The Yacht of the Future Will Not Be Built in the Shipyard Alone. Investment, infrastructure and innovation: the future of yachting through the lens of Mariana Mazzucato
In the final instalment of “Oltre l’orizzonte”, Filippo Ceragioli concludes his look at the future of yachting through some of the leading contemporary economic theories. In the previous instalments he asked, with Branko Milanović, where the wealth needed to buy the next generation of yachts will be concentrated, and, with Kenneth Rogoff, which economic conditions could encourage or delay purchases. With Daron Acemoglu he examined how technology, skills and productivity will affect the competitiveness of shipyards. The series now turns to the work of Mariana Mazzucato, an economist at University College London known for her research on public investment and innovation. The question is who will create the conditions that allow the innovations needed by future yachting to actually develop. The focus is on ports and marinas, energy infrastructure, industrial supply chains and cooperation between public and private players.
The previous instalments can be read at the following links:
Beyond the Horizon: Economics as a Key to Understanding Yachting
The future of yachting will depend on shipyards’ ability to innovate, but also on the infrastructure, technologies and investments needed to support this transformation. This perspective emerges when applying some of economist Mariana Mazzucato’s ideas to the yachting industry.
In previous articles in this series, we explored three questions: through Branko Milanović, where the wealth needed to purchase the next generation of yachts will be concentrated; with Kenneth Rogoff, which economic conditions may encourage or delay purchases; and through Daron Acemoglu, how technology, skills and productivity will influence shipyard competitiveness.
A fourth question remains: who will create the conditions that allow the innovations required by the yachting industry of the future to develop?
This is where the thinking of Mariana Mazzucato, an economist at University College London known for her research into public investment, innovation and the role of institutions in shaping new markets, becomes particularly relevant.
We are not attributing specific forecasts about yachting to Mazzucato, nor suggesting that she has expressed views directly concerning the industry. Instead, we are applying some of the central themes of her work to interpret the transformation of the yachting sector.
Innovation Does Not Happen in a Vacuum
One of Mazzucato’s best-known contributions concerns the role of the state in innovation.
In her book The Entrepreneurial State, she demonstrates how numerous technologies commonly regarded as the achievements of private enterprise benefited from public research and investment during their early development.
The point is not to place the state and private enterprise in opposition, but to recognise that innovation often emerges through interaction between different actors, each capable of taking risks and investing over different time horizons.
Applied to yachting, this perspective reveals an important distinction: a shipyard may develop a technologically advanced yacht, but it cannot necessarily create all the conditions required for that yacht to operate.
It may design an innovative propulsion system without being able to guarantee fuel availability in ports. It may install sophisticated electrical systems without ensuring that every marina has sufficient power capacity to support them.
It may invest in lower-impact materials while remaining dependent on industrial supply chains capable of producing, certifying, recovering or recycling them.
Progress in an individual yacht may therefore move faster than progress in the ecosystem in which it will operate.
The Limits of the Environmental Transition
Decarbonisation probably offers the clearest example.
In recent years, the yachting industry has experimented with hybrid propulsion, energy storage systems, energy optimisation, alternative fuels and solutions aimed at reducing consumption.
These are significant developments, but they differ considerably in technological maturity, applicability and environmental benefits.
Improving a yacht’s energy efficiency can deliver relatively immediate results. Replacing a substantial proportion of conventional fuels, however, requires a transformation extending far beyond the construction of the vessel itself.
It requires fuel availability, distribution infrastructure, safety procedures, technical standards, trained personnel and economically viable operating conditions.
For certain technologies, including hydrogen and some synthetic fuels, challenges also remain concerning production, transportation, storage and overall life-cycle emissions.
The availability of an onboard technical solution does not, therefore, automatically translate into its commercial viability on a large scale.
This distinction also matters to yacht owners. A yacht is an investment intended to operate for many years and across different geographical regions. Technology choices must therefore consider not only current performance but also the reliability of future infrastructure.
The Port Becomes Part of the Product
Viewed through this perspective, the role of marinas also changes.
Traditionally regarded primarily as berthing and service facilities, they could become increasingly important in the technological transition of the fleet.
The availability of shore power, for example, can reduce the need to operate onboard generators while a yacht is in port. However, the actual benefit depends on the available electrical capacity, the characteristics of the grid and the source of the electricity supplied.
For larger vessels, the required infrastructure can be particularly demanding.
This challenge extends beyond individual marina operators. It involves electricity grid operators, port authorities, public administrations, technology providers and investors.
Mazzucato’s perspective suggests that these requirements should not be considered isolated interventions, but elements of a broader transformation requiring coordination.
A port capable of supporting the energy transition of yachts could become more attractive to certain categories of owners, just as the availability of qualified technical services already represents an important competitive advantage.
One consequence follows: competition in yachting will not take place exclusively between shipyards, but also between territories and infrastructure systems.
The Market Is Growing, but Investment Cycles Differ
According to SuperYacht Times’ The State of Yachting 2026, 204 new superyachts measuring at least 30 metres joined the fleet in 2025. At the beginning of 2026, a further 685 units were under construction.
These figures describe a substantial industrial sector, characterised, however, by long production cycles and complex investments.
Building a superyacht can take several years. Developing the infrastructure needed to support new technologies may require equally long periods, or even longer.
This creates a coordination problem.
A shipyard may be reluctant to invest in a technology for which an adequate support network does not yet exist. A marina operator, in turn, may postpone investment because the number of yachts capable of using the service remains limited.
Both decisions may be economically rational. Collectively, however, they risk slowing innovation.
It is precisely in situations such as these that Mazzucato’s concept of mission-oriented innovation becomes relevant: identifying shared objectives and organising investment, research and collaboration between public and private actors around them.
In the case of yachting, this does not necessarily mean introducing new incentives specifically for yachts. Rather, it means understanding how the sector might benefit from broader investments in port infrastructure, energy, materials research and industrial skills.
A Question for the Italian Industry Too
Italy has an extensive yachting supply chain comprising major shipyards, component manufacturers, design studios, specialised companies and a network of skills distributed across the country.
This structure represents one of the industry’s strengths, but also makes coordination between companies of different sizes particularly important.
A large company may have the resources required to develop new technologies or participate in international research projects. For a small supplier, financing similar investments independently can be much more difficult.
Yet the innovative capacity of the finished product often depends precisely on these companies.
Materials, onboard systems, electronics, surface treatments, engineering systems and production processes involve expertise that does not necessarily reside within the shipyard.
The question, therefore, becomes how to transfer innovation throughout the entire supply chain.
Universities, research centres, industrial programmes and collaboration between businesses can help bridge the gap between experimentation and commercial application.
Competitive advantage will depend not only on the ability to develop a new technology, but also on how quickly the industrial system can make it reliable, accessible and replicable.
Who Pays for Innovation, and Who Benefits?
Another central theme in Mazzucato’s work concerns the distribution of the risks and rewards associated with innovation.
When a project requires collective investment, it is reasonable to ask how the value generated should be distributed among those contributing to its development.
Applied to yachting, this issue extends beyond public funding.
It also concerns relationships between shipyards and suppliers, between those developing a technology and those commercialising it, and between those investing in experimentation and those benefiting from its wider adoption.
A company may bear substantial costs to develop a solution which, once validated, also becomes available to competitors. This is one reason why industrial collaboration requires appropriate economic and contractual models.
Shared innovation does not eliminate competition. It can, however, help create conditions in which multiple companies develop better products while each retains its own competitive advantage.
The Next Competitive Challenge Will Be Coordination
Over the next 12–24 months, it is reasonable to expect that many of the most tangible results will continue to come from technologies already available: greater energy efficiency, intelligent energy management, optimised production processes and better integration of onboard systems.
Over a three-to-five-year horizon, it will become increasingly important to observe how quickly infrastructure, supply chains and investment can keep pace with product development.
This is not a forecast attributable to Mazzucato, but a possible conclusion drawn from applying her approach to the industry.
The four economists examined in this series therefore allow us to consider the future of yachting from complementary perspectives.
Milanović helps us understand where wealth may become concentrated. Rogoff examines the conditions that may encourage its deployment. Acemoglu considers which industrial systems may be able to transform that wealth into competitive products.
Mazzucato adds a fourth dimension: which investments and forms of collaboration will make the next generation of innovations possible.
Because the future of yachting will depend not only on who can design and build the best yacht, but also on who has helped create the conditions that allow that yacht to realise its full potential.
Filippo Ceragioli
Main references: Mariana Mazzucato, The Entrepreneurial State (2013) and Mission Economy (2021); SuperYacht Times, The State of Yachting 2026.