Autonomous vessels in short sea shipping and inland waterways
MOBILITY · HORIZON-IA · TRL 7+ · Needs partners
What this call funds
This call funds large demonstration projects for autonomous and remote-controlled ships in short-sea shipping and inland waterways. It wants real-world trials of remotely-controlled vessels without crew and concepts for fully self-operating ships, covering everything from port calls and mooring to cybersecurity and predictive maintenance. The goal is to build market confidence and address the maritime workforce shortage while strengthening EU shipbuilding and technology competitiveness.
mobility transport · maritime shipping · robotics automation · cybersecurity · artificial intelligence · deep tech
Who wins this
A consortium involving shipyards, maritime technology providers, ports and research organisations capable of running real vessel demonstrations of remote and autonomous navigation at TRL7.
Could you win this call?
We read your site to see what you build.
The call in detail
- Indicative grant size
- €7.5M
- Funding model
- Lump sum — paid per completed work package, no financial reporting of actual costs
- Submission
- Single-stage submission (full proposal at once)
- Type of action
- HORIZON Innovation Actions
- Partners
- Required. The call asks for a consortium — a group applying together, typically 3+ organisations from 3+ countries.
- Also required
- Entities directly or indirectly controlled by China or a Chinese legal entity are not eligible to participate; projects using satellite EO/positioning data must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS; funding uses lump sum costs.
- Sectors
- CleanTech · Energy · Mobility
- Eligible countries (45)
- Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, IL, TR, UA, RS, MK, ME, AL, BA, XK, GE, AM, MD, TN, NZ
Read the full conditions from the official call ›
General conditions 1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. 2. Eligible Countries described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide. 3. Other Eligible Conditions If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used). In line with the “ restriction on control in innovation actions in critical technology areas ” delineated in General Annex B of the General Annexes, entities established in an eligible country but which are directly or indirectly controlled by China or by a legal entity established in China are not eligible to participate in the action. Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks. described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. 5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, as set out in the specific provision of Annex 5. Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf ]]. described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions Not applicable.
Who has won calls like this
Organisations that most often win this call family · 174 past winners