Boao Forum 2026: AI unlocks new potential for China's ocean economy

The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2026 will take place from March 24 to 27 in Boao, south China's Hainan Province, marking the forum's 25th anniversary. Amid rising geopolitical tensions, economic fragmentation and technological changes, the event is expected to offer forward-looking insights and practical solutions for a world seeking stability.

​​The technological innovation driven by artificial intelligence and low-carbon transformation is among the themes of this year's BFA. Over the past year, AI has already helped foster growth in China's emerging ocean economy.

Safer, more efficient shipping 

As China continued to be the world's largest exporter and the second-largest importer in 2025, shipping remains a major pillar of the country's ocean economy.

According to customs statistics, China's total foreign trade value for the year reached a record high of 45.47 trillion yuan (about $6.48 trillion), up 3.8% from 2024.

An enormous amount of cargo passes through China's coastal ports, and artificial intelligence is changing how they operate. 

The transition toward automated maritime operations is evident at the Ningbo-Zhoushan and Tianjin ports, where specific technical challenges in logistics and inspection are being addressed through robotics and high-speed networking.

At the Meishan terminal in Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, east China's Zhejiang Province, the high volume of incoming containers used to rely on labor-intensive manual inspections: a process plagued by low efficiency and safety risks for personnel.

To improve these workflows, the port integrated four-legged robots to automate the identification and recording of container and seal numbers. According to China Economic Net, three robot inspectors can complete an inspection task in just 20 minutes that would take four to six human workers an hour to finish, while maintaining 99% accuracy.

Further north, the Tianjin Port has implemented a combination of 5G private networks, Beidou satellite positioning and artificial intelligence to automate the entire workflow of its container terminals.

"Autonomous control of core technologies is the key to Tianjin Port's smart transformation, and we hope to leverage digital transformation as a new driver for high-quality port development," Qu Ming, deputy director of the digital transformation office and director of the big data center at Tianjin Port Group, told China Daily in January.

This overhaul includes deploying unmanned electric truck fleets and automating rail-mounted gantry cranes. The technical infrastructure relies on a dual-band 5G network to ensure low-latency data transmission, while a custom version of the BeiDou satellite navigation system provides 5cm accuracy for machinery and vehicles, Xinhua reported.

The entire facility in Tianjin is also powered by green energy. With an extensive wind and solar power infrastructure, the terminal can operate with zero net carbon emissions.

Economic growth fueled by wind and sun​

The green energy transformation has been fueling China's growing ocean economy in the past decade. The coastal city of Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province, for instance, has identified renewable energy as one of five emerging sectors targeted for breakthroughs in its "10+1" layout of new quality productive forces.

The city's extensive coastline and marine resources provide a natural foundation for offshore energy projects. The Qingdao Science and Technology Innovation Corridor will be the central driver of this renewable push, aiming to establish a 10-million-kilowatt offshore new-energy base and develop a green-energy equipment industrial chain valued at 100 billion yuan.

These newly planned renewable infrastructure projects will be added to Qingdao's extensive green energy capacity. By the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), Qingdao's installed capacity for new energy stood at approximately 2.49 million kilowatts. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), this figure rose to 8.3 million kilowatts, up 233%, raising the share of new energy in total installed capacity from 40% to 61%.

By the end of 2025, the project's cumulative power generation exceeded 21.93 million kilowatt-hours – enough to meet the summer electricity needs of over 20,000 households. This transition helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 22,700 tonnes, according to Qingdao Daily.

Biomanufacturing taps the ocean's ecological resources

Qingdao is also leading the marine research in China, with labs and institutions such as the Laoshan Laboratory, Ocean University of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Oceanology all working to advance innovation in the marine pharmaceutical sector.

This concentrated R&D capacity is central to China's push for a "blue pharmacy" amid intensifying global competition. While Germany remains a powerhouse in chemical medicine and the US in biomedicine, Qingdao has carved out a niche: producing two of the world's 16 approved marine drugs.

To move from lab to market, the city is prioritizing the industrialization of Antarctic krill. With reserves exceeding 1 billion tonnes, krill is the strategic resource for Qingdao's marine strategy —not only addressing future protein security but also serving as a core raw material to capture a slice of the projected $2 trillion global pharmaceutical market by 2030.

These initiatives are coalescing into the China Health Bay, an integrated ecosystem covering the full healthcare chain. By anchoring the Qingdao Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, marine medicine unites Laoshan, Licang and the Blue Valley into an industrial powerhouse.

Hainan, home of the Boao Forum, is leveraging its natural resources, geographical advantages, and Free Trade Port policies to establish a structured biomanufacturing industry.

The provincial government focuses on marine biomanufacturing and biological breeding, while expanding into five key sectors, including biopharmaceuticals, bio-food, bio-agriculture, bio-materials, bio-chemicals and energy.

The province has launched eight major initiatives aimed at advancing technological breakthroughs, integrating information and biotechnology, and cultivating specialized industrial chains. By the end of 2026, Hainan plans to establish a marine biomanufacturing innovation center and initiate several project incubators.