Offshore facilities have long struggled with unreliable power and vulnerability to extreme weather. To address this, the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion (GIEC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has developed technologies that deliver clean, steady, and resilient power.

Prof. SHENG Songwei, Director of the Offshore Energy Research Center at GIEC, presented recent progress in wave energy generation, integrated offshore energy platforms, and green marine ranching at the 9th Global Sustainable Technology & Innovation Community (G-STIC) Conference in Brussels. These systems have already been deployed in aquaculture, tourism, and ocean monitoring, demonstrating their viability beyond the laboratory.

“The ocean offers vast energy potential, but it is also one of the harshest operating environments on Earth, especially in areas like Guangdong,” said Prof. SHENG. “Our focus is on building solutions that are not only clean, but also tough and reliable—so coastal communities and industries can count on sustainable power, even in the face of climate extremes.”

The presentation was part of a blue economy session hosted by GIEC, titled “Harnessing the Blue Economy: Pathways to Climate Resilience and Sustainable Growth.” The session also brought together European researchers including Dirk Fransaer (member of Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts), Elisabetta Tedeschi (NTNU/University of Trento), and Josep Lloret (ICM-CSIC), facilitating cross-regional knowledge exchange on offshore renewable energy, the blue economy, and its linkages with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Beyond the blue economy, the G-STIC conference is launching its 3.0 strategy upgrade, aimed at strengthening the platform’s role in advancing the SDGs. As a co-organizer of G-STIC since 2019, GIEC is contributing to shaping this new strategy, fostering a more inclusive global technology governance framework that accommodates diverse national development contexts.

Group photo at the opening plenary session(Image by G-STIC)

Group photo at the Blue Economy session(Image by GIEC)