Sustainable management of marine resources requires precise measurement of the blue economy (BE) resilience. This resilience enables coastal regions to absorb disturbances while maintaining essential functions under intensifying anthropogenic and climatic pressures. However, current BE resilience assessment frameworks often remain fragmented and overlook the complex interactions among ecological conservation, economic growth, and technological progress. To address this critical gap, we propose a novel spatio-temporal analytical framework based on the 4R model (Resistance, Recovery, Reorientation, and Renewal) that integrates 44 indicators across economic, ecological, and innovation dimensions. Applying this framework to China, we demonstrate that national BE resilience more than doubled (the resilience score increased from 0.18 to 0.38) from 2000 to 2020, though regional and phase-specific disparities persist. Technological innovation emerges as both the main constraint and most transformative driver, with the potential to boost resilience up to 14-fold. Crucially, integrated synergy among ecology, economy, and innovation delivers the highest BE resilience gains, with tripartite coordination enhancing resilience by 229%—far exceeding any single or dual interactions. This study offers a robust methodological and policy framework to guide BE resilience enhancement in China, and transferrable insights for coastal economies worldwide navigating development–environment trade-offs.
 

Blue economy; Resilience; Collaboration ; Innovation; Evaluation framework; China