Policy for strengthening marine strategic science and technology capabilities: framework, theory, and practice

Policy for strengthening marine strategic science and technology capabilities have emerged as a new approach to overcoming the ‘bottleneck’ technology challenges in the marine sector, which have been exacerbated by technological blockades imposed by developed countries. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of such policies from multiple dimensions, including their conceptual connotations, key components, main characteristics, theoretical interpretations, and practical applications. The study identifies five major policy directions that have emerged globally: breakthroughs in ‘bottleneck’ technologies, enhancement of maritime military capabilities, deep-sea resource development, marine industry innovation, and the strengthening of maritime governance and capacity building. These practices also exhibit a clear pattern of “development-stage alignment,” whereby high-income countries or regions focus on “innovation upgrading + hegemony maintenance,” while middle- and low-income countries or regions prioritize “basic capacity building + security assurance.” The core contribution of this article lies in constructing a systematic analytical framework of “concept-elements-characteristics-theory-practice” for such policies, clarifying their theoretical underpinnings and practical logic, and providing latecomer countries with a directly applicable theoretical framework and practical pathways for formulating marine strategic science and technology policies that are suited to their specific development stages.