There’s never been a more important time for a global focus on marine autonomy

Article by Sarah Fear, Sector Lead, Marine and Low Carbon, University of Plymouth

The University of Plymouth is a marine partner for Growth Forge 2026, a business acceleration programme for ambitious tech companies. Learn more here.

In recent years, we’ve been given as clear a demonstration as you could get of the potential uses of autonomous technologies.

On the one hand there are geopolitical events that have shown the advantages, in strategic and cost terms, of this new generation of technologies. A military with thousands of platforms costing thousands of pounds each is very different in operational capability – both in times of peace and war – than one which has far fewer platforms each costing tens of millions of pounds.

Announcements within the past 12 months about the Defence Growth Deal and National Centre for Marine Autonomy will increase the South West’s contributions in this space. However, the potential for marine autonomy is about more than just defence, and there are dozens of companies in our region exploring ways to harness its capabilities to forge new ground in ocean exploration and monitoring.

It’s often said we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about parts of our ocean. To begin scratching at what lies beneath the surface requires new and innovative solutions, and autonomy enables the classic “dull, dirty or dangerous” tasks in the maritime space to be done at lower cost and lower risk.

As an island nation, our security and resilience – whether that’s in defence or trade, food or energy – relies on the ocean. But it’s a space so vast that deploying crewed vessels to cover every inch of it has never, and will never, be feasible or sustainable. Creating an uncrewed fleet of vessels fitted with state-of-the-art sensor technologies, and coupling that with artificial intelligence for analysis and alerting, opens countless possibilities.

The marine autonomy revolution also carries significant economic opportunities. The global marine autonomy market is projected to reach £103 billion by 2030 and the UK has targeted a 10% global share. The South West is ahead of the national game in this space, providing a base for global firms including Babcock, Thales, Helsing, BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and others. Then there are smaller companies: MarineAI, Oshen, Zero USV, Sonardyne, Fugro, MSubs, Chess Dynamics – the list goes on, and on, and on.

These are supported by excellence in science and skills that is providing new insights and intelligence. Our own Cyber-SHIP Lab, for example, is the only facility of its kind anywhere in the world – committed to ensuring all marine autonomous technologies are cyber-secure in the future. And it is one of many facilities that will be critical if we are to effectively overcome the many challenges facing the sector:

• How do we develop autonomous systems that can be trusted to operate in complex and hybrid environments? 
• How do we build systems with the right level of efficiency to be environmentally friendly? 
• What regulatory changes are needed to allow different levels of autonomy to operate in port, coastal and ocean environments? 
• How do we ensure the right level of investment to support the next and future generation of development, of technology and business models?

Initiatives such as the Growth Forge, and the National Centre for Marine Autonomy more widely, can deliver answers to many of these questions. They are all about maximising opportunity, celebrating our region’s existing heritage and expertise, and the facilities and ingenuity it possesses. They can enable and encourage technical innovation, supply chain support, specialist facilities, synergistic partnerships, a unique environment for testing and trial operations. But more than that, they can ensure the UK stays at the forefront of this fast-evolving global market.

Sarah Fear
Sector Lead, Marine and Low Carbon
University of Plymouth