From October 23 to 24, the 2026 International Conference on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research, and Application of the Ocean Industry (Qingdao) was held. The conference was co-hosted by the General Office of the Ministry of Education and the Shandong Provincial Department of Education and organized by Ocean University of China (OUC).
Li Yan, Vice President of OUC, expressed the hope that participating experts would engage fully in exchanges and discussions, learn from one another’s experience, build consensus on development, and produce more high-quality collaborative outcomes. He noted that OUC stood ready to work with partners worldwide to deepen academic exchanges, expand research collaboration, promote coordinated international advances in marine science and technology and the deeper integration of industry, education, research, and application, and contribute more to building a maritime community with a shared future in the new era.
The conference featured three parallel sessions on physical oceanography and marine information technology, aquatic resources development and conservation, and environmental pollution control and ecological protection. More than 60 thematic presentations addressed key frontier topics including ocean dynamics observations and information transmission, aquaculture breeding and deep-sea and open-ocean aquaculture, and pollution control and ecological restoration.
Nearly 300 representatives of universities, research institutions, and enterprises from more than 10 countries and regions attended the conference.
Established by the Ministry of Education in 2018, the International Conference on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research, and Application is dedicated to building a platform connecting Chinese and overseas universities, research institutions, and enterprises, promoting high-standard opening up in education, and facilitating the organic alignment of the education and talent chains with the industrial and innovation chains.
This marked the fifth time OUC had hosted the conference. Closely aligned with the industrial development needs of China and Shandong Province, the conference supports the national Double First-Class Initiative, the development of key disciplines in Shandong, and industrial planning for the 15th Five-Year Plan period. As a high-level international platform established by OUC for the integration of industry, education, research, and application, it will further advance the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent in marine-related fields and deepen high-quality international cooperation among industry, universities, and research institutions.
