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Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 7: Pre-deployment trials

Executive Summary

This competition funds pre-deployment testing of innovative clean maritime technologies that are land-based (factory/dry dock) and not yet ready for water-based deployment. Projects must demonstrate a clear path to future real-world deployment by 2029 and include at least one representative end-user.

Key Dates
Opens: Wednesday 11 March 2026
Closes: Wednesday 15 July 2026 11:00am
Funding Body
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
Eligible Applicants
SME, Large, RTO, Academic, Charity, Public sector
Funding Available & Project Rates
Up to 70% of eligible costs for SMEs, 60% for medium, 50% for large, within a total project cost range of £750,000 to £6 million.
Official PortalView Competition Brief
Target Sectors
clean energynet zeroadvanced manufacturingdigital technology
Technology Scope
hydrogenammoniamethanolfuel cellsbattery electricwind propulsiononboard carbon capturedigital twinsAIsmart shipping
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Competition Scope & Overview

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.

Official Applicant Guidance Documents

UK Transport Vision 2050.pdf

This document is the "UK Transport Vision 2050" (Second Edition), which serves as a strategic framework outlining Innovate UK’s investment priorities and innovation pathways for the future of mobility. It provides critical context on the technological, digital, and infrastructure trends that will guide Innovate UK’s funding decisions through 2025 and beyond.

Download Official Document

Applicant Briefing - CMDC7 Final.pdf

This document serves as the official applicant briefing slides for the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) Round 7. It provides essential details on competition scope, eligibility criteria, application requirements, and the support available from the UK Maritime Innovation Hub.

Download Official Document

Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy Analytical Annex.pdf

This document is an analytical annex to the UK Government’s Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy, providing the technical modelling, policy assumptions, and decarbonisation scenarios for the UK domestic maritime sector. It offers critical data on fuel types, emissions factors, and policy pathways essential for applicants to align their proposals with government decarbonisation goals.

Download Official Document

CMDC 7 Assessor Guidance for applicants Pre-deployment trials .pdf

This document is the official assessor guidance for the CMDC 7 Pre-deployment trials competition. It provides applicants with the specific scoring criteria and detailed requirements for each question, enabling them to align their proposals with the expectations of the assessment panel.

Download Official Document

Application Questions & Guidance Brief

Every question below carries specific word limits and guidance criteria.

Question Project summaryLimit: 400 words

Project summary

Official Guidance

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.

Question Public descriptionLimit: 400 words

Public description

Official Guidance

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.

Question ScopeLimit: 400 words

Scope

Official Guidance

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.

Question 1Limit: 100 words

Applicant location (not scored)

Official Guidance

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.

Question 2Limit: 400 words

Animal testing (not scored)

Official Guidance

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 3Limit: 400 words

Permits and licences (not scored)

Official Guidance

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 4Limit: 100 words

International collaboration (not scored)

Official Guidance

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.

Question 5Limit: 400 words

Export licence (not scored)

Official Guidance

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 6Limit: 400 words

Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored)

Official Guidance

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.

Question 7Limit: 60 words

Project Theme (not scored)

Official Guidance

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. (Themes include: Priority themes, Vessel technology themes, Infrastructure technologies including offshore themes, Smart shipping, digital and autonomous maritime technologies themes, General themes).

Question 8Limit: 100 words

End user (not scored)

Official Guidance

Who will be the end users involved in your project? You must state each end user and how they are contributing to the project. 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 9Limit: 600 words

Need or challenge

Official Guidance

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.

Question 10Limit: 800 words

Approach and innovation

Official Guidance

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; how you have estimated your energy demand; how you will ensure a sufficient and sustainable energy supply is available in time to meet your demonstration plan and for continuing operation; how you will ensure offtakers and other customers are committed to using the facilities provided in this project, both during any demonstration period and beyond; the proposed commercial arrangements between relevant stakeholders for operation throughout any demonstration period. 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 11Limit: 600 words

Environmental impact

Official Guidance

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. Where possible, in the appendix, provide initial estimates of the annual reduction in the global greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions from maritime that will directly result from this project and post project activity. For greenhouse gas emissions: estimates must be provided in mega tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2eq) on a well-to-wake basis. For air pollutant emissions: estimates must be provided in tonnes on a tank-to-wake basis. Where possible, separate estimates must be provided for both: the emission reductions that will directly result from this project and the emission reductions from business expansion or post project R&D and manufacturing activity that is directly related to the project. Robust supporting evidence must be provided for the estimates, and all assumptions and evidence must be clearly explained. Assumptions about the expected future commercial deployment of your technology must be robustly justified, including which vessel types your technology is applicable to and the level of market share that your technology could realistically capture.

Question 12Limit: 400 words

Team and resources

Official Guidance

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. 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 13Limit: 400 words

Market awareness

Official Guidance

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.

Question 14Limit: 600 words

Outcomes and route to market

Official Guidance

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.

Question 15Limit: 600 words

Jobs and investment

Official Guidance

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; 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; for any safeguarded jobs, explain and provide evidence to show that these jobs would be lost without government funding for this project. 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 16Limit: 400 words

Wider impacts

Official Guidance

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.

Question 17Limit: 600 words

Project management

Official Guidance

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. 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 18Limit: 400 words

Risks

Official Guidance

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. 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 19Limit: 400 words

Knowledge sharing and clean maritime market development

Official Guidance

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.

Question 20Limit: 400 words

Added value

Official Guidance

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.

Question 21Limit: 600 words

Costs and value for money

Official Guidance

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. 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.

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