The Research Institute for Land and Space (RILS) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), together with the Centre for Offshore Research and Engineering (CORE) and the Coastal Protection and Flood Resilience Institute (CFI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), successfully co-organised the International Workshop on High-Performance and Multi-functional Floating Breakwater on 16 October 2026. Held at the NUS campus, the workshop brought together researchers and industry practitioners to explore emerging challenges and developments in coastal protection, offshore renewable energy and intelligent marine engineering. Prof. QIAN Xudong of NUS and Prof. ZHAO Xiao Lin, Associate Director of RILS, served as Co-Chairs and delivered the opening remarks. The event provided an interdisciplinary platform for sharing recent advances in floating breakwater hydrodynamics, wave and tidal energy integration, structural optimisation, smart materials and AI-enabled control.
The programme featured speakers from PolyU, NUS, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and Hydrantula, bringing together complementary perspectives from academia and industry. Presentations explored multifunctional marine antibiofouling systems, deep reinforcement learning for tidal turbine pitch control, and the modelling and optimisation of integrated floating breakwater–wave energy systems. Other topics included additive manufacturing for marine and floating structures, IoT-enabled smart connectors for adaptive floating breakwaters, the use of porous media to improve hydrodynamic performance, and modular construction of floating breakwater systems. Together, these presentations highlighted how advances in materials, numerical modelling, intelligent control and construction technologies could support more resilient, adaptable and sustainable coastal infrastructure.
Through invited presentations and technical exchanges, the workshop provided a valuable opportunity to share research insights, explore common challenges and discuss potential directions for future collaboration. It reinforced academic and professional connections between Hong Kong and Singapore while offering a platform for developing further cross-institutional research opportunities. The joint initiative also reflected RILS’s commitment to advancing research on coastal infrastructure and the sustainable use of land and marine spaces, alongside a shared interest in innovative engineering solutions that integrate coastal protection, renewable energy and intelligent technologies.
| Research Units | Research Institute for Land and Space |
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