This strand 2 of the competition is funding agile technology demonstrations and pre-deployment testing of clean maritime technologies.

Your project must design, develop and test novel clean maritime technologies focused for on-vessel technologies or shoreside infrastructure including at ports and harbours.

If your project is focused on on-vessel technologies, you must only involve factory or dry dock testing. Your project must not plan to test technologies in the water as part of this project. In water demonstrations will be part of future projects which may be funded as part of later CMDC competitions.

You must plan for the real world demonstration or deployment developed in your project to be operational in water by March 2025.

Your project must:

• underpin an at scale technology demonstration later in 2023 or after, by delivering a meaningful technology, route to market, or supply chain innovation
• 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 according to its objectives, and include a representative end user such as vessel operators, ports or harbour authorities

Technologies for all sizes and categories of maritime vessel are in scope. Solutions can be suitable for one target size of vessel or multiple. Pleasure and commercial vessels are in scope.

Where a project intends to utilise a vessel, the vessel should be a United Kingdom Ship, as defined in 85(2) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, or you must provide justification for use of a non-United Kingdom Ship in your application.

All ports and harbours are in scope, including infrastructure for freight, passenger, pleasure and commercial vessels.

We strongly encourage projects from around the UK to support boosting jobs and economic growth, including from ports, vessel operators, vessel manufacturers and their supply chain. 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 IP generated by the project in the UK and how it will be exploited for the benefit of the UK supply chain in the future.

Once your collaborative R&D project is completed, you are expected to be capable of progressing to the point that you are investment and construction ready.

At the end of your collaborative R&D project, you must:

• produce a clear, detailed and costed plan for how the solution will be further demonstrated or deployed in an operational setting such as in a port or on vessels, 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 potential reduction of lifecycle emissions and positive economic impacts in the future
• explain your understanding of any barriers to market adoption
• outline the expected commercial applications and exploitation, and potential market segments for your outcomes
• share your findings with DfT, Maritime and Coastguard agency (MCA) and Innovate UK.
• produce a clear plan for disseminating the results of your demonstration project and knowledge sharing

We want to fund a portfolio of projects across the two competition strands. This will include a variety of technologies, markets, technological maturities and research categories.

Innovate UK and DfT reserves the right to prioritise projects within specific themes where necessary.

Specific themes

Your project can focus on one or more of the following technology themes.

Prioritised technology themes:

• pilot fuel free hydrogen internal combustion engine technologies for maritime applications
• whole-ship energy efficiency design and integration
• safe on-board storage of hydrogen and ammonia
• larger (2.5 Mega Watt plus) marinised fuel cell systems
• small craft alternative for fuel bunkering and charging

Other technologies

Vessel low and zero emission technologies:

• vessel propulsion and auxiliary engines, for example, battery, fuel cell, and internal combustion engines using low or zero carbon alternative fuels such as hydrogen, methanol or ammonia, including hybrids and engines capable of using multiple fuels including zero emission options.
• 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 carbon energy storage and management
• physical connections to shoreside power or alternative fuels, including fuelling lines
• enabling technologies such as motors, drives, sensor and power electronics

Port and shoreside, including offshore solutions:

• shoreside low and zero carbon fuelling including bunkering of such fuels
• charging infrastructure and management
• low and zero emission shoreside power solutions, such as enabling docked vessels to turn off their conventional power supply for ancillary systems
• physical connections to shoreside power or alternative fuels, including fuelling lines
• shoreside renewable energy generation at the port to supply vessels
• zero emission shoreside power supply for vessels, including grid or renewable energy supply
• low carbon fuel production, such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia
• zero emission infrastructure, including stationary assets for freight handling and port operations