Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 7: Pre-deployment trials is sponsored by Innovate UK (part of UKRI), Department for Transport (DfT). This strand of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition funds pre-deployment testing of innovative clean maritime technologies for on-vessel or maritime infrastructure use. The aim is to design, develop and test these technologies, but not deploy them.

Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 7: Pre-deployment trials - GOV-UK Find a grant Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 7: Pre-deployment trials 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 (DfT).

Opening date : 11 March 2026, 10:00am Closing date : 15 July 2026, 11:00am Get updates about this grant Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £121 million from the Department for Transport in this competition. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.

This funding will be for projects to carry out deployment trials, pre-deployment trials and innovative feasibility studies, each of which forms a separate strand of this competition. The Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) Round 7 is part of a suite of interventions launched by the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme.

The UK SHORE programme aims to: transform the UK into a global leader in the design and manufacturing of clean maritime technology accelerate the fuels and technologies required to decarbonise the sector to meet net zero Your proposal must focus on clean maritime technology.

This competition is split into three strands: Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 7: Deployment trials Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 7: Pre-deployment trials (this strand) Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 7: Feasibility studies It is your responsibility to ensure you submit your application to the correct strand for your project.

You will not be able to transfer your application and it will not be sent for assessment if it is out of scope. The aim of the Deployment trials strand is to fund real world demonstrations of innovative clean maritime technologies in an operational setting. Your proposal must develop, test and deploy innovative clean maritime technologies for on-vessel or maritime infrastructure use, or both.

The aim of the Pre-deployment trials strand is to fund pre-deployment testing of innovative clean maritime technologies. Your proposal must design, develop and test, but not deploy innovative clean maritime technologies for on-vessel or maritime infrastructure use, or both. The aim of the Feasibility strand is to fund feasibility studies of innovative clean maritime technologies and skills.

Your project must undertake a primarily desk based technical and economic feasibility study. Your study must be associated with the development and future real world demonstration of innovative technologies for on-vessel use, maritime infrastructure use, skills or a combination of each. In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process.

This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it. We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants.

This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny. We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions.

This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions. This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief . We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.

Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £750,000 and £6 million. Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments , for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.

You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance. We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.

You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). have total eligible costs between £750,000 and £6 million Any funded organisation needs to carry out their project work in the UK and must intend to exploit the project results from or in the UK.

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 . 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. To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size collaborate with other UK registered organisations 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. To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following, a UK registered: public sector organisation research and technology organisation (RTO) 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.

include rationale for the collaboration and describe the structure in your application ensure any one partner does not account for more than 70% of the total eligible costs Your project can include organisations who do not claim any funding for their work on the project. Their costs will 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. Where non-funded partners have been invited to the application on IFS, their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs. 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. Any overseas contracting will be assessed for value for money for the UK.

All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs. 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.

Where your project involves a shipyard or boat builder as a subcontractor, the National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) can be used in an advisory capacity to understand UK shipbuilding capability. The NSO are willing to discuss specifics with projects and can be accessed by emailing NSO-Secretariat@mod. gov.uk .

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 or be a subcontractor in two further applications across all three strands of this competition and the Zero Emissions Vessel Infrastructure (ZEVI) 2 competition.

If a business is not leading any application, it can collaborate or be a subcontractor in any number of applications across this competition and the ZEVI 2 competition. Applications that do not meet these requirements will be made ineligible, in order of the most recent submission being made ineligible first. Other eligible organisations can collaborate on 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. You may be asked for further evidence of your resources at interview, if invited. If Innovate UK have concerns about your ability to deliver multiple projects successfully, we reserve the right to award funding based on evidence of your capacity to manage them.

If you are already involved in other Innovate UK funded projects, you must show you have the resources in place to deliver further projects funded by this CMDC 7 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. 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.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both that in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation . 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. If you have previously submitted an application that reached our assessment stage, you can re-apply only once more with the same proposal.

If there are minor differences to the proposal, but it is judged by us to be ‘not materially different’, the application will be made ineligible.

We 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 Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to us in relation to other projects. Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable) This competition provides funding in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation. gov.uk) . Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty.

We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage. EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. See the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.

In the ‘Project details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation. If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you must take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.

You must not do anything which could cause a breach of Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom. This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries. This award is classified as a Subsidy which does not form part of your Minimal Financial Assistance or de minimis allowance.

Up to £121 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions. 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. 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 For more information on company sizes, 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 . Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn. The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% 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 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 Research organisations using the Je-S system must submit their costs through the Je-S system which calculates the 80% FEC figure.

On IFS, only the 80% FEC output must be entered at 100% funding. Applicants do not need to show the remaining 20% on the finance table. To find out more see our: Cost Guidance for Academics .

The aim of the Pre-deployment trials strand is to fund pre-deployment testing of innovative clean maritime technologies. Your proposal must design, develop and test but not deploy innovative clean maritime technologies for on-vessel or maritime infrastructure use, or both. If your project addresses on-vessel technologies, you must only involve land-based testing such as a factory or dry dock.

Your project must not plan to test technologies in the water as part of this project. If you intend to deploy your solution in an operational environment, including on the water, you must apply to the Deployment trials strand which is for projects that develop, test and deploy innovative clean maritime technologies.

If you intend to carry out a feasibility study only with no substantial testing, you must apply to the Feasibility studies strand which is for projects that undertake a primarily desk based technical and economic feasibility study. 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. For this competition, maritime is defined as the activity of commercial and pleasure vessels and supporting infrastructure, used in the transportation of people and goods by water, or to perform activities at offshore installations at sea and in inland waterways.

Deployment is defined as demonstrating your technology in a real world environment. For example, operating a sea-going vessel at sea or operating infrastructure in a port or offshore, connected to a vessel on the water if applicable. A feasibility study is defined as primarily desk based research.

Feasibility studies may include data collection from existing technology deployments but must not have substantial costs towards developing and testing technology. Well-to-wake emissions are defined as the sum of well-to-tank and tank-to-wake emissions. Tank-to-wake emissions are the emissions that are generated by operating maritime vessels.

Well-to-tank emissions are the emissions from the production and distribution of the fuels and other energy sources that are used by maritime vessels.

For more details see: Box 1 in the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy Analytical Annex , and the IMO framework on life cycle GHG intensity of marine fuels The difference between low carbon fuels and zero and near zero GHG emission fuels is described in Box 3 of the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy .

Since the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy was published, the International Maritime Organisation has approved amendments to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships that include a definition of zero and near zero GHG emission fuels. For the purposes of this competition, zero and near zero GHG emission fuels are defined as fuels with a GHG Fuel Intensity (GFI) of no more than 19.

0 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent (gCO2eq) per megajoule (MJ). GFI must be calculated on a well-to-wake basis.

deliver a meaningful pre-deployment trial before March 2028 underpin a future deployment by December 2029, delivering a meaningful technology, route to market, or supply chain innovation demonstrate how the project can support a significant reduction in the well-to-wake greenhouse gas emissions from the maritime sector, including where relevant, addressing air pollution risks or other environmental impacts from decarbonisation solutions include at least one representative end user such as a vessel operator, port or harbour authority: the end user must show clear commitment to the project demonstrate significant market potential through a clear strategy for commercialising the technology and the products, demonstrating the potential for significant value to the UK bring together a team with the necessary expertise and experience to successfully deliver the project objectives Throughout, and at the end of your project, you must: produce a clear, detailed and costed plan for how your technology will be demonstrated in an operational setting in or between ports or on vessels, including your technical approach, objectives and business case detail the resources needed to carry out a future deployment trial, including funding requirements, timescales for delivery, planning permissions, implications for current and future regulation, new partners and information for a clear business case quantify the potential reduction of well-to-wake greenhouse gas emissions, the potential impacts on other emissions and positive economic impacts in the future develop evidence on expected commercial applications and exploitation, and potential market segments explain your understanding of any barriers to market adoption detail the barriers to adoption that the future demonstration will overcome and the innovation that will be delivered share your findings with the Department for Transport (DfT), Maritime and Coastguard agency (MCA), Innovate UK and any third party contractors appointed by them produce a clear plan for disseminating the results of your project and knowledge sharing to government, industry and academia provide the evidence required to support the DfT’s evaluation of the scheme For these deliverables, Innovate UK will issue further guidance to successful projects on the requirements for engaging with and providing the evidence required to support the DfT’s evaluation of the scheme.

Failure to engage with the evaluation when requested could result in your project being suspended or funding withdrawn. Successful projects will be required to engage with the DfT, Innovate UK and any third party contractors appointed by them relating to evaluation of CMDC projects.

Data shared with these parties is expected to include written application responses, project initiation data, monitoring data, end of project reports and involvement in some primary data collection activities such as surveys and focus groups. All information will be treated as commercially sensitive.

Technologies for all sizes and categories of maritime vessel subject to the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 are in scope, including pleasure, commercial fishing and aquaculture vessels. Solutions can be suitable for one target size of vessel or multiple. For a project involving a new hull, the vessel must be a United Kingdom Ship.

For a project involving testing technology on an existing vessel, the vessel is expected to be a United Kingdom Ship, otherwise you must provide justification for not using a United Kingdom Ship in your application. United Kingdom Ship is defined in 85(2) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 . Vessels must comply with relevant regulations when undertaking voyages and where appropriate, be certificated subject to vessel type.

These vessels cannot proceed to sea without relevant seagoing certification. For a project involving a new hull, the vessel must be built to Classification Society or Certifying Authority rules. The vessel must remain under that Classification Society or Certifying Authority for the full trial period.

For a project involving testing technology on an existing vessel, if that vessel is a United Kingdom Ship, it must be under Classification Society or Certifying Authority Rules. If that vessel is not a United Kingdom Ship then it must follow the rules of its flag State and is expected to be under Classification Society or Certifying Authority rules.

Projects involving a vessel must engage with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) during the project. The MCA may also contact successful projects shortly after you are notified to discuss the details of your project. Failure to engage with the MCA when requested could result in your project being suspended or funding withdrawn.

Any physical structures or systems necessary to enable clean maritime operations onshore or offshore are in scope. This includes infrastructure for freight, passenger, pleasure and commercial vessels, located at, for example ports, harbours or wind farms. We strongly encourage projects from around the UK to support jobs and economic growth, including projects from ports, vessel operators, vessel manufacturers and their supply chains.

We 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 intellectual property (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 and wider economy in the future.

We welcome projects from UK subsectors that are close to, or have a clear technology pathway, and are close to commercialisation in the energy and growth space, where there are clear remaining barriers to overcome. In particular, this includes vessels and operations that support offshore wind sector. We encourage continuation of feasibility studies and pre-deployment trial projects that were previously funded by CMDC rounds.

However, you are not required to have been successful in a previous round of the CMDCs to apply with an eligible project to this Round 7 competition. We want to fund a variety of projects across different strands, priority themes, specific themes, markets, technological maturities, research categories, technologies and locations. We call this a portfolio approach .

Your project can focus on one or more of the following: fishing vessels and inland waterways vessels projects that combine the below Vessel or Infrastructure technology themes with Smart Shipping technology themes zero and near zero GHG emission fuel systems, such as ammonia or hydrogen retrofitting clean maritime technology to existing vessels The priority themes are of particular interest in this competition but we also welcome applications that address any of the following themes.

Vessel technology themes: vessel propulsion and auxiliary engines, for example: batteries, fuel cells, and internal combustion engines using low, zero or near zero greenhouse gas emission fuels such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia or multi-fuel combinations 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 low, zero or near zero greenhouse gas emission energy storage and management physical connections to shoreside power or alternative fuel bunkering, including fuelling lines, battery storage and on or near site renewable energy generation enabling technologies such as motors, drives, sensor and power electronics technologies for addressing air pollution and other contaminant risks from vessels using low, zero or near zero greenhouse gas emission alternative fuels, covering both novel air pollution risks such as from ammonia (NH3) slip and adverse impacts on conventional air pollutant emissions such as particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) technologies for addressing nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions from vessels using low, zero or near zero greenhouse gas emission alternative fuels type approval of novel on-vessel equipment onboard carbon capture and storage (OCCS) energy efficiency technologies, including those that enhance the vessel range or lower alternative fuel usage to enable the fuel’s viability Examples of energy efficiency technologies include ship hull efficiency, onboard waste heat recovery, propeller and rudder flow conditioning devices, air lubrication systems and energy efficient auxiliary systems.

Projects developing battery electric solutions for vessels less than 24 metres need to show clearly how their project is novel and how it addresses limitations with existing electric vessel solutions. Applications for battery electric solutions that are not novel or innovative will not be sent for assessment. Battery electric applicants are encouraged to contact support@iuk.

ukri. org at least 10 working days before the competition closes to check whether your application is in scope.

Infrastructure technologies including offshore themes: shoreside storage and bunkering of low, zero or near zero greenhouse gas emission fuel charging infrastructure and management for electric vessels novel shore power solutions, such as enabling docked vessels to turn off their conventional power supply for ancillary systems physical connections to shoreside power or alternative fuel bunkering, including fuelling lines, battery storage and onsite renewables shoreside renewable energy generation at the port to supply vessels low, zero or near zero greenhouse gas emission fuel production at ports to supply vessels, such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia zero greenhouse gas emission infrastructure, including stationary assets for freight handling and port operations within a port or harbour site amendments to offshore infrastructure such as wind farms, required to support the use of zero, near zero or low greenhouse gas emission vessels reception and storage of carbon from onboard carbon capture and storage Projects focused on shore power technology need to show clearly how their project is novel and how it addresses limitations with existing shore power solutions.

Applications for shore power solutions that are not novel or innovative will not be sent for assessment.

In addition, shore power projects must consider: the energy source, its cost, sustainability, resilience, capacity, connection requirements and timeline users, pricing and likely utilisation during any demonstration period how to maintain operation and grow utilisation beyond any demonstration period Shore power applicants are encouraged to contact support@iuk. ukri.

org at least 10 working days before the competition closes to check whether your application is in scope.

Smart shipping, digital and autonomous maritime technologies themes: Your smart shipping, digital and autonomy project must demonstrate how it contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and can focus on one or more of the following maritime themes: maintenance and inspection within the maritime sector improvements in port operations vessel design optimisation smart shipping safety and skills vessel operations optimisation vessel route planning and scheduling for efficiency interaction with other transport modes, maritime being the clear focus assurance systems including establishing processes, measurements, systems and risk based approaches to assure the safety and operational competence of smart shipping systems In addition, one or more of the following smart shipping areas must be a core part of the proposed work: data: including using data captured in a novel way or as part of an innovative approach, solution or product Artificial Intelligence (AI): including the use of AI either as new AI development, or as a novel application of existing AI automated systems: including the development of automated solutions, both hardware and software connectivity: including innovative use of telecommunications systems such as future networks, hybrid network systems and satellite networks Position Navigation and Timing (PNT), including innovative use of telecommunications systems such as future networks, hybrid network systems and satellite networks; including innovative PNT devices and solutions, for example, quantum technology Quantum Computing (QC): including using QC to improve existing solutions, products or to develop a new QC approach or solution sensing or monitoring solutions: including the use of innovative devices and systems to provide sensing capability or the ability to monitor a system or vessel, this includes quantum technologies digital twins: including creating digital models of real world systems or objects enabling bi-directional feedback Novel clean maritime concepts that do not readily fit into the above themes.

We will fund industrial research projects as defined in the guidance on categories of research . Projects we will not fund Text update 10 April 2026: wording amended in the 'synthetic fuels' note for clarity.

We are not funding projects that are: focusing only on increasing the efficiency of current conventional fossil fuels and fossil fuel powertrains of maritime vessels focusing on marine conservation and ecology focusing on removing non-GHG and indirect GHGs from the combustion products of conventional fossil fuels and synthetic fossil fuels focusing on Personal Watercraft (PWC) focusing on the use and production of synthetic fuels, note: this exclusion does not apply to low, zero or near zero greenhouse gas emission methanol, ammonia and hydrogen fuels focusing on submarines and submersible vessels focusing on military applications covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed solutions a duplicate