Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 7: Pre-deployment trials

Key Features

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £121 million across the three strands of this competition for innovative clean maritime technologies. This funding is from the Department for Transport.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £121 million

Opens: 11th Mar 2026

Closes: 15th Jun 2026

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Grant Overview

Innovate UK are investing up to £121 million from the Department for Transport in the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 7: Pre-deployment competition.

Grant Scope

The aim of this competition is to fund pre-deployment testing of innovative clean maritime technologies. Proposals must develop, design and test but not deploy innovative clean maritime technologies for on-vessel or maritime infrastructure use, or both.

Projects can focus on one or more of the following specific themes:

  • Priority themes
  • Vessel technology themes
  • Infrastructure technologies including offshore themes
  • Smart shipping, digital and autonomous maritime technology’s themes
  • General themes

Please see full competition details for breakdown of specific themes.

Eligibility Criteria

When applying for funding, your project must have total eligible costs of between £750,000 and £6 million with projects lasting up to 12 months. Projects must start by 1st April 2027 and end by 31st March 2028. Funding organisations need to carry out project work in the UK and exploit project results from or in the UK. Projects must also start on the 1st of the month – even if the 1st of the month is a non-working day.

Lead: To lead a collaborative project organisations must be a business of any size registered in the UK and collaborate with other UK registered organisations. Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.

Project team: To collaborate with the lead, organisations must be either a business of any size, academic institution, charity, not for-profit, public sector or a research and technology organisation.

Non-funded partners: Projects can include organisations who do not claim any funding for work on the project. Costs need to be covered from their own resources. These can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit the results outside the UK.

Subcontractors: Subcontractors are allowed in this competition, and they can be from anywhere in the UK. Overseas subcontractors can be used but you must state why UK subcontractors could not be used.

Number of applications: Businesses can only lead on one application across all three strands of this competition. If leading an application, the business can be included as a collaborator or be a subcontractor in 2 further applications across all 3 strands. If not leading any application, business can collaborate or be a subcontractor in any number of applications across this competition and the ZEVI 2 competition.

Previous applications: Previously submitted applications can be used in this competition.

Grant Exclusions

The following projects cannot be funded:

  • Projects focusing only on increasing efficiency of current conventional fossil fuels and fossil powertrains or maritime vessels
  • Projects focusing on marine conservation and ecology
  • Projects focussed on removing non-GHG and indirect GHGs from combustion projects of conventional fossil fuels and synthetic fossil fuels
  • Projects focussing on Personal Watercraft
  • Projects focussing on the use and production of synthetic fuels
  • Projects focussing on military applications
  • Projects covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver proposed solutions
  • Duplication of existing innovation
  • Projects focussing on non-methanol biofuels

Grant Funding

Innovate UK are offering up to £121 million to fund innovation projects. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, funding requests must not exceed the below limits.

The balance between your total eligible project costs and the amount of grant awarded must be funded by the organisation receiving the grant.

For industrial research projects, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

  • up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
  • up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
  • up to 50% if you are a large organisation

Research participation

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs. Consortiums containing more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, the maximum amount is shared between them. Of that 30% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

  • 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation
  • 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered institution such as an academic

Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding

  1. Research organisations using the Je-S system must submit their costs through the Je-S system which calculates the 80% FEC figure.
  2. On IFS, only the 80% FEC output must be entered at 100% funding.
  3. Applicants do not need to show the remaining 20% on the finance table.

For further information on this competition, please see full details.

Full competition details

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