Key Features
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £30 million for innovative Smart Shipping technologies and skills for maritime decarbonisation. This funding is from the Department for Transport.
Programme: Innovate UK
Award: Share of up to £30 million
Opens: 24th Jan 2025
Closes: 16th Apr 2025
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Department for Transport to invest up to £30 million in innovation projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping.
These will be to carry out innovative pre-deployment trials and feasibility studies.
The Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) Round 6 is part of a suite of interventions launched by the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE). UK SHORE aims to transform the UK into a global leader in the design and manufacturing of clean maritime technology.
The aim of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 6 is to fund pre-deployment trials and feasibility studies into clean maritime technologies and skills that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The aim of Strand 3 (this strand) is to fund detailed feasibility studies and pre-deployment projects focused on using digital technologies to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality in the maritime transport sector.
Your project must conduct either a technical and economic feasibility study or a pre-deployment project based on Smart Shipping technologies. Smart Shipping areas covered by this competition are listed below.
Projects that aim to undertake a pre-deployment trial without a focus on Smart Shipping technologies or skills must apply into Strand 1 of this competition.
Projects that aim to undertake a feasibility study without a focus on Smart Shipping technologies or skills must apply into Strand 2 of this competition.
If you are in any doubt about which strand to apply into, you must check by email to support@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes.
If you apply into the wrong strand, you will be ineligible and your application will not be assessed.
You must plan for the real world demonstration or deployment developed in your project to be operational in water by the end of 2028.
Your project must:
At the end of your project, you must:
Successful projects will be required to engage with the Department for Transport (DfT), Innovate UK and any third party contractors appointed by them related to CMDC projects.
Regulation
Projects must detail their plan for compliance with regulation and how they will work with relevant regulatory bodies for novel technologies.
Types of vessel
Technologies for all sizes and categories of maritime vessel subject to the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 are in scope. Solutions can be suitable for one target size of vessel or multiple. Pleasure, commercial, fishing and aquaculture vessels are in scope.
Where your project intends to utilise a vessel, the vessel is expected to be a United Kingdom Ship, otherwise you must provide justification for use of a non-United Kingdom Ship in your application. United Kingdom Ship is defined in 85(2) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.
Types of infrastructure
All ports and harbours are in scope, including infrastructure for freight, passenger, pleasure and commercial vessels. Offshore infrastructure is also in scope, such as wind farms.
Value for the UK
Innovate UK strongly encourage projects from around the UK to support boosting jobs and economic growth, including projects from ports, vessel operators, vessel manufacturers and their supply chain. Innovate UK welcome projects from areas with existing clean maritime expertise or co-located in clusters of renewable energy production and usage including hydrogen.
You must clearly demonstrate how you will anchor IP generated by the project in the UK. You must also show how this IP will be exploited for the benefit of the UK supply chain in the future.
Previous applications and projects
Innovate UK encourage new projects and consortia that have not been part of previous rounds of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC). You are not required to have been successful in previous rounds of the CMDCs to apply with an eligible project to Round 6.
Once your project is completed, you are expected to be at the point that you are investment and construction ready to fully demonstrate the solution and take it to market.
Smart Shipping training and skills
If your proposal focusses on Smart Shipping training and skills, it must be a feasibility study and you must focus on the vocational or technical training infrastructure requirements to train the Smart Shipping design, manufacturing, maintenance or operational workforce.
Your Smart Shipping training and skills project must demonstrate:
Portfolio approach
Innovate UK want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, markets, technological maturities, themes and locations. Innovate UK call this a portfolio approach.
Your project can focus on one or more of the following maritime transport themes:
In addition, one or more of the following Smart Shipping areas must be a core part of the proposed work:
Your project must:
Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date.
You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition.
If your project’s total costs request falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will decide whether to approve your request.
If you have not requested approval or your application has not been approved by us, you will be made ineligible. Your application will then not be sent for assessment.
Lead organisation
To lead a project your organisation must:
More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.
Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.
Trust ports and Municipal ports will be treated as businesses.
Project team
To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:
Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs and completing their Project Impact questions in the application.
To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must apply for funding when entering their costs into the application.
Non-funded partners
Your project can include non-UK partners, including partners based in the EU, who bring their own funding. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit results overseas. Their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.
Subcontractors
Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you cannot use subcontractors from the UK.
You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.
Number of applications
A business can only lead on one application across all three strands of this competition.
If leading an application, a business can also be included as a collaborator in a further two applications across all three strands of this competition.
If a business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.
Other organisations can collaborate in any number of applications.
If you are involved in more than one application, you must clearly state how all projects can be resourced and delivered if successful.
If Innovate UK have concerns about your ability to deliver multiple projects successfully, we reserve the right to award funding based on evidence of capacity to manage them.
If you are involved in other Innovate UK funded projects, you must show you have the resources in place to deliver further projects funded by this competition.
Innovate UK reserve the right to decide the success of an application based on evidence of capacity to manage multiple live projects. If you are delivering live Innovate UK projects, we will review your current delivery and performance towards expected stated deliverables.
Sanctions
This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.
Use of animals in research and innovation
Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.
Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.
You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.
Innovate UK are not funding projects that are:
Innovate UK cannot fund projects that are:
Up to £30 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.
If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.
Category 1 Feasibility studies
Funding available for your eligible project costs of:
Category 2 Industrial research projects
Funding available for your eligible project costs of:
For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.
If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.
Research participation
The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 50% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them. Of that 50% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:
Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.
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