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Call key data

Developing small, flexible, zero-emission and automated vessels to support shifting cargo from road to sustainable Waterborne Transport

Funding ProgramHorizon Europe - Cluster 5 - Destination 4: Efficient, sustainable and inclusive energy use
Call numberHORIZON-CL5-2023-D5-01-16
deadlinesOpening
13.12.2022		Deadline
20.04.2023 17:00
Funding rate100%
Call budget € 9,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project€ 4,500,000.00
Link to the callec.europa.eu
Link to the submissionec.europa.eu

Call content

short description

Waterborne transport can transfer large freight volumes from road and as a result reduce emissions and decongest road infrastructure. There are large opportunities to increase waterborne freight, especially in coastal and inland or congested urban regions. This potential is particularly underdeveloped within smaller waterways, lakes, estuaries and intra urban regions and with the use of less developed ports which are not accessible for larger vessels.

Call objectives

Whilst projects addressing coastal transport and metropolitan inland waterway transport, including new autonomous waterborne feeder loop logistic services are underway, these remain at an early stage or are tailored to specific use cases which cannot be widely deployed.

Emerging energy efficient, zero-emission and automation technology can help fully exploit the potential of small-sized waterborne transport but are expected to be adopted to the needs of such vessels and the related additional transhipment.

Lower costs are needed for small waterborne transport to become more competitive with road transport.

Flexible, fully automated transport chain is expected to facilitate waterborne services to new and previously poorly accessible regions.

Shallow water depths of smaller waterways with confined conditions require a broad variety of intelligent vessel solutions, which are tailored to the regional requirements, the specifics of individual cargo types and load units, e.g., ISO containers, swap-bodies, unitized and palletized goods for urban transport etc.

Decarbonisation of propulsion systems is needed to address the challenges of climate change. Automated solutions need to also take into account unexpected recreational users of the waterways.

Research should develop versatile zero emission solutions for small, shallow water capable automated vessels that are also usable on different classes of waterway and/or coastal waters.

Developments should advance beyond the state of the art taking into account current and emerging developments concerning low-water designs, modular vessels, automation, digital communication and security battery electrification, charging, and propulsion systems.

Proposals are expected to address all of the following aspects:

  • Development, testing and demonstration of the automated flexible vessel concepts with emission-free propulsion systems in a relevant environment. In addition, the optimisation of the logistics chain will be assessed through logistics modelling.
  • Innovative automation approaches for substantial cost savings.
  • Tailored propulsion arrangements for small, flexible and versatile vessels which are compatible with shallow water.
  • Automated operations in multimodal logistics should be envisaged through further development and integration of single automated functions into fully autonomous systems such as; navigation and vessel command, machinery surveillance, maintenance, berthing, cargo handling, transhipment etc.
  • Self-organised or remotely controlled fleet-wide coordination of operations, along with an integration of the vessels into land-based digital logistics processes.
  • The development of new business models including a high degree of digitalisation and smart on-demand services. Consideration of key stakeholder behaviours, including retailers’ and customers.
  • Ensuring safety, cyber security and resilience of automations systems.
  • Early communication and discussion with relevant regulatory and standardisation bodies.

read more

Expected results
  • Development and validation of a small zero-emission automated vessel concept which can support shifting cargo from road to water. The concept will take into account cargo types and navigation conditions (e.g. small waterways, bridges, locks and shallow coastal waters and estuaries).
  • Quantification and assessment of the reduced costs and emissions and stronger intra- and intermodal competitiveness of waterborne transport through integration of zero emission propulsion of automated vessels and transhipment into automated transport chains, internet of things and possibly urban logistics.
  • Development of business models that benefit from a high degree of automation digitalisation, considering technical, safety, security and organisational aspects and when relevant smart on demand services.

Regions / countries for fundingEU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Island (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom
eligible entitiesEU Body, Education and training institution, International organization, Natural Person, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnershipYes
Project Partnership

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
  • third countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries

Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

  • at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
  • at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.

A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.

Specific cases:

  • Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
  • Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
  • Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
  • EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
  • Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
  • Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.
other eligibility criteria

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 5-6 by the end of the project.

For the Technology Readiness Level (TRL), the following definitions apply:

  • TRL 1 — Basic principles observed
  • TRL 2 — Technology concept formulated
  • TRL 3 — Experimental proof of concept
  • TRL 4 — Technology validated in a lab
  • TRL 5 — Technology validated in a relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
  • TRL 6 — Technology demonstrated in a relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
  • TRL 7 — System prototype demonstration in an operational environment
  • TRL 8 — System complete and qualified
  • TRL 9 — Actual system proven in an operational environment (competitive manufacturing in the case of key enabling technologies, or in space)

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).

Additional information

Topics
Air Quality, Biodiversity & Environment, Climate & Climate Change, Water quality & management, 
Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy , 
Mobility & Transport
Relevance for EU Macro-RegionEUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
Additional Information

All proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.

Proposals must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results including communication activities, etc.

The application form will have two parts:

  • Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
  • Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.

Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).

The limit for a full application (Part B) is 45 pages.

Call documents HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 5, Destination 5 (835kB)
ContactNational Contact Points for Horizon Europe
Website

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