEA MENTORS and SEA4SHORE.
Ugurcan Acar’s expertise spans maritime policy, education technology, digital learning tools, and professional mobility systems for seafarers. In 2024, he expanded into software development with the launch of MIWEBIT, focusing on digital transformation for maritime and beyond.
An influential voice in maritime education reform, Ugurcan Acar has spoken at leading conferences in London, Istanbul, Varna, Barcelona, and Marseille, and has published extensively in journals such as TransNav and Safety at Sea.
He is not departing away from sea career to keep the experience and innovation going through sea service at pleasure crafts required for his UK Chief Officer certification, while continuing to mentor, write, and lead his companies with a vision to bridge sea and shore careers and build a resilient, inclusive, and future-ready maritime workforce.
