The Ocean Innovation Lab’s history is rooted in the 2014 establishment of the ShoreLAB at the Kutubdia Island under the leadership of Dr. M. Shah Nawaz Chowdhury as a part of ShoreFORE project, which was funded by the Dutch Organisation for Internationalisation in Education (NUFFIC) program through Wageningen University (The Netherlands). ShoreLAB acted as a field lab with the physical facilities to host lab instruments along with dormitories for researchers, provided by the Cox’s Bazar District Administration (GoB). These field based lab activities were continued until 2019 for long-term monitoring of the eco-morphological changes around the Kutubdia coasts, which are known as critical hotspots in changing climate. After completion of the ShoreFore project, the lab was shifted to temporary place of IMS premises. In 2024, upon request of Dr. M. Shah Nawaz Chowdhury to the Academic Committee, Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS–CU) provided a place for constructing the physical lab facilities at IMS research extension block. New indoor and outdoor facilities have been incorporated along with necessary workstations to host 25–30 researchers including research students and renamed the lab into ‘Ocean Innovation Lab – OiLAB’. Since the establishment, OiLAB has been making efforts to understand, explore and protect the environment of northern Bay of Bengal regions. OiLAB provides a unique environment, where potential investigators and promising students can interact and collaborate across disciplines in the field of ocean sciences. Moreover, OiLAB provides expert support and assistance to relevant government departments, international organizations and other stakeholders working on marine resources exploration, exploitation and environmental management.