At the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC-3), held in Nice, France, a groundbreaking side event titled “AI & BlueTech: The Next Wave of Ocean Protection” brought global attention to the intersection of artificial intelligence and ocean sustainability. Hosted by the French Ministry for Ecological Transition and organized with a wide range of international partners, the event marked the debut of a dedicated Ocean and AI vertical within the Coalition for Sustainable AI.
This initiative aims to broaden the visibility of AI applications in ocean science and protection beyond specialist circles, facilitate cross-sectoral collaboration (especially with frugal AI researchers) and share best practices across disciplines. The UNOC-3 event successfully laid the groundwork for expanding the Coalition’s reach to marine and ocean-focused actors.
The preliminary objectives underlying the development of themes within this vertical were to:
- create an additional channel of visibility for the AI and oceans ecosystem beyond specialized channels and forums, for example by promoting this dimension of AI and oceans at generalist AI conferences;
- facilitate networking between the AI and oceans ecosystem and other coalition members, in particular laboratories and universities working on frugal AI;
- enable the sharing of experiences and best practices between these sectors.
On this occasion, the Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher welcomed the first members of this stream, including Mercator Ocean International, IFREMER, World Ocean Council, Waves of Change, Ocean Purpose Project from Singapore, Plastic Odyssey, INRIA Chile, and the French Navy’s hydrographic and oceanographic service (SHOM).
The 27 Coalition members highlight within this AI and Ocean stream are as follow :
The side-event also spotlighted three high-impact BlueTech startups:
- Cosma, which specilizes in seabed mapping using autonomous marin sub drones;
- Blue Coast Carbon, which restores coastal ecosystems to make them natural carbon sinks;
- Bioceanor, which uses AI to monitor water quality in aquaculture.
Another highlight was a reverse pitch by the Dakar/Yoff local authority, presenting its needs in terms of digital solutions for coastal resilience. A concrete demonstration of dialogue between territories and innovators.
