Biscayne Bay isn’t just a backdrop. It’s the reason Miami’s real estate, tourism, and coastal economy work at all.
That’s the premise that brought scientists, policymakers, developers, and technologists together for the 2026 Biscayne Bay Marine Health Summit, hosted by the Biscayne Bay Marine Health Coalition. The bi-annual event drew a wide range of stakeholders for a full day of panels, breakout sessions, and workshops focused on what it will take to restore and sustain the bay.
The agenda opened with a 10-year update on the Biscayne Bay Task Force recommendations and moved through sessions on Everglades restoration, stormwater management, seagrass research, and what Miami might learn from Tampa Bay’s environmental recovery. City of Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins joined a conversation about civic leadership and the bay’s future.
On the innovation side, the summit made clear that technology is no longer peripheral to restoration. A session on productive floating wetlands across freshwater and brackish systems in the bay watershed pointed to biotech approaches that work alongside traditional conservation methods.
Another panel examined living seawalls and hybrid green-gray coastal infrastructure, a design that integrates ecological function directly into the built environment rather than treating nature and construction as opposing forces. ECOncrete engineers concrete products designed to support marine biodiversity in seawalls, pilings, and coastal structures. The company’s Environmental Affairs Manager, Mequela Moreno, participated in that panel and sees momentum building.
“At ECOncrete, we are seeing growing interest in technologies that integrate ecological performance directly into coastal infrastructure, including living seawalls and hybrid green-gray solutions that support biodiversity, water quality, and long-term coastal resilience,” Moreno said. “We also believe there is significant opportunity for innovation across areas such as predictive modeling, resilience planning, and data-driven infrastructure design to help protect Biscayne Bay.”
Water quality data was a consistent thread throughout the day, with multiple sessions addressing nutrient pollution patterns and multi-year assessments of land-based contamination. That kind of granular monitoring feeds predictive models with real downstream implications for infrastructure planning and insurance risk.
Taken together, the summit painted a picture of a restoration effort that is getting more sophisticated by the year. The science is advancing and the frameworks are taking shape. For a city that moves fast on opportunity, Biscayne Bay is presenting one worth moving on.
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- Seaworthy Collective’s Startup Showcase put South Florida’s bluetech scene on full display
- D Squared aims to solve the power and water crisis one microgrid at a time
- How Coverfleet is modernizing trucking compliance
- E-Force Marine is building Miami’s first electric catamaran
- Mare Liberum raises fund to back the next era of maritime tech
- Living seawall: How a waterfront church in Fort Lauderdale is making a historic impact on the environment
