The Edmonds-Karp algorithm is an efficient method for solving the maximum flow problem in a flow network. It builds on the Ford-Fulkerson method by using BFS (Breadth-First Search) to find the shortest augmenting paths in the network. This ensures that the algorithm runs in polynomial time, specifically O(VE²), where V is the number of vertices and E is the number of edges. In the algorithm, the flow is increased iteratively by finding paths from the source to the sink. Each path is augmented until no more paths can be found, at which point the maximum flow is achieved. This approach is particularly useful in network optimization problems.