International Green Corridors Fund: UK – IE Feasibility Studies

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Department for Transport (DFT) and the Marine Institute, Ireland (MI-IE). The MI-IE is the State Agency responsible for marine research, technology development and innovation in Ireland.

Your project will study Green Shipping Corridor routes between the UK and Ireland. Innovate UK will fund UK partners to collaborate with Irish partners on feasibility study projects, over a six month period. 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:

• 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

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

Project Size

• Your project’s combined UK and IE total costs must be between £50,000 (EUR 59,000) and £250,000 (EUR 300,000).

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • Your project must:
    • 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
  • Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.
  • The project work must be undertaken in the UK and Ireland.
  • All Irish organisations must only include eligible project costs in the Irish partner cost template uploaded as part of your application.
• Roles and terminology
  • There must be a project lead and this can be either an eligible UK or Irish registered business of any size. The project lead is responsible for managing the entire project.
• UK lead applicant
  • The lead applicant is the organisation that starts the application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS).
  • Irish organisations can be a project lead but cannot start an application on IFS.
  • They must be added as a partner to the UK lead applicant. This is for system functionality reasons.
  • To start an application on the Innovation Funding Service, your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.
  • UK trust ports and UK municipal ports will be treated as businesses.
• Project team
  • All collaborations must include at least three eligible organisations.
  • 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)
• Subcontractors
  • Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
  • Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and Ireland and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
  • Subcontractors to Irish organisations must not exceed 20% of the total Irish grant requested.
  • You can use subcontractors from other countries but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK or Ireland.
  • You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK and Irish contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. They will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
  • All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.
• Number of applications
  • 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.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.