The Ocean as a Strategic Domain in Science & Innovation
If today we had to decide which fields should be named Strategic Domains under AI², many of us would ask a very simple question:
What other domain brings together, all at once, sovereignty, security, climate, energy, biodiversity, food, geological resources, data, cultural heritage, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, economy, diplomacy and innovation?
There is only one answer: the Ocean.
Portugal is not simply a country with a coastline. It is a country defined by the sea. We manage an Exclusive Economic Zone of roughly 1.7 million km², with a proposed extension of the continental shelf exceeding 4 million km². About 97% of our territory is sea. That governing responsibility is not exercised through speeches. It is exercised through science, technology and innovation.
But there is a second reason.
AI² is being created to connect research, innovation and impact. AI² defines strategic domains as those that respond to major societal challenges, integrate different scientific fields, and turn knowledge into economic, social, cultural and environmental value.
No field embodies that integration better than the Ocean.
The Ocean requires us to bring together biology, engineering, artificial intelligence, robotics, data science, materials, energy, economics, law, health, public policy and social sciences. It is a genuine laboratory for interdisciplinarity and an accelerator of innovation.
And there is a third reason.
Portugal already has an extraordinary critical mass, as demonstrated by the Aveiro Declaration. The five major marine science centres (MARE, CESAM, CIIMAR, CCMAR, OKEANOS) bring together more than 900 integrated PhD researchers, over 10,500 publications in five years, more than 700 projects and around 206 million euros in competitive funding, while taking part in the leading European scientific infrastructures.
The problem is not a lack of excellence.
The problem is that this excellence remains too fragmented, dependent on short term funding, held back by insufficient infrastructure, precarious employment, and a science-policy interface that is still too fragile.
This is exactly where AI² can make a difference.
By recognising the Ocean as a Strategic Domain, AI² would not be favouring a single scientific field. It would be creating a national platform to integrate knowledge, drive impact oriented missions, mobilise public and private investment, develop digital and artificial intelligence technologies, strengthen a sustainable blue economy, and support evidence based policy decisions.
At a moment when Europe is discussing the European Ocean Act as part of the European Pact for the Oceans and investing in digital ocean twins, ocean observation and artificial intelligence applied to the sea, Portugal has a unique opportunity to lead rather than simply follow.
So the question is no longer whether the Ocean should be a Strategic Domain of AI².
The real question is:
How could we build a national research and innovation strategy for Portugal without placing the Ocean at its centre?
Because investing in the Ocean is not investing in just one scientific field.
It is investing in Portugal's sovereignty, competitiveness, security, sustainability and future.
Portugal can once again become a maritime power through knowledge.
Authors
Pedro R. Almeida, Director of MARE, Centre for Marine and Environmental Sciences (University of Évora, FCUL, FCT-NOVA, University of Coimbra, University of Madeira, IPLeiria, IPSetúbal, ISPA, ARDITI)
Amadeu Soares, Director of CESAM, Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro
Vitor Vasconcelos, Director of CIIMAR, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto
Adelino Canário, Director of CCMAR, Centre of Marine Sciences, University of Algarve
Gui Menezes, Director of OKEANOS, Institute for Marine Sciences Research, University of the Azores