The drawing of a national blue product space and its evolution

Abstract

As countries transition to a blue economy to increase the long-term benefits of the sustainable use of marine resources, the different pathways toward the blue growth engine depend on identifying profitable ocean-related sectors and activities that offer advantages when competing with other countries. The ability to identify and establish the processes of blue product exports can be viewed as an essential part of a long-term strategy aimed at supporting blue growth and sustainable development. This paper proposes a method for defining a blue product space based on the product space model introduced by Hidalgo et al. in 2007, which is used to draw and analyze export strengths and the evolution of different countries with respect to a list of blue products. Although this descriptive analysis addresses only a small part of the overall concept of blue economy/growth, the method can identify blue products that may be competitive or potentially competitive in the world market by analyzing product export performance. An example from China is used to clarify the method of drawing the blue product space and analyzing its evolution, which is followed by a discussion of the method's limitations and possible contributions to policymakers and stakeholders when formulating blue industry policies.