The development and application of marine scientific research ships are driving the nation's marine science research to a higher level, experts said on Tuesday at the 2nd Oceangraphic Research Vessel Technology Forum held concurrently in Shanghai and Qingdao of Shandong province.

Tuesday also marked the 70th anniversary of the Marine Design and Research Institute of China.

Presently, China's leading marine research vessels are Snow Dragon 2, the first home-built icebreaker, the manned submersible vessel Shenhai Yihao (DeepSea No 1) and China's largest oceanographic research vessel Sun Yat-sen University. All these vessels were designed by the Marine Design And Research Institute of China.

"It is our sacred responsibility to facilitate the nation's maritime development with oceanographic research equipment," said Lu Lin, head of the Marine Design And Research Institute of China.

"There are 14 oceanology subjects at Sun Yat-sen University. However, due to the lack of (oceanographic research) ships, our students have to do their research on land," added Sun Dongbai, executive vice-president of Sun Yat-sen University.

Wu Gang, a researcher at the Marine Design and Research Institute of China, who is also an expert in ship design techniques, said various oceanographic vessels will be developed in accordance to different research needs in the future.

"Intelligent and unmanned technologies will create many opportunities for the development of oceanographic ships in the future, and we will continue to innovate by leveraging state-of-the-art technologies," said Wu.