Smart Aquatic Food Systems: Leveraging Data and Digital Innovation for Sustainability at the FAO Global Conference on Smart Farming

Rome, Italy |  As digital technologies continue to reshape agriculture and food production, aquaculture is emerging as one of the sectors with the greatest potential to benefit from innovation. Artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, precision farming, digital traceability and early warning systems are creating new opportunities to improve productivity, strengthen resilience and support more sustainable aquatic food systems.

These opportunities—and the conditions needed to realize them—were the focus of the session “Smart Aquatic Food Systems: Leveraging Data and Digital Innovation for Sustainability,” held during the FAO Global Conference on Smart Farming: Leveraging Data and Technology for Sustainable Agrifood Systems at FAO headquarters in Rome.

A clear message emerged from the discussions:

Technology alone will not transform aquatic food systems. Lasting impact depends on making innovation accessible, affordable, and supported by enabling policies, financing mechanisms, and sustained investment in capacity development.

The session was chaired by Xinhua Yuan, Deputy Director of FAO’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Division. Opening the session, Manuel Barange, Assistant Director-General and Director of FAO’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, emphasized the strategic importance of digital innovation in advancing sustainable aquatic food systems.

He noted that

As global demand for aquatic foods continues to grow, aquaculture must respond to increasingly complex challenges, including climate change, aquatic animal diseases, resource constraints and the need to improve efficiency across production systems and value chains.

The session brought together experts from international organizations, governments, academia, and the private sector to showcase practical applications of digital technologies that are already supporting more efficient, resilient, and sustainable aquaculture.

Presenting advances in intelligent aquaculture, Daoliang Li of the China Agricultural University and the China National Innovation Center for Digital Fishery demonstrated how artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics are being integrated into production systems to optimize farm management and accelerate the adoption of smart aquaculture technologies. He also highlighted the importance of interoperable digital platforms that connect research, industry and producers while supporting evidence-based decision-making.

Strengthening aquatic animal health through digital innovation was the focus of Muriel Maria Gomez Sanchez, Director of the Regulations Directorate, National Authority for Health and Safety in Fisheries and Aquaculture (SANIPES). Drawing on FAO’s Smart Aquaculture Biosecurity Project, she presented the SANISMART platform, illustrating how digital disease surveillance and early warning systems can improve biosecurity, reduce production risks and facilitate market access through more effective monitoring and compliance.

Climate resilience featured prominently during the discussions. Representatives of the Blue Sentynet Project, including:

• Graziella Romito – Director-General, Directorate-General for Marine Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests, Italy
• Carla Ippoliti – Researcher and Scientific Project Coordinator, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, Teramo, Abruzzo Region, Italy

The Abruzzo Regional Authority and the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Abruzzo and Molise demonstrated how digital monitoring and early warning systems can support climate adaptation and strengthen the sustainability of low-trophic aquatic food production.

Addressing the needs of small-scale producers, Cristiano Rossignoli, Principal Scientist, WorldFish, highlighted the importance of designing digital solutions that are affordable, practical, and adapted to local contexts. His presentation emphasized partnerships and inclusive innovation as key drivers for improving productivity, resilience and livelihoods while reducing barriers to technology adoption.

Looking beyond production, Antonio Garza de Yta – Chief Commercial Officer, Intelligon- explored how data platforms, resilience scoring, and digital twins are strengthening connections among production, risk assessment, and finance. By improving transparency and supporting better decision-making, these tools have the potential to unlock investment and expand access to financial services across aquaculture value chains.

Concluding the technical presentations, Hadeer Elkhouly, Editor-in-Chief of Blue Life Hub and communications specialist at Ethical Seafood Research, examined the role of capacity development, communication, and youth engagement in accelerating the adoption of digital aquaculture technologies. Drawing on experiences from Egypt, she highlighted how farmer training, knowledge exchange and youth participation can help bridge the gap between technological innovation and on-the-ground implementation, ensuring that digital tools translate into measurable improvements in production and sustainability.

She added that

 Technologies should be developed in response to the specific needs of users, and that understanding users’ needs and challenges is at the core of successful technology development and adoption

Despite the diversity of technologies and case studies presented, participants reached a common conclusion:

Digital transformation is not solely a technological challenge—it is fundamentally a development challenge. Scaling innovation requires supportive public policies, accessible financing, strong institutions, reliable digital infrastructure, and sustained investment in human capacity.

Participants also emphasized that digital transformation must remain inclusive. Small-scale producers, women and young professionals are central to the future of aquatic food systems and should have equitable access to digital technologies, technical knowledge, extension services and financial opportunities. Building these enabling conditions will be essential to ensuring that innovation delivers broad social, economic, and environmental benefits.

Moderated by Dimitar Taskov and Mark Fynn, the discussion reinforced the importance of collaboration among governments, research institutions, development organizations, financial institutions, and the private sector to accelerate responsible and inclusive digital transformation. In his closing remarks, Abebe Haile-Gabriel, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, reaffirmed the importance of partnerships, innovation and coordinated action in building resilient and sustainable aquatic food systems.

As countries continue to modernize their agrifood systems, the discussions in Rome underscored a fundamental principle: digital innovation is most effective when accompanied by investment in people, institutions, and partnerships. While technology provides the tools for transformation, lasting progress will depend on creating enabling environments where innovation is accessible, trusted and capable of delivering tangible benefits for producers, communities and aquatic food systems worldwide.

Smart Aquatic Food Systems: Leveraging Data and Digital Innovation for Sustainability at the FAO Global Conference on Smart Farming