On April 24, 2025, the 2025 Zhuhai International Smart Marine Expo opened at the Zhuhai International Airshow Center. Attending the opening ceremony were leaders including Qu Jiashu, Deputy Director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Natural Resources; Su Hu, Vice Mayor of Zhuhai Municipal People's Government; Chen Dake, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director of the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai); Xiang Huiming, President of the Guangdong Ocean Association; Fabien Pacory, Executive Committee Member and Deputy Secretary-General of the French Chamber of Commerce in China; Cui Weicheng, General Manager of Underwater and Mining Operations of American Bureau of Shipping (China) Limited; Andrew Lipman, Chief Designer of the "Jiaolong" Manned Submersible; Ye Guiping, Vice President of the University of Macau City; Xu Tian, Director of the Guangdong Marine Development Planning and Research Center; Lin Yuehai, Executive Deputy Director of the Zhuhai Municipal Military-Civil Fusion Office; Fu Zhi, Secretary-General and Director of the Zhuhai Marine Development Bureau; Liang Kaibin, Chairman of the Zhuhai Marine Development Group Co., Ltd.; and Jiang Nan, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhuhai Convention and Exhibition Group Co., Ltd. Representatives from the organizing units of the Marine Intelligent Technology Exhibition, relevant Guangdong provincial units, experts and scholars, industry associations, exhibitors, and media also attended the opening ceremony.

Su Hu first extended a warm welcome to the guests. He stated that Zhuhai has a great abundance of marine resources, with vast sea areas and numerous islands. The city has a marine area of 9,348 square kilometers within its territorial baseline, a mainland coastline of 227.26 kilometers, and 262 islands of various sizes. It is the city with the largest marine area and the most islands in the Pearl River Delta. Standing at a new stage and a new starting point, Zhuhai will set its sights on building a "regional marine central city." By relying on its marine resource endowment and industrial foundation, the city will focus on creating a marine industrial spatial development pattern characterized by "a belt connecting, dual-core leading, and comprehensive linkage." This marine technology exhibition has gathered the latest achievements in marine intelligent equipment, marine new energy, and marine ranching, and has built an open, cooperative, and mutually beneficial marine exchange platform. It is hoped that this exhibition will serve as a bond to gather global wisdom, strive to reach new heights in marine technology, and jointly write a new chapter in the high-quality development of Zhuhai's marine economy.

Xiang Huiming stated that the 2025 Zhuhai International Smart Marine Expo is themed "Science & Innovation Makes a Smarter Ocean." It focuses on key areas such as marine intelligent equipment, smart ships, and marine new energy. The exhibition is primarily positioned as forward-looking, professional, and international. It aims to gather industry resources and display technological achievements, building a high-level, high-quality forum for international cooperation. This year, the Guangdong Ocean Association continues to strongly support the Zhuhai International Smart Marine Expo. By maintaining close communication with the organizers and carefully planning the event, the association is committed to making the expo an important platform for displaying marine scientific and technological achievements and promoting industry exchanges and cooperation. It will connect global resources, serve national strategies, and lead the development of the Bay Area.

Qu Jiashu stated that as a pioneer of reform and opening up and a major marine economy province, Guangdong has always kept in mind the instructions of President Xi Jinping. The 3rd Plenary Session of the 13th Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China made the "1310" specific arrangements, and "comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong marine province and achieving new breakthroughs in building a new Guangdong at sea" has been identified as one of the "ten new breakthroughs" in the province. Zhuhai, as a core city on the west bank of the Pearl River Estuary, enjoys an excellent marine resource endowment. In recent years, as the "blue gateway" of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Zhuhai has been building a multi-dimensional innovation matrix, with frequent highlights, becoming a shining calling card of Guangdong's marine science and technology strength! This expo is highly in line with the "ocean-air-space-digital" strategy, which will help give birth to more new productive forces. It will comprehensively assist Zhuhai in accelerating the construction of a regional marine central city and building a "new Guangdong at sea" by creating a "blue exchange and cooperation platform."

At the opening ceremony, the Greater Bay Area Marine Energy Innovation Consortium was unveiled, and the Zhuhai Declaration was released. In addition, to thoroughly implement the strategy of building a strong maritime nation and to fully leverage Zhuhai's advantages in marine science and technology innovation, the China International Underwater Robot Competition, hosted by the China Ocean Development Foundation, the China Ocean Development Research Association, and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ocean Environment and Ecological Protection Public Welfare Foundation, made its debut at the exhibition site. This year's competition focuses on core technology breakthroughs for underwater robots and has particularly released a proposition for the industrialization track, targeting the special industrial needs of Zhuhai, such as marine resource surveys. It aims to promote the transformation and implementation of innovative achievements, providing technological support and innovative momentum for Zhuhai's construction as a strong marine city and for Guangdong's efforts to build a strong marine province. Currently, more than 500 teams have registered to participate, with over 2,000 individuals involved, including participants from enterprises, scientific research institutions, universities, and primary and secondary schools.

After the opening ceremony, Academician Chen Dake, Director of the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai); Fabien Pacory, Executive Vice President of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China; Cui Weicheng, Chief Designer of the "Jiaolong" Manned Submersible; Andy Lipman, Director of Offshore Operations for ABS in Greater China; and Dr. Sheng Songwei, Director of the Marine Energy Research Center at the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, delivered keynote speeches.

The 2025 Zhuhai International Smart Marine Expo, jointly organized by Zhuhai Convention and Exhibition Group Co., Ltd., Zhuhai Marine Group Development Co., Ltd., and Bravolinks Integrated Marketing Co., Ltd., was held at the Zhuhai International Aviation Exhibition Center from April 24 to 26. Themed "Science & Innovation Makes a Smarter Ocean" ,the expo featured three main content areas: exhibition displays, conference forums, and supporting activities. With an exhibition area of 30,000 square meters, the event attracted 200 companies to exhibit their latest products, technologies, and achievements in various fields, including marine intelligent and unmanned equipment, marine new energy, smart ships, marine new materials, marine ranching and deep-sea aquaculture, yachts, and island development.

Among the participants, China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co., Ltd. brought the AG600, which had just obtained its Type Certificate (TC), allowing the audience to get an up-close look at this national asset. CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. demonstrated its exhibits, including China's first salmon farming vessel, the largest operational wind turbine installation vessel in terms of lifting capacity in China, and the unmanned intelligent mother ship "Zhuhai Cloud." Harbin Engineering University presented China's first high-speed hybrid-powered fully autonomous unmanned boat, the "Tianxing No. 1," as well as the "Beihai" unmanned boat and other exhibits.

During this expo, a number of high-level forums will be held, including the main forum on brand development, the Greater Bay Area Marine Development Forum, the 2nd Greater Bay Area Marine New Energy Special Forum, the 4th Underwater Unmanned Systems Frontier Technology Forum, the Forum on Policy Prospects for the Leisure Boating Industry in the Greater Bay Area, the Promotion Meeting of the National Marine Comprehensive Test Field (Zhuhai), the 2025 Greater Bay Area Yachting Industry Cooperation Forum, the Low-Altitude + Marine Economy Integrated Development Supply and Demand Seminar, and the Forum on the Construction of Modern Marine Ranches in Guangdong and the Development of Smart Fisheries. These forums will gather top-level guests from government, industry, academia, and research both domestically and internationally to jointly explore cutting-edge topics in marine economic development and contribute to the construction of a strong maritime nation. Concurrently, a series of distinctive activities will also be organized, including project promotion, new product launches, B2B business matchmaking, and educational tours.

"Science & Innovation Makes a Smarter Ocean" —— The 2025 Zhuhai International Smart Marine Expo will continue to gather cutting-edge achievements in global marine science and technology, creating an integrated international exchange platform for industry, academia, research, and application. It will support Zhuhai in leveraging its locational and industrial advantages to strive for the development into a "regional marine central city" and contribute more Zhuhai wisdom and strength to the construction of a strong maritime nation.