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Youth Innovation Drives Deep-Sea Fisheries Transformation in Zhoushan

CHINA
Wednesday, July 09, 2025, 16:50 (GMT + 9)

A unique "industry-education integration" model, spearheaded by young scientific and technological talents, is revitalizing Zhoushan's offshore fisheries, addressing industry pain points, and fostering new quality productivity.

ZHOUSHAN – Under the strategic guidance of the "88 Strategy," the Zhoushan Dinghai Ocean Fishery Industry Innovation Service Complex (the "Complex") is rapidly emerging as a pivotal hub for scientific innovation and industrial transformation. Over the past year, the Complex has empowered young scientific and technological professionals to become the driving force behind the deep integration of industry and education, significantly boosting the new quality productivity of offshore fisheries.

This innovative approach, built upon a collaborative chain linking universities, young scientific workers, and enterprises, is forging a distinctive path for high-quality development in the region's vital marine economy.

Mechanism First: Building a Long-Term Talent Empowerment System

A cornerstone of this initiative was established in September 2024, when the Complex formally signed innovation cooperation agreements with five leading universities and research institutes, including Zhejiang Ocean University and Zhejiang University Zhoushan Marine Research Center. This year, further solidifying its commitment, the Complex partnered with the Zhoushan Youth Science and Technology Talent Association (the "Zhoushan Youth Science and Technology Association") to establish an "industry-education integration innovation community." This collaboration focuses on "training young scientific and technological workers and technology transformation," creating a closed loop of "talent training – technology research and development – results implementation."

These agreements are designed to achieve deep integration by precisely addressing the needs of key areas such as intelligent upgrading of offshore fishing equipment, green and low-carbon processing of aquatic products, high-value utilization, and digital supply chain management. They jointly establish platforms for talent training and practical experience, offering corporate internships and joint R&D bases for young researchers and graduate students. This ensures a "seamless connection" between the talent pipeline and the industrial chain, accelerating the transformation of laboratory findings from young teams into practical industrial applications. Simultaneously, the Complex, in conjunction with the Zhoushan Youth Science and Technology Association, acts as a crucial bridge, connecting young scientific talents across various fields to serve the high-quality development of offshore fisheries, laying a solid foundation for future in-depth cooperation.

In-Depth Practice: Youth Forces Tackle Industry Challenges Head-On

Leveraging the cooperation framework and the extensive network of the Zhoushan Youth Science and Technology Association, the Complex has mobilized a formidable innovative force of young scientific and technological workers to engage in collaborative practices directly on the industry's front lines. Young research teams have visited and provided services to over 100 deep-sea fishing-related companies. Through a systematic "Enterprise Demand List – Youth Talent Technology Library" matching process, they precisely identified specific technical needs and pain points in areas like intelligent transformation, energy saving, quality improvement, and new product development, enabling "targeted" scientific research.

Building on this, the Complex actively facilitated the formation of joint research teams between young university researchers and enterprise technical experts. These teams focus on common industry technologies and "stuck-neck" problems, initiating over 10 key technology research projects. These projects span cutting-edge fields such as intelligent fishing equipment R&D, optimization of deep processing technology for aquatic products, and high-value utilization of by-products. The Complex also regularly co-hosts technology salons and talent exchange events with partners, covering themes like "Replacing people with aquatic processing machines" and "Marine biomedicine technology innovation and industrialization," fostering a "catalyst" platform for knowledge exchange, results connection, and project cooperation between young scientists and industry representatives. This effectively promotes a close link between "laboratory – pilot – production line."

Fruitful Results Emerge: Synergy Creates an Innovation Highland

After nearly a year of intensive cooperation and sustained effort, this industry-education integration model, driven by young scientific and technological workers, is yielding significant and recognized results. In June 2025, the project "Innovation-driven Road to Common Prosperity, Assisting the High-quality Development of Offshore Fisheries," submitted by the Zhoushan Youth Science and Technology Association and showcasing the collaborative achievements of young scientific workers from the Complex and universities, was successfully selected for the "List of Characteristic Cases of Zhejiang Science and Technology Societies Assisting Common Prosperity." It was the sole project from Zhoushan to receive this provincial honor, an authoritative affirmation of the model where "young scientific and technological forces are deeply involved in industrial innovation and driving common prosperity."

Within this industry-university-research cooperation, several key platforms have been established:

• Xingye Group's "International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for Full Utilization of Seafood Blue Circular Economy" was selected as a Zhejiang International Science and Technology Cooperation Base in 2024, becoming a critical link for Zhoushan's offshore fisheries to connect with global innovation resources.

• Ocean Family's "Key Laboratory for Green, Low-carbon and Efficient Development of Deep Blue Fishery Resources," led by young scientific research backbones, was approved as a provincial key laboratory, providing a core engine for the industry's green transformation.

The implementation of these two provincial platforms signifies an upgrade in industry-education integration from mere technical research to a systemic innovation ecosystem. Furthermore, joint research projects, particularly those led or significantly contributed to by young scientific teams from universities, have secured approval for Zhoushan municipal science and technology plan projects (e.g., "Research and Application of Automatic Weighing and Packaging Equipment for Frozen Aquatic Products," "Research and Development of Key Technologies and Equipment for Automatic Peeling of Tuna"). These projects have received government funding, accelerating the development of core technologies. Beyond specific projects, this collaboration is nurturing a new generation of young, multi-talented professionals who are adept in both theory and industry, injecting vital energy into the continuous innovation of the sector.

Future Outlook: Deepening Integration for a New Era of Deep-Sea Fisheries

Looking ahead, the Complex plans to further deepen its industry-education integration strategy, with young scientific and technological workers at its core, focusing on three key directions:

1. Building a Collaborative Innovation Center: Leveraging Complex resources and university partnerships to strengthen the "Collaborative Innovation Center for Offshore Fisheries Industry Engineers," making it a central hub for attracting, gathering, and serving young scientific and technological talents.

2. Expanding Key Research Scope and Depth: Continuing to focus on cultivating new quality productivity by proactively launching new joint research projects in high-potential areas such as deep-sea aquaculture equipment, high-value utilization of aquatic products, and marine biomedicine.

3. Optimizing Full-Chain Service System: Enhancing the transformation service system from technology demand exploration, joint project application, pilot verification to large-scale application, thereby "opening up the last mile" for transforming young intellect into industrial momentum. This also includes strengthening talent co-cultivation mechanisms to foster more young scientific leaders and engineers prepared for modern offshore fisheries.

The Zhoushan Dinghai Ocean Fishery Industry Innovation Service Complex, in collaboration with its young scientific and technological workforce, is actively shaping a new chapter for the high-quality development of ocean fisheries. With industry-education integration as its pen and innovative practice as its ink, this synergy promises to inject stronger scientific and innovative power into Zhoushan's aspiration to become a leading marine economic city and a pioneer in common prosperity.

Source: Dinghai Ocean Fishery Industry Innovation Service Complex

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