Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 4

Fund details

The Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) Round 4 is part of a suite of interventions launched by the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE). UK SHORE aims to transform the UK into a global leader in the design and manufacturing of clean maritime technology.

The aim of this competition is to fund real-world demonstrations, pre-deployment trials and feasibility studies into clean maritime technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Your proposal must focus on clean maritime technology. Your project must do one of the following:

• design, develop, test and deploy technology
• conduct a technical and economic feasibility study

This competition is split into 3 strands:

Strand 1: Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 4 – Vessel or Infrastructure demonstrations

The aim of Strand 1 is to fund real-world demonstrations of clean maritime technologies in an operational setting. Your proposal must develop, test and deploy novel clean maritime technologies focused on on-vessel technologies, shoreside or offshore infrastructure, including at ports, harbours and wind farms.

Your project must have total costs between £500k and £6m.

Strand 2: Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 4 – Vessel and Infrastructure combined demonstrations

The aim of Strand 2 is to fund real-world demonstrations of clean maritime technologies in an operational setting. Your proposal must develop, test and deploy novel clean maritime technologies focused on on-vessel technologies and shoreside or offshore infrastructure, including at ports, harbours and wind farms.

Your project must have total costs between £500k and £8m.

Strand 3: Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 4 – Feasibility studies and pre-deployment trials

The aim of Strand 3 is to fund feasibility studies and pre-deployment testing of clean maritime technologies.

For a feasibility study proposal, your project must undertake a technical and economic feasibility study associated with the development and real-world demonstration of on-vessel technologies, infrastructure technologies or both.

For pre-deployment trials, your proposal must design, develop and test novel clean maritime technologies focused on on-vessel technologies, infrastructure technologies or both.

Your project must have total costs between £100k and £3m.

Project requirements across all strands

Your project must:

• underpin a full commercial and operational technology deployment after March 2025, by delivering a meaningful operational demonstration in real-world conditions for at least two weeks before April 2025
• achieve market potential through a clear strategy for commercialising the technology and the products, demonstrating the potential for significant value to the UK
• deliver emissions reduction by demonstrating a significant greenhouse gas reduction
• bring together a team with the necessary expertise and experience to successfully deliver the project objectives, and include at least one representative end user such as a vessel operator, port or harbour authority

At the end of your real-world operational demonstration project, you must:

• produce a clear, detailed and costed plan to fully scale and enter the solution into UK and global markets over the next 3 years, including your technical approach, objectives and business case
• detail your plan for compliance with regulation and how you will work with relevant regulatory bodies for novel technologies
• quantify the reduction of lifecycle emissions and positive economic impacts in the future, including citing usage data from the demonstration
• explain your understanding of any remaining barriers to full market adoption
• detail the expected commercial applications and exploitation to target customers and potential market segments for your outcomes
• share your findings with The Department for Transport (DfT), Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and Innovate UK in your end-of-project report
• produce a detailed plan for disseminating the results of your demonstration project and knowledge sharing with clean maritime stakeholders and industry

Successful projects will be required to engage with the Department for Transport (DfT), Innovate UK and any third-party contractors appointed by them related to CMDC projects.

Eligibility

To lead a 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 organisations can be found in our Funding rules.

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

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example, non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total project costs.

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Funding 

Up to £34 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

For feasibility studies, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisation
• up to 50% if you are a large organisation

For industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisation
• up to 50% if you are a large organisation

For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 35% if you are a medium-sized organisation
• up to 25% if you are a large organisation