The Shipbuilding and Offshore Equipment Industry Collaboration Conference was held in Nantong.

On September 17, as a key event of the 7th Nantong Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering Industry Exhibition, the "Shipbuilding and Offshore Equipment Industry-Academia-Research Cooperation Promotion Conference" was held at the Nantong International Conference Center. The conference was hosted by the Nantong Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology and the Nantong Shipbuilding Industry Association, and organized by Jiangsu Maritime Institute and the Nantong Shipbuilding and Offshore Equipment Industry-Education Alliance. About 100 representatives from national shipbuilding and offshore engineering companies, industry experts, scholars, and research institutions attended the conference.

The scale of Nantong's shipbuilding and offshore engineering industry has reached the 200 billion level, with ship production accounting for one-eighth of the national total and offshore equipment accounting for one-third of the national total. The "Tongtaiyang Offshore Equipment and High-Tech Ship Cluster" is recognized as a national advanced manufacturing cluster. Currently, the industry is transitioning towards green and low-carbon development, intelligent construction, deep-sea equipment, and the localization of key supporting technologies. However, shortages of highly skilled talent and insufficient industry-academia-research collaboration have become bottlenecks in this transformation. This conference established a collaborative platform for government, industry, enterprises, schools, and research institutions to promote the integration of education, talent, industry, and innovation.

At the conference, the Industry-Education Integration Community for the Shipbuilding and Offshore Equipment Industry was officially established. The community is led by Jiangsu Maritime Institute, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, and Qidong COSCO Marine Engineering Co., Ltd., bringing together 15 educational institutions, 8 research institutes, 65 enterprises, 7 industry organizations, and 4 government units. This marks a shift from isolated exploration to systematic collaboration in Nantong's shipbuilding and offshore engineering industry-education integration, creating a development model that integrates "undergraduate + vocational education" talent training and deep integration of research and practice.

The conference announced 34 high-quality industry-academia-research cooperation projects between Jiangsu Maritime Institute and community member units, covering key areas such as green and low-carbon development and intelligent construction. Jiangsu University of Science and Technology and Jiangsu Maritime Institute each signed school-enterprise cooperation agreements with four companies. Both sides aim to use these agreements as an opportunity to deepen industry-education collaboration, jointly address challenges in talent supply and technological innovation, and achieve mutual empowerment and win-win outcomes for schools and enterprises.

During the special report session, industry experts shared thematic insights on industry-academia-research collaborative innovation, offshore wind power equipment, and intelligent ship manufacturing. They analyzed cutting-edge industry trends, providing practical references for the development of the community and the integration of industry and education.