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    HORIZON-CL5-2027-03-D5-16

    Autonomous vessels in short sea shipping and inland waterways

    Opens 15 Dec 2026Live official EU data

    MOBILITY · HORIZON-IA · Up to TRL 7 · Needs partners

    14 Apr 2027
    Deadline
    15 Dec 2026
    Opens for applications
    €7.5M
    Indicative, per project
    ~2
    Grants expected
    174
    Past winners in this family

    What this call funds

    This call funds large scale demonstration projects for autonomous and remotely operated ships, covering both short sea shipping and inland waterways. It aims to prove remote control operation without crew and to develop concepts for fully autonomous vessels that can make their own decisions. The goal is to build market confidence, address safety, cybersecurity and regulatory issues, and support the competitiveness of the EU waterborne industry.

    mobility transport · maritime shipping · robotics automation · cybersecurity · artificial intelligence · internet of things

    Who wins this

    A consortium involving shipyards, equipment manufacturers, ship operators and research organisations based in the EU or EEA that can jointly demonstrate remotely controlled and fully autonomous vessels in real short sea and inland waterway conditions.

    Could you win this call?

    Only the website is required.

    The call in detail

    Indicative grant size
    €7.5M
    Funding model
    Lump sum. Paid per completed work package, with 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
    Projects using satellite based earth observation, positioning or navigation data must use Copernicus and or Galileo/EGNOS, proposals should build upon results of prior Horizon Europe projects such as DYNAPORT, MISSION, AUTOFLEX, FOREMAST, WARRANT and D NAVIO, and eligible costs are funded as lump sums.
    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, Israel, Türkiye, Ukraine, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Tunisia, New Zealand
    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). 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

    DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUR LUFT - UND RAUMFAHRT EV · DE
    34 wins
    led 7
    TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT · NL
    21 wins
    led 3
    ETHNICON METSOVION POLYTECHNION · EL
    19 wins
    led 2
    FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG EV · DE
    18 wins
    led 3
    TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY · FI
    18 wins
    led 6
    AIT AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY GMBH · AT
    17 wins
    led 6

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