Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 7: Feasibility studies

Who can apply

Your project

Your project must:

• have total eligible costs between £100,000 and £1 million

• last up to 12 months

• start by 1 April 2027

• end by 31 March 2028

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.

Lead organisation

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.

Project team

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following, a UK registered:

• business of any size

• academic institution

• charity

• not for profit

• 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

Non-funded partners

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Previous applications

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.

Further Information

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.

Funding

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 feasibility studies 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.

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:

• 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.

To find out more see our: Cost Guidance for Academics.

Your proposal

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.

Your Feasibility 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 substantial testing but not deploy your solution, you must apply to the Pre-deployment trials strand.

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.

Definitions

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.

Project requirements

Your project must:

• deliver a meaningful feasibility study 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.

Types of vessel

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.

Regulation

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.

Types of infrastructure

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.

Clean maritime training and skills

If your proposal focuses on clean maritime training and skills, you must focus on the vocational or technical training infrastructure requirements to train the workforce in relation to clean maritime design, manufacturing, maintenance or operations.

Your innovative clean maritime training and skills project must demonstrate:

• an ambitious and realistic idea, to meet a significant talent requirement for innovative clean maritime technology

• a clear focus on skills for significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the maritime sector

• that it is novel to the UK, a region or a specific group of people

• value for money and a credible, evidenced return on investment, in terms of trained, upskilled and reskilled people

Green shipping corridors

If your proposal focuses on a green shipping corridor, you must focus on underpinning a vessel navigating between both ends of the corridor in a real world operational setting. At least one end of the corridor must be in the UK. To qualify as a corridor, at least one vessel with zero or near zero greenhouse gas emissions on a well-to-wake basis must be transiting the route.

At the end of your green corridor project you must also:

• provide evidence on the annual additional costs of delivering the corridor, considering various market participants, for example, ship owners, ports, fuel suppliers, with clear plans to meet costs, covering both private and public funding sources

• prove evidence on the direct and indirect environmental impacts from delivering the corridors, including impacts on greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions

• produce a clear plan for scaling up the number of vessels and corresponding landside infrastructure, replicating the corridor elsewhere, and potential additional benefits to other routes and the wider fleet

• provide evidence to demonstrate potential scalable energy source options for the corridor

• quantify the energy requirements each year, with a clear plan for how this would be produced, imported, distributed, stored and bunkered, and the conditions to mobilise and meet demand

• prove the design of the vessels that will be used on the corridor, for example, newbuild or retrofit vessels, with a clear plan for how more vessels would be delivered after the demonstration project

• prove how the fuel will be safely and effectively supplied and bunkered, and stored on board vessels

• include a clear plan for how the corridor will comply with all relevant regulations, for example, safety regulations

• develop a clear plan for disseminating learnings and data from the corridor across the industry

Value for the UK

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_._

Previous applications and projects

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.

Portfolio approach

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.

Specific themes

Your project can focus on one or more of the following:

Priority themes:

• 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

General themes

• nuclear technology and corridors

• green shipping corridors

• clean maritime training and skills initiatives

• novel clean maritime concepts that do not readily fit into the above themes

Research categories

We will fund feasibility projects as defined in the guidance on categories of research.

Projects we will not fund

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 the use of 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 of existing innovation

• focusing on non-methanol biofuels, except for projects that utilise biofuels as a pilot fuel or secondary fuel on vessels predominantly powered by methanol, ammonia or hydrogen

We cannot fund projects that are:

• dependent on export performance, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country

• dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

19 March 2026

Online briefing event: register to attend

Briefing slides will be available to download from Supporting Information after the event

27 October 2026

Applicants notified

1 April 2027

Project start from

Before you start

You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:

• that all the information provided in the application is correct

• your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria

• all sections of the application are marked as complete

• all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs)

You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.

What we ask you

The application is split into four sections:

1. Project details.

2. Application questions.

3. Finances.

4. Project Impact.

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).

1. Project details

This section provides background for your application and is not scored.

Application team

Decide which organisations will work with you on your project and invite people from those organisations to help complete the application.

Application details

Give your project’s title, start date and duration.

Research category

Select the type of research you will undertake.

Project summary

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application.

You must include:

• the project objectives

• the project deliverables, including for pre-deployment and deployment trial projects, the nature, location and duration of the trial and why the demonstration you propose will validate the performance of your technology

• how the project can support a significant reduction in the well-to-wake greenhouse gas emissions from the maritime sector, including, where relevant, by addressing air pollution risks or other environmental impacts from decarbonisation solutions

• how the project relates to the maritime sector, what parts of the sector the project addresses, and how the project outputs will impact on them

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Public description

Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Scope

Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

2. Application questions

The assessors will score all your answers apart from questions 1 to 8. You will receive feedback for each scored question. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding.

You must answer all questions.

You must not include any website addresses or links (URLs) in your answers. If you do, your application will be made ineligible.

Question 1. Applicant location (not scored)

You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any partners or subcontractors working on your project.

We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.

Your answer can be up to 100 words long.

Question 2. Animal testing (not scored)

Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing?

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.

Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.

Question 3. Permits and licences (not scored)

Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?

We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date.

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

• In the process of being applied for

• Not applicable

Question 4. International collaboration (not scored)

Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement?

You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement.

You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in.

You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers.

If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this.

Your answer can be up to 100 words long.

Question 5. Export licence (not scored)

You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance.

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

Question 6. Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored)

You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including:

• a list of any dual-use (both military and non-military) applications to your research

• a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act

• whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications

• a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List

If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this.

We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 7. Project Theme (not scored)

Which theme does your project align with?

You must select one of the themes listed below. You must write your answer exactly as stated in the bullet points.

If your project aligns with more than one theme choose the theme under which the majority of the work will be delivered.

Priority themes:

• 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 fuel systems, such as ammonia or hydrogen

• retrofitting clean maritime technology to existing vessels

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

General themes

• nuclear technology and corridors

• green shipping corridors

• clean maritime training and skills initiatives

• novel clean maritime concepts that do not readily fit into the above themes

Your answer can be up to 60 words long.

Question 8. End user (not scored)

Who will be the end users involved in your project?

You must state each end user and how they are contributing to the project.

Your answer can be up to 100 words long.

You can submit an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to one A4 page and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 9. Need or challenge

What is the business need, technological challenge, or market opportunity behind your innovation?

Explain:

• the main motivation for the project

• the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity

• whether you have identified any similar innovation and its current limitations, including those close to market or in development

• the problem that the outcomes of your project will solve; be specific about the needs of your target end users

• how your project will provide a viable solution to these problems

• any work you have already done to respond to this need, for example, if the project focuses on developing an existing capability or building a new one

• the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations

Explain how the project will enable the uptake of clean maritime technologies and how the project objectives overcome barriers to adoption of these technologies, including but not limited to:

• how this project might support or enable the development of regulation, including engagement to date with relevant regulatory bodies

• how the project will further the understanding of the current gaps in knowledge on the technical aspects of the technology

• how the project will address the energy challenges associated with clean maritime adoption

Your answer can be up to 600 words long.

Question 10. Approach and innovation

What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?

Explain:

• the technical detail and approach of your proposed project, with reference to barriers that your project seeks to overcome

• how you will respond to the need, challenge or opportunity identified

• how you will improve on any similar innovation that you have identified

• whether the innovation will focus on existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas, or a totally disruptive approach,

• the technically innovative elements of the project, evidencing why they are innovative

• the technology progress or skills development that will be achieved by the project, including targeted technical outcomes and defined success criteria, including the steps through which these outcomes will be realised, and the status of the technology at the end of the project

• how your project is tailored to maritime applications, and how you have considered the environmental, operational and practical challenges of innovation in the marine environment

• how your approach has considered the regulatory landscape and challenges to implementing the technology; you must demonstrate a clear understanding of the regulatory context

• how your project will engage with relevant regulatory authorities to progress both the innovative and non-innovative elements of your project, for example, vessel structure, stability and marine equipment

• the freedom you have to operate

• how this project fits with your current product, service lines or offerings

• how it will make you more competitive

• the nature of the outputs you expect from the project, for example, reports, demonstrator, know-how, new process, product or service design, and how these will help you to target the need, challenge or opportunity identified

Your answer can be up to 600 words long and must include robust supporting evidence.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 11. Environmental impact

What impact will this project have on reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from maritime and how have you evidenced this?

You must:

• explain the reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions from maritime that you forecast will directly result from this project

• explain any reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions from maritime that is the result of business expansion or post project R&D and manufacturing activity that is directly related to the project

• explain why your forecasts are realistic, considering the market potential of your technology

• explain your calculations and the assumptions you have made where estimates are provided

• explain and provide evidence to justify where the reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions from maritime is enabled through addressing associated air pollution risks or other environmental impacts of decarbonisation solutions

• explain any other expected environmental impacts of the project, either positive or negative, and how any negative impacts will be mitigated.

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

Your answer can be up to 400 words long and must include robust supporting evidence.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 12. Team and resources

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Explain:

• the end user in your team and how they are meaningfully contributing to the project

• the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking

• the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them

• the details of any vital external parties, including subcontractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project

• any use of overseas subcontractors and justification for their use, including value for UK money

• the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project

• any roles you will need to recruit for

Your answer can be up to 400 words long and must include robust supporting evidence.

You can submit one appendix, with a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 13. Market awareness

What does the market or markets you are targeting look like?

Describe:

• the expected level of demand for your technology, including which vessel types and sizes your technology can be applied to

• the markets and sub sectors you will be targeting in the project, for example, crew transfer vessels, short sea ferries or any other potential markets, either domestic, international or both

• the size of the target markets for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available

• the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes

• the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist

• the current UK position in targeting these markets

• the size and main features of any other markets not already listed

If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain:

• what the market’s size might be

• how your project will try to explore the market’s potential

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 14. Outcomes and route to market

How are you going to grow your business, capture market share and increase long term productivity as a result of the project?

Explain:

• your current position in the markets and supply or value chains outlined, and whether you will be extending or establishing your market position

• your target customers or end users

• why your target customers or end users will be incentivised to use or buy your product, including, for infrastructure, how you will ensure that vessels are incentivised to use this

• your route to market, including further development in the UK

• your market exploitation strategy, including customer segmentation, your plan to make sales to your initial market, your growth plans and any barriers to entry and how you will overcome them

• who the competitors are, how you will manage this challenge and make it clear why the outputs of this project put your consortia partners in a strong position to win in your target market segments

• the potential benefits from export of the technology or training

• how you are going to profit from the innovation, including increased revenues or cost reduction

• how the innovation will affect your productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term

• how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example, through know-how, patenting, designs or changes to your business model

• your strategy for targeting the other markets you have identified during or after the project

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 15. Jobs and investment

What impact will this project have on jobs and investment in the UK? How have you evidenced this?

You must:

• describe the impacts on jobs and investment in the UK that you forecast will directly result from this project

• clarify if the impacts are local, regional or national

• cover both jobs created and jobs safeguarded, and both research and development and capital investment

• describe the nature of the skills associated with jobs created or safeguarded

• cover any jobs and investment that are the result of business expansion or post project R&D and manufacturing activity that is directly related to the project

• describe why your forecasts are realistic, considering the market potential of your technology

• describe your calculations and the assumptions you have made, where estimates are provided

• for any safeguarded jobs, explain and provide evidence to show that these jobs would be lost without government funding for this project

Your answer can be up to 400 words long and must include robust supporting evidence.

You must submit one appendix with your evidence and details of your calculation methods to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 16. Wider impacts

What wider impacts might this project have outside the project team?

Describe and, where possible, measure wider economic benefits from the project such as economic growth, productivity increases and import substitution, to:

• the public

• external parties

• customers

• others in the supply chain

• broader industry

• the UK economy

Describe and, where possible, provide estimates of:

• any expected impacts on UK government priorities including economic growth around the UK and boosting productivity

• any expected regional impacts of the project

• the potential benefits to the UK from export of the technology or training

• how you will anchor intellectual property (IP) generated by the project in the UK and how this IP will be exploited for the benefit of the UK economy in the future

• how the project provides the UK with a competitive advantage over other countries

Describe any expected social impacts in the UK, either positive or negative, on, for example:

• quality of life

• social inclusion or exclusion

• education

• public empowerment

• health and safety

• regulations

• diversity

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 17. Project management

How will you manage your project effectively?

Explain:

• the main work packages of your project, indicating the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one

• your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms you will use to get a successful and innovative project outcome

• the management reporting lines

• your project plan in enough detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones, including activities to secure all required resources, permits and licences, permissions, equipment and facilities to deploy the solution and deliver any demonstration in the time required

Your answer can be up to 600 words long and must include robust supporting evidence.

You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 18. Risks

What are the main risks for this project?

Explain:

• the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks

• how you will mitigate these risks

• any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, and data sets

• any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues and other requirements identified, and how you will manage this

• the key limitations and uncertainties associated with any assumptions being made about the future commercial demand for your product, including any assumptions being made about future regulation

Your answer can be up to 400 words long and must include robust supporting evidence.

You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 19. Knowledge sharing and clean maritime market development

How will this project enhance the UK’s position as a world leader in clean maritime technology through shared learning, dissemination and knowledge exchange?

Describe:

• what processes you will adopt for ensuring that lessons are learned across the clean maritime sector, including input from stakeholders and potential customers

• how you will ensure that your project takes account of other relevant work, for example, successful and unsuccessful clean maritime projects, previous government funded or EU funded work in the UK, and academic studies

• what knowledge sharing arrangements you will put in place and how you will ensure that information is disseminated effectively, including considerations such as timeliness and means of communication

• what evidence and data will be collected, including how and when this will be done and who will be responsible

• how you will transfer knowledge from any overseas subcontractors to the UK

• the types of information you plan to share with other stakeholders which you have identified

• how your project offers learning and development in relevant clean maritime technologies and enables research and innovation across the wider supply chain

• the scalability and replicability of your project, and how you will build on experience to support future market development and cost reduction

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 20. Added value

How will this public funding help you to accelerate or enhance your approach to developing your project towards commercialisation? What impact would this award have on the organisations involved? Why is public funding needed for the project to go ahead?

Explain:

• how public funding is essential in determining whether this project will go ahead

• why your project would not go ahead to its proposed scope and timing without public funding

• what advantages public funding would offer your project, for example: appeal to investors, more partners, reduced risk or a faster route to market

• the likely impact of the project outcomes on the organisations involved

• why your project cannot be funded internally or through other private sources and summarise any business case comparison with or without grant funding

• what other routes of investment or means of support you have already engaged with and why they were not suitable

• how any existing or potential investment or support will be used in conjunction with the grant funding

• what your project would look like without public funding

• how this project will reduce your need for public funding in the future

• how this project would change the R&D activities of all the organisations involved

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 21. Costs and value for money

How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?

In terms of your project goals, explain:

• your total eligible project costs

• the grant you are requesting and why this is the minimum grant required for the project to go ahead

• how each partner will finance their contributions to your project

• how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer, including how the project represents the optimal use of public resources to achieve its objectives

• how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise

• the balance of costs and grant across the project partners

• any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to your project

• any overseas subcontracting and materials costs including which UK suppliers you approached and why they couldn’t be used

Your answer can be up to 400 words long and must include robust supporting evidence.

You can submit one appendix with your evidence to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to one A4 page and must be legible at 100% zoom.

3. Finances

Each organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application. Academic institutions must complete and upload a Je-S form.

For an overview on what costs you can claim, see our project costs guidance. Note this is general guidance, for specific guidance see the eligibility section in this competition. You can also view our application finances video.

4. Project Impact

This section is not scored but will provide background to your project.

Each partner must complete the Project Impact questions before being able to submit the application.

More information can be found in our Project Impact guidance and by viewing our Impact Management Framework video.

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.

Assessment

Your application will be reviewed by five independent assessors based on the content of your application and their skills or expertise relevant to your project. All of the scores awarded will count towards the total score used to make the funding decision unless you are notified otherwise.

You can find out more about our assessment process in the General Guidance.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) may provide factual context to assessors around the complex regulatory environment in the UK’s maritime sector. The MCA’s role is purely advisory and they will not score applications nor provide assessors with guidance on how to score applications. The independent assessors retain decision making responsibility over scoring throughout the assessment process.

In addition, the National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) will also provide additional contextual information on the capability of the UK shipbuilding sector and areas of technical innovation during the application process.

Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria:

CMDC 7 Assessor Guidance for applicants Feasibility studies.pdf (opens in a new window)

Background and further information

UK SHORE and CMDC

The UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme was announced by the Department for Transport to focus on accelerating the technology necessary to decarbonise the maritime sector.

Since 2021, the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme in the DfT has been allocated £708 million of funding to develop and support R&D of clean maritime technologies.

In September 2025, it was announced that £448 million of R&D investment for UK SHORE will be made available between 2026 and 2030 to build on the successes of the programme to date and to support the delivery of the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy

The UK SHORE programme aims to accelerate the technologies required to decarbonise the UK’s maritime sector through research and development (R&D) and capture the associated economic growth opportunities by cementing the UK as a place for maritime innovation.

UK SHORE includes the multi year Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC), which provides match funding to support the design and development of clean innovative maritime technologies across a wide range of Technology Readiness Level (TRLs).

CMDC Rounds 1 to 6 have allocated over £164 million to 211 projects across the UK to deliver feasibility studies, collaborative R&D trials and demonstrations in clean maritime solutions. This competition, CMDC 7, is the latest round of the CMDC and will continue to build on the success of the previous rounds.

Successful projects from this competition will be expected to support key transport decarbonisation events in the UK and in UK Government led international initiatives, including initiatives around these events and communications activity.

Innovate UK

Innovate UK is delivering this competition in partnership with the Department for Transport and this is part of a wider set of investments across transport.

Working with our partners, Innovate UK are investing to accelerate innovation across Aerospace, Road, Rail and Maritime. Our work covers key themes including net zero and future transport opportunities presented by new technologies, for example, autonomy. We aim to tackle practical challenges seen every day in the transport system.

This is aligned to our Transport Vision 2050 which we have published after extensive engagement with UK industry and stakeholders. You can read the UK Transport Vision 2050 and contribute to the debate.

To find out more about what we do across our transport programmes you can review the Innovation in transport information page.

Impacts and Evaluation

The Department for Transport and Innovate UK will work with projects awarded grants or contracts, to implement an Impact and Evaluation framework. Your project will be required to collect and report key metrics and data as specified by the programme and in line with evaluation frameworks from Innovate UK and DfT.

This will include the collection of evidence and counterfactual data at the start, during, and at the end of the project to support impact and attribution claims. Failure to provide data may result in a successful project being suspended or terminated.

You may be required to support monitoring and evaluation activities being conducted by Innovate UK and the Department for Transport and any third party evaluators contracted to them. For example, this may involve involvement in primary research, such as surveys, interviews and focus groups, or follow-up discussions concerning data supplied by you to aid interpretation, at an agreed reporting schedule.

You will be briefed on the specific metrics and evidence following notification of your award. For planning, forecasting and budgeting purposes, each organisation within a consortium will be expected to allocate a minimum of six working days to supporting this requirement over the life of the project.

You will also be asked to respond periodically to further requests, following your project’s conclusion, recognising Innovate UK’s obligations and the benefits of evaluating impact over time.

Further guidance on the requirements for engaging with and providing the evidence required to support the evaluation of the scheme will be provided to successful projects. Successful projects will be expected to fully comply with this guidance.

Briefing recording and slides

Briefing recording and slides will be available to download here after the briefing event.

What happens if you receive a grant offer

If you have passed your initial assessment and have received an email with a grant offer, you will be asked to complete the project setup process on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). Watch our video on what steps are there before a project starts.

We will ask for information that will allow us to undertake mandatory checks on your organisation and the eligibility of your costs, as well as review the documentation for your project.

You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your project's dedicated IFS Set Up portal, where we gather the information required to set up your project, for example your bank details. Watch our video on how successful applicants receive their funding.

If your application is unsuccessful

If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view feedback from the assessors. This will be available to you on your IFS portal following notification.

Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from the assessors. You may be unsuccessful as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach if this is applied for this competition.

Find a project partner

If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect.

Innovate UK and DfT will be holding a series of regional consortia building events while this competition is open. If you are looking for partners in a region and would like to attend one of these events, please contact support@iuk.ukri.org.

Support for SMEs from Innovate UK Business Growth service

Innovate UK Business Growth helps innovation focused businesses make the best strategic choices and access the right resources, in order to grow and ultimately achieve scale.

Visit the service’s website to learn about how you might benefit as a winner.

Protecting your innovation

A Secure Innovation campaign has been developed to help founders and leaders of innovative startups protect their technology, competitive advantage, and reputation.

This was developed by UK’s National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Data sharing

This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK, Department for Transport (DfT), Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) (each an ‘agency’).

Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.

This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to DfT, MCA and the NSO, and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:

• the information stated on the application, including the personal details of all applicants

• scoring and feedback on the application

• information received during the management and administration of the grant, such as Monitoring Service Provider reports and Independent Accountant Reports

Innovate UK may also share any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application with Innovate UK’s national and regional UK third parties and partners who may contact you. For more information see how we handle grant applicant and grant holder data.

Innovate UK, DfT, MCA and the NSO are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect, DfT, MCA and the NSO will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application.

Innovate UK’s Privacy Policy

Innovate UK Business Connect Privacy Policy

DfT’s Privacy Policy

MCA’s Privacy Policy

NSO’s Privacy Policy

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.

The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.

Contact us

If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org 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).

Innovate UK or any of our partners will not tolerate abusive language in any written or verbal correspondence, applications, social media or any other form that might affect staff.