International Green Corridors Fund: UK – IE Feasibility Studies

All collaborations must include at least three eligible organisations.

The lead applicant is the organisation that starts the application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS): this must be a UK registered business, of any size.

Your collaboration must involve:

• a UK registered port or harbour
• an eligible Irish registered port or harbour
• a UK or Irish registered business that is a vessel owner or operator with a vessel operating on a route between Ireland and the UK

Your project can also include other eligible grant claiming UK or Irish registered partners:

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

In addition to the relevant rules in this section, Irish organisations must follow Irish eligibility rules available on the Marine Institute’s website at Current Funding Opportunities | Marine Institute.

A UK and Irish business of any size can lead on any number of applications and partner on any further number of applications.

Other UK organisations can collaborate on any number of applications.

Your project must:

• have combined UK and IE total costs between £50,000 (EUR 59,000) and £250,000 (EUR 300,000)
• have no more than 65% of the total project costs allocated to UK organisations
• have no more than 65% of the total project costs allocated to Irish organisations
• start on 1 October 2024
• end by 31 March 2025
• last up to six months

The project work must be undertaken in the UK and Ireland.

To receive any grant funding, your project proposal must be selected as successful by both the UK and Irish funding bodies. If successful, UK participants will receive grant funding from Innovate UK and Irish participants will receive grant funding from the Marine Institute, Ireland. All participants must be part of an application submitted to Innovate UK.

The aim of this competition is to fund innovative feasibility studies into routes that stimulate early adoption of promising long-term solutions to reach zero emissions in shipping. Your project must focus on green shipping corridors between the UK and Ireland.

Your joint Irish and UK project must conduct a technical and economic feasibility study associated with the development and real world demonstration of a Green Shipping Corridor route.

You must assess and develop a clear implementation plan for the real world establishment of the corridor. To qualify as a corridor, plan for at least one zero emission (well-to-wake) vessel to be transiting a route between the UK and Ireland.

Your project must:

• underpin a future green shipping corridor demonstration by delivering meaningful technology, route to market and supply chain innovations
• achieve market potential through a clear strategy for commercialising the technology and the products, demonstrating the potential for significant value to the UK and Ireland
• illustrate potential greenhouse gas emissions reduction that could be achieved by the future green shipping corridor
• bring together a team with the necessary expertise and experience to successfully deliver the project objectives, and include at least two ports or harbour authorities and one vessel owner or operator as detailed in eligibility

Projects must detail their plan for compliance with regulation and how they will work with relevant regulatory bodies for novel technologies.

Types of vessel: Green shipping corridors 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.

Types of infrastructure: Green shipping corridors involving all types of ports and harbours are in scope, including infrastructure for freight, passenger, pleasure and commercial vessels.

At the end of your project, you must:

• produce a clear, detailed and costed plan for how your green corridor will be demonstrated in an operational setting in and between ports and on vessels, including your technical approach, objectives and business case
• estimate the annual additional costs of delivering the corridor, considering various market participants, for example, ship owners, ports, fuel or infrastructure suppliers, with clear plans to meet costs, covering both private and public funding sources
• estimate the direct and indirect environmental impacts from delivering the corridor, including impacts on greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions
• estimate the scope for scaling up the number of zero-emission vessels and corresponding landside infrastructure, replicating the corridor elsewhere, and potential additional benefits to other routes and the wider fleet
• investigate potential scalable zero emission energy source options for the corridor, estimate the quantity of energy required each year, with a clear plan for how this would be produced, imported, distributed, stored and bunkered, and the conditions to mobilise and meet demand
• consider the design of the zero-emission vessels that would be used on the corridor, for example, newbuild or retrofit vessels, with a clear plan for how these vessels would be delivered
• determine how the fuel will be safely and effectively supplied and bunkered, and stored on board vessels
• include a clear plan for how the corridor would comply with all relevant regulations, for example, safety regulations
• explain your understanding of any barriers to market adoption
• detail the resources needed to carry out your real world demonstration, including funding requirements, timescales for delivery, planning permissions, implications of current and future regulation, new partners and information for a clear business case
• develop a clear plan for disseminating learnings and data from the corridor across the industry
• share your findings with the UK Department for Transport (DfT), Innovate UK, and the Marine Institute, Ireland

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

A competition briefing was held on 10 April: click here to watch the recording.

If you would like help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Transport team.