Closed
Competition opens: Monday 22 March 2021
Competition closes: Wednesday 2 June 2021 11:00 am
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £20m for innovative clean maritime and smart shipping projects. This funding is from the Department for Transport.
Project Size: £25,000 - £1,000,000
Project Length: Up to 7 months
Award: Share of up to £20m
Programme: Innovate UK
Summary
The Department for Transport will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to invest up to £20m for innovative clean maritime and smart shipping projects. The aim of this competition is to support the design and development of technologies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the UK’s maritime sector as set out in the Clean Maritime Plan and support the transition to Net Zero by 2050. In this competition Innovate UK are seeking solutions for all sizes and categories of maritime vessels. Solutions can be suitable for one target size or multiple sizes of vessels. All ports and harbours are in scope, including infrastructure for both freight and leisure. Innovate UK strongly encourage projects from around the UK to support boosting jobs and economic growth, including:
ports
vessel operators
vessel manufacturers
their relevant supply chain
There are two strands to this competition:
Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Strand 1 (this strand)
Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Strand 2
In applying to this competition you are entering into a competitive process. This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated.
Funding type Grant
Project size Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £25,000 and £1,000,000.
Eligibility
Your project Your project must:
have total eligible costs between £25,000 and £1,000,000,
end by 31 March 2022
last up to 7 months
Projects can start by 1 September 2021. Innovate UK will not approve project extensions beyond 31 March 2022. If your project’s total eligible costs outside of the eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@innovateuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. Innovate UK will decide whether to approve your request.
Lead organisation To lead a project or work alone your organisation must:
be a UK registered business of any size, a research organisation or a research and technology organisation (RTO)
carry out its project work in the UK
intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
If the lead organisation is an RTO or a research organisation it must collaborate with at least 1 business. Academic institutions cannot work alone. Project team To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must:
be a UK registered business, research organisation, academic institution, charity, not-for-profit, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)
carry out its project work in the UK
intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
The lead and at least one other organisation in a collaboration must claim funding by entering their costs during the application. Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once accepted, partners will be asked to login or to create an account and enter their own project costs into the Innovation Funding Service. Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. 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 question 4 for why you could not use suppliers from the UK. You must also provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. Innovate UK expect subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. A cheaper cost is not deemed as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
Number of applications There is no limit on the number of applications an organisation can participate in. If applicants are involved in more than one submission, they must clearly state in question 4 how all projects can be resourced and delivered if successful.
Previous applications You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition. Innovate UK will not award you funding if you have:
failed to exploit a previously funded project
an overdue independent accountant’s report
failed to comply with grant terms and conditions
Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable) This competition provides funding in line with the UK's obligations and commitments to Subsidy Control. Further information about the UK Subsidy Control requirements can be found within the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation agreement and the subsequent guidance from the department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. Innovate UK will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage. European Commission State aid You must apply under European Commission State aid rules if you are an applicant who is conducting activities that will affect trade of goods and electricity between Northern Ireland and the EU as envisaged by Article 10 of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland in the EU Withdrawal Agreement. In certain limited circumstances, the European Commission State aid rules may also apply if you are an organisation located in England, Wales, or Scotland and conduct activities that affect the trade of goods and electricity between Northern Ireland and the EU. For further information, please see section 7 of the BEIS technical guidance. For further information see the Innovate UK general guidance on state aid and BEIS guidance on the Northern Ireland Protocol. For applicants subject to the European Commission State aid rules, applicants will be required to prove that they were not an “Undertaking in Difficulty” on the date of 31 December 2019 but became a UID between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2021. Innovate UK will ask for evidence of this. Further Information If you are unsure about your obligations under the UK Subsidy Control regime or the State aid rules, please take independent legal advice. You must make sure at all times that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom. This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries. If there are any changes to the above requirements that mean Innovate UK need to change the terms of this competition, Innovate UK will tell you as soon as possible.
Funding Innovate UK have allocated up to £10m to fund feasibility projects in this strand. Innovate UK and Department for Transport reserves the right to move funding between strands.
If your organisation’s work on the project is mostly commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically. For feasibility studies, you could 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
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.
Scope
The aim of this competition is to support the design and development of technologies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the UK’s maritime sector as set out in the Clean Maritime Plan and support the transition to Net Zero by 2050. Your project must:
review the technical and economic feasibility of solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
develop a clear plan for a future technology demonstration to be deployed after the feasibility project has been completed
You can include autonomous vessels as identified in the Technology and Innovation in UK Maritime Route Map and wind power, where these deliver energy efficiency savings and enable a vessel to be zero emission capable.
Project consortia for the feasibility study can include the necessary partners in the feasibility study to achieve these aims, such as including a representative end user such as a vessel manufacturer, operator or port or harbour authority. At the end of the feasibility project, you must:
produce a clear, detailed and costed plan for how the solution will be demonstrated in an operational setting in a port or on a vessel(s), including its technical approach, its objectives and business case
detail your compliance with regulation or how you will provide assurance if your novel technology does not comply with existing regulation
quantify the potential reduction of lifecycle emissions and positive economic impacts in the future
detail the barriers to adoption that the future demonstration will overcome
detail the resources needed to carry out such a large-scale demonstration, including funding requirements and timescales for delivery, planning permissions, implications of current and future regulation, an assessment of new partners needed and other related information that is required to make a clear business case and decision on deploying a large demonstration project
share your reports with DfT and Innovate UK
Clean maritime and smart shipping technologies for all sizes and categories of maritime vessel are in scope. Solutions can be suitable for one target size of vessel or multiple. Leisure and commercial vessels are in scope.
All ports and harbours are in scope, including infrastructure for both freight and leisure. Innovate UK strongly encourage projects from around the UK to support boosting jobs and economic growth, including from ports, vessel operators, vessel manufacturers and their supply chain. These can be from established areas of maritime innovation in the UK with proven expertise and capabilities, this includes emerging clusters of activity in zero emission technologies such as but not limited to:
the Orkney islands, home to a series of innovative hydrogen projects, including ongoing trials with a vessel, and is an internationally recognised centre of excellence for renewable energy, advanced fuels and island decarbonisation
Teesside, home to the Department of Transport’s Hydrogen Transport Centre, complementing the existing Tees Valley Net Zero Innovation Centre and leveraging local expertise in heavy industry, advanced manufacturing and high technology research and development
Applications must clearly demonstrate how they will anchor IP generated by the project in the UK and how it will be exploited for the benefit of the UK supply chain in the future. Innovate UK want to fund a portfolio of projects, across a variety of technologies, markets, geographic locations around the UK, technological maturities and research categories. Innovate UK and DfT reserves the right to prioritise projects within specific themes where necessary.
Specific themes
Your project can focus on one or more of the following themes:
On vessel low and zero emission technologies:
vessel propulsion (battery, fuel cell, hybrid, or engines using low carbon alternative fuels such as hydrogen, methanol or ammonia)
propulsion systems using internal combustion engine technology capable of using multiple fuels including zero carbon options (such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia)
wind propulsion, including soft-sail, fixed-sail, rotor, kite and turbine technologies, targeting a range of ship types from small vessels to large cargo carriers, both as primary and auxiliary propulsion
on-vessel power generation and fuel production to reduce GHG’s e.g. wind turbines, solar panels, synthetic fuel production
low carbon energy storage and management
physical connections to shore-side power, including fuelling lines
enabling technologies such as motors, drives and power electronics
Port and shore-side solutions:
shore-side low and zero carbon fuelling including bunkering of such fuels
charging infrastructure and management
low and zero emission shore-side power solutions, such as enabling docked vessels to turn off their conventional power supply for ancillary systems
shore-side renewable energy generation at the port to supply vessels
zero emission shore-side power supply as vessels are in harbour for the vessel’s main propulsion system, including grid or renewable energy supply
low carbon fuel production (such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia)
zero emission infrastructure, including stationary assets for freight handling and port operations
Investigating green shipping corridors between the UK and other trading partners:
assessing the potential of specific technologies in decarbonising trade routes between the UK and trading partners, geographically both near and far
exploring barriers to the decarbonisation of trade routes
exploring how innovative technologies or the novel application of existing technologies will address the barriers, enabling the creation of green corridors between the UK and its trading partners
Smart shipping technologies:
autonomy, digitisation and better journey efficiencies directly and indirectly, delivering quantifiable energy efficiency savings and, therefore, GHG emission reductions
other smart shipping technologies, including the control of the emission reduction systems including but not limited to wind propulsion
Research categories Innovate UK will fund, feasibility projects, as defined in the guidance on categories of research.
Projects Innovate UK will not fund Innovate UKare not funding:
projects that focus only on increasing the efficiency of current conventional fossil fuels and powertrains of maritime vessels
projects involving aqua culture
projects focused on marine conservation and ecology, such as mapping the sea floor etc
capital investment only projects
projects investigating the feasibility of financial products, including green finance
projects focused on biofuels, except for projects strictly focused on inland waterway vessels and Non-Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM), which includes port-side machinery
projects focused on nuclear propulsion
projects dependent on export performance - for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another country
projects dependent on domestic inputs usage - for example if they insisted that a baker use 50% UK flour in their product