The Korean Association of Ocean Science and Technology Societies (KAOSTS), Korea’s marine technology leader, held its 2021 joint symposium online last May 13–14 (Thursday to Friday), which was participated by six member societies that lead the development of marine technology in Korea to highlight the importance of marine technology in the era of major transformation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and seek the development direction of the new marine industry.

Under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), six academic societies held a joint symposium, led by KAOSTS, where 834 academic papers were presented. Presentations and discussions were conducted via video conferences at each session site because all academic presentations were made virtually. In spite of the virtual conference due to the COVID-19, it was a successful event with more than 1,500 participants, including the employees, researchers, professors, students, government officials, and other stakeholders who are all involved in marine industry. More papers were published than the previous years, even though it was the first fully virtual academic conference ever. This success in virtual conference is attributed to the widespread untact meeting culture under the COVID-19 pandemic.

The joint symposium was held under the theme, “Era of Major Transformation, the Sea of the Future.” Joint workshops and separate presentations of individual societies on the topics of marine energy and green hydrogen, marine safety and rescue, marine garbage reduction and collection technologies, natural disasters in the ocean, eco-friendly smart ships, autonomous ships, and utilization of artificial intelligence in marine research and big data in ocean fisheries were held to provide various venues for academic discussions to enhance the expertise in individual fields of marine technology and to achieve interdisciplinary convergence.

At the Future Ocean Science & Technology Awards ceremony, which has been held since 2017 for the continuous development of the marine technology field and support for future research talent, 16 presenters out of the 74 candidates, who are graduate students and submitted papers from March 2 to 26 following the notification for submission of academic papers, were finally selected in recognition of their excellent academic papers in marine technology. They were awarded the grand prize, first prize, and special prize, boosting the morale and heightening the pride of new researchers on the academic development in marine technology.

In addition, a virtual exhibit of marine-related equipment was held in six booths from five companies.