Regarding how to promote the high-quality development of China's marine economy, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "In terms of the overall approach, must place greater emphasis on innovation-driven development, make breakthroughs in key core technologies as soon as possible, and promote the high-level self-reliance and self-improvement of science and technology." Currently, China's marine economy is at a critical stage of transformation and upgrading. Strengthening marine science and technology innovation is not only the main path to breaking through bottlenecks of marine economic development, but also a key measure to further advance Chinese-style modernization.

The Engine Role of Marine Science and Technology Innovation
The marine economy is essentially an economic form in which humans, within marine space, achieve the synergistic development of economic, social, and ecological benefits by developing and utilizing marine resources and developing integrated industries. It is the product of the deep integration of human activities with the marine resource environment. As a new growth pole driving the high-quality development of China's economy, the high-quality development of the marine economy is inseparable from core driver of science and technology innovation.
Promoting marine science and technology innovation can drive industrial structure upgrading and give rise to emerging marine industries; it can provide technical means for protecting the ecological environment, achieving the synergistic development of the marine economy and ecological protection; and it can drive the improvement and optimal combination of all-factor productivity endowments, enhancing the vitality of economic. Especially with the development of big data and artificial intelligence technologies, the new business formats and models nurtured by marine science and technology innovation will push the marine economy towards a new stage of and intelligence.
From a global perspective, the strength or weakness of a country's marine economy is closely related to its level of marine science and technology development. Currently, of the global maritime powers are not also marine science and technology powers. With the advancement of global marine development technologies and the deepening of marine resource utilization, the marine economy has expanded from fisheries and shipping to emerging fields such as high-end marine equipment manufacturing, marine energy, marine biomedicine, and marine information services. Developed countries such as the United States, Japan the United Kingdom, and Norway all attach great importance to the important role of marine science and technology in developing the marine economy. For example, as early as 2018 the "U.S. National Marine Science and Technology Development: A Vision for the Next Decade" released by the U.S. National Science and Technology Council explicitly stated that one the five major goals of the United States in developing marine science and technology is to promote economic prosperity.
For China, with the in-depth promotion of the maritime power strategy marine science and technology innovation has achieved a series of major breakthroughs. Independent innovation breakthroughs have become the new normal, and a transformation from "following" to "leading" has been achieved many fields such as deep-sea exploration, marine observation, and marine engineering equipment. The progress of marine science and technology has made marine development deeper, greener, smarter, and more. To further cultivate and strengthen new quality productive forces, it is necessary to promote the transformation of the marine economy from traditional extensive development to high-quality development
Development Trends of Marine Science and Technology Innovation
Facing a complex and ever-changing international situation and external challenges, China always adhered to a development path of independent innovation and key breakthroughs, actively cultivating and strengthening the core competitiveness of marine science and technology innovation and development. Through a series of measures, China firmly grasped the autonomy of marine science and technology innovation and development, and gradually built up its advantages and leading position in the field of marine science and technology. The Sixth Meeting of Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission held in July 2025 emphasized that "it is necessary to improve the independent innovation capability of marine science and technology, strengthen strategic marine science technology forces, and cultivate and develop leading marine science and technology enterprises as well as specialized, refined, unique, and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises". The Outline of the "5th Five-Year Plan" explicitly proposed to "strengthen strategic marine science and technology forces and strengthen marine science and technology innovation". This indicates that developing marine science and technology and promoting the high-quality development of the marine economy have become important focal points for promoting the construction of China as a strong maritime nation.
From the perspective of development trends, scientific technological fields closely related to the marine economy, such as marine resource exploration and utilization technologies (e.g., marine biological resource utilization technology, deep-sea exploration and resource development technology seawater desalination and comprehensive utilization technology), marine energy development technologies (e.g., offshore wind power technology, ocean energy development technology, marine oil and gas development technology), marine ecological protection technologies (e.g., marine pollution monitoring and control technology, marine ecological restoration technology, climate change response technology), and marine information technology and equipment (e.g., marine data and artificial intelligence technology, marine communication and navigation technology, intelligent marine equipment), are key areas supported for development by countries around the world. Under the strong leadership of the Party Central with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, China's relevant marine technology capabilities have continued to improve. However, to achieve continuous breakthroughs and firmly grasp the initiative of development, some still exist, such as the promoting effect of financial investment on marine science and technology innovation and development not yet being fully realized, the single channel of marine science and technology investment, the market transformation rate of scientific and technological achievements, the backward foundation of marine science and technology innovation, the lack of outstanding marine science and technology talents, and the small influence of disciplines. requires that we must base ourselves on our own actual conditions, and the government, enterprises, scientific research institutions, and all sectors of society must work together to jointly promote marine science technology innovation and build a marine science and technology innovation system with Chinese characteristics.
Further Advancing Marine Science and Technology Innovation
Overall, marine science and technology innovation is a systematic project. Combining Chinas marine economic development needs with the current technological status, future work should focus on the following aspects.
First, adhere to the Party's comprehensive leadership. The key to steadily marine science and technology lies in adhering to the Party's leadership. In the 70-plus years since the founding of New China, every step of progress in the development marine science and technology has been inseparable from the deep care of the Party Central Committee, and is a manifestation of the fruits of the Party Central Committee's comprehensive leadership and decision-making for China's marine cause.
Second, strengthen policy guidance and financial support. Most marine science and technology innovations involve high investment, high risk, and long cycles. Whether it the research and development of deep-sea exploration equipment or the testing of new marine energy extraction technologies, large amounts of continuous financial support are required. The government should play a guiding, and while increasing financial investment, improve incentive mechanisms and guide social capital to participate in investment in the field of marine science and technology.
Third, build collaborative innovation platforms. By resources from industry, academia, and research, build an efficient collaborative innovation system; relying on universities, research institutes, and backbone enterprises, build national-level marine technology innovation platforms to carry out technological research and development; establish a database and trading platform for marine science and technology achievements to promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
Fourth, strengthen the construction the talent team. Marine science and technology innovation is a complex systematic project involving the deep integration of multiple fields. It is necessary to promote interdisciplinary cross-integration, cultivate composite innovative, and generate original innovative achievements. At the same time, establish talent incentive mechanisms to stimulate the innovative vitality of scientific researchers through equity incentives and other means.
In summary, scientific and technological innovation is the fundamental path and inevitable choice for achieving high-quality development of the marine economy. We must concentrate our efforts, target the key areas and frontier directions of science and technology, and strive to break through core technological bottlenecks. Effectively transform the achievements of scientific and technological innovation into a powerful driving force and development advantage to promote the upgrading of the industry and optimize the structure of the marine economy, comprehensively improve the development and utilization efficiency and sustainable development capacity of China's marine resources, and lay a solid material foundation for a strong maritime nation.