Innovate UK, on behalf of the Department for Transport (DOT) have launched the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition which enables UK registered organisations to apply for a share of up to £20m for innovative clean maritime and smart shipping projects.

The aim of the competition is to support the design and development of technologies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the UK's maritime sector as set out in the Clean Maritime Plan and support the transition to Net Zero by 2050.

The funding is open to single applicants and collaborations and applications need to be submitted by 2nd June 2021. The competition is seeking solutions for all sizes and categories of maritime vessels. Solutions can be suitable for one target size or multiple sizes of vessels. All ports and harbours are in scope, including infrastructure for both freight and leisure.

Projects from around the UK that boost jobs and economic growth are strongly encouraged including:

• ports
• vessel operators
• vessel manufacturers
• their relevant supply chains

There are two strands to the funding:

1. Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition - Strand 1 which aims to support the design and development of technologies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the UK's maritime sector as set out in the Clean Maritime Plan. This competition is seeking solutions for all sizes and categories of maritime vessels. All ports and harbours are in scope, inlcuding infrastructure for both freight and leisure. Strand 1 is looking to total eligble costs of between £25,000 and £1,000.000. More information can be found here.
2. Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition - Strand 2 which has the same aims is looking to support projects with eligible costs of between £100,000 and £4,000,000. More information on this strand can be found here.