LocationsHow Global Partnerships and AI Are Transforming Marine Tourism
Unlocking Ocean Innovation
December 18, 2025
As many countries power forward towards attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), innovation is no longer optional; it’s essential. The recently developed Sustainable, Virtual AI Marine Prototype from the UNDP Accelerator Lab for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean is more than a technological milestone; it’s a story of collaboration, creativity, and commitment to ocean sustainability.
From Japan to the Caribbean: A Global Innovation Journey
The 2025 Japan SDGs Challenge, spearheaded by the Japan Cabinet Office in partnership with UNDP and the Accelerator Labs network, was designed to connect local development challenges with cutting-edge solutions. Through this initiative, our Accelerator Lab for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean joined forces with these global partners to tackle some of the region’s most pressing issues: marine ecosystem resilience and sustainable tourism.
The project submitted and accepted into the 2025 Japan SDGs Challenge focuses on marine dataset labeling for virtual tourism - a concept that emerged from a Blue Economy challenge hosted by the Accelerator Lab in 2019 which has since evolved into a prototype that uses AI and machine learning to identify coral reef fish species from underwater video footage gathered by Barbadian company Bajan Digital Creations Inc (BDCI).
We partnered with innovator and BDCI founder Stevenson Antonio Hollingsworth who is the mastermind behind Blue Bot, a robotics system that gathers marine video content with underwater robotics - representing a full circle evolution of the product he shared during the Blue Economy challenge six years ago with the Accelerator Lab.
This progression demonstrates that innovation takes time to plant, grow and eventually blossom.
The AI-enabled prototype created with support from the Japan Cabinet Office uses frontier technology to label coral reef fish species that appear in Blue Bot’s videos, ultimately feeding into a marine training dataset and computer vision model used to form marine data visualizations. Together, this work contributed to a virtual tourism experience where viewers can digitally “swim” through coral reefs while learning about fish species. This model not only supports biodiversity monitoring but also opens new opportunities for immersive tourism experiences without adding pressure to fragile marine ecosystems, which is paramount to the sustainability of Caribbean marine tourism for the future.
By automating species detection and creating interactive visualizations, the Sustainable, Virtual AI Marine Prototype offers a glimpse into a future where marine tourism is both eco-conscious and inclusive.
Academic Power Meets Real-World Impact
To accelerate this project, UNDP partnered with the NYU Center for Data Science through its Capstone Project program. Graduate students contributed expertise in computer vision and data science, helping refine species classification models and improve labeling accuracy amongst challenging underwater features that typically distort video content, including strong haze, turbidity and glare. This collaboration exemplifies how academia and development actors can co-create solutions that bridge research and practice.
The Prototype: AI Meets the Ocean
The Sustainable, Virtual AI Marine Prototype showcased in the video below demonstrates how technology can transform raw underwater footage into structured, actionable insights. By automating species detection and creating interactive visualizations, the prototype offers a glimpse into a future where marine tourism is both eco-conscious and inclusive. It’s a tool for conservationists, educators, and innovators alike, bringing the wonders of the ocean to audiences worldwide while reducing human impact on delicate ecosystems. At the same time, it also widens marine exploration access to Persons with Disabilities, non-swimmers and the elderly who might have difficulties with entering underwater environments.
Impact
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face unique challenges in balancing economic growth with environmental stewardship. By leveraging AI, global partnerships, and local innovation, the Accelerator Lab has demonstrated that technology can be a force for good in advancing SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and creating new pathways for climate resilience and economic diversification.
Watch the full video to see the prototype in action and learn how this collaboration is contributing to the future of sustainable marine tourism and conservation.