The OceanX Summit 2026, held in Singapore, convened more than 750 participants, including 223 students and educators, to confront a central question: how can ocean discovery be transformed into lasting change? Over three days, leaders from ocean science, government, exploration, education and conservation examined the pathways from evidence to protection, from immersive learning to youth engagement, and from local leadership to scalable solutions.
Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Energy, Trade and Industry, Gan Kim Yong, opened the Summit, while Minister for Education Desmond Lee addressed the role of ocean exploration in student learning. The gathering featured prominent voices such as oceanographer Sylvia Earle, filmmaker and deep-sea explorer James Cameron, National Geographic Society CEO Jill Tiefenthaler, and representatives from teamLab, Snowflake, the High Seas Alliance, NUS, Coral Gardeners and the Coral Triangle Centre.
A key implication of the Summit is the growing recognition that ocean knowledge must be shared, understood and used to inform policy and conservation. Discussions on artificial intelligence highlighted its potential to connect fragmented datasets but also underscored its dependence on high-quality information from underrepresented regions. Sessions on finance and marine protected areas explored how public policy, private-sector expertise and philanthropic support can align with the needs of coastal communities. As countries implement the BBNJ Agreement on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, OceanX has committed a significant share of its 2027 expedition time to high seas research, signaling a push to fill critical data gaps.
The Into the Deep: Monsoon Rise expedition, jointly led by OceanX and NUS, mapped more than 8,300 square kilometres of seafloor in the eastern Indian Ocean, with approximately 2,000 specimens now contributing to ongoing biodiversity research. “The Summit made clear that there is a need to collect much more ocean data which is necessary to make informed decisions around ocean stewardship,” said Vincent Pieribone. “We need to connect information across disciplines, close gaps in what is known, and make evidence accessible to people working on decision making.”
Education and storytelling emerged as powerful tools for building personal connections to the ocean. Since 2024, Singapore’s partnership with OceanX through the Ministry of Education and Science Centre Board has enabled more than 570 students and educators to visit the OceanXplorer research vessel, while hundreds more have joined ship-to-shore livestreams. The Summit also featured more than 20 immersive installations developed by OceanX Education and its Changemaker community, demonstrating how art, media and technology can invite audiences into ocean stories. Mark Dalio noted, “Immersive education can turn curiosity into a personal connection, and help students see how their skills can contribute to ocean science and its future.”
Local leadership was showcased as central to turning ambition into practice. Coral Gardeners founder Titouan Bernicot described an island-led movement that has grown to 97 full-time employees and planted more than 250,000 corals across French Polynesia, Fiji and Thailand. Other changemakers presented projects using AI for reef monitoring and immersive media. The Summit’s emphasis on community voices and cross-sector collaboration underscores that effective ocean protection requires inclusive, evidence-based approaches. For more information on OceanX’s work, visit www.oceanx.org and follow OceanX on Facebook and Instagram.
