Autonomous vessels in short sea shipping and inland waterways
Project outputs and results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes: Demonstration of remote-control operation of vessels without crew, controlled remotely (degree three [1] ). Development of concepts for fully autonomous ship where the operating system on the vessel is able to make decisions and determine actions by itself (degree four [2] ). Strengthen market confidence in the integration…
Funding and competition
- 2grants expected (official)
- €7.5MEU contribution per project
- €6.2Mmedian EU grant of the most similar funded projects
- 174projects funded in earlier topics of this programme line
Very few grants: expect strong competition. Only proposals well above threshold are funded, so a clearly differentiated idea and a complete consortium are essential.
Success rates vary widely between topics (often from below 5% to above 30%). Ask us for the success-rate history of this topic before you commit to a proposal.
Organisations with a track record in this topic
Organisations that took part in the EU-funded projects most similar to this call (Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020), ranked by how close those projects are to the call, how recent they are and whether the organisation coordinated them. Being listed does not mean an organisation is looking for partners: use the list to target your outreach.
Spanish organisations with experience in this field
The Spanish organisations that appear most often in the closest funded projects.
| Organisation | Country | Type | Similar EU projects | As coordinator | Examples (CORDIS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fundacion De La Comunidad Valenciana Para La Investigacion, Promocion Y Estudios Comerciales De Valenciaport Valencia | Spain | Research organisation | 7 | 0 | SEAMLESS, AENEAS, DT4GS |
| Fundacion Tecnalia Research & Innovation Donostia/San Sebastian | Spain | Research organisation | 4 | 1 | WARRaNT, EMPOWER, CLARION |
| Construcciones Navales P Freire Sa Vigo | Spain | Company | 3 | 0 | AENEAS, FLEETfor55, eWAVE |
| Bound 4 Blue Sl Santa Cruz De Bezana | Spain | Company · SME | 2 | 0 | FIT-HORIZONS, AWESOME |
| Pno Innovation Sl Barcelona | Spain | Company | 2 | 0 | AUTOSHIP, FOREMAST |
| Balearia Eurolineas Maritimas Sa Denia | Spain | Company | 2 | 0 | DT4GS, COMPAS |
| Fundacion Centro Tecnologico Soermar Madrid | Spain | Research organisation · SME | 2 | 0 | AENEAS, SEABAT |
| Instituto Tecnologico De Aragon Zaragoza | Spain | Research organisation | 2 | 0 | FOREMAST, IW-NET |
What a typical winning consortium looks like
- 18partners (median)
- 8countries (median)
- 24%of partners are SMEs
Based on the 25 funded projects closest to this call. Use it as a benchmark, not a rule: always check the call conditions for the minimum consortium.
Most similar funded projects
Read their CORDIS pages to see the full consortium, results and deliverables.
- AUTOSHIP – Autonomous Shipping Initiative for European Waters (H2020 · 2019 · MG-3-2-2018)
- NOVIMAR – NOVel Iwt and MARitime transport concepts (H2020 · 2017 · MG-2.3-2016)
- GATERS – GATE Rudder System as a Retrofit for the Next Generation Propulsion and Steering of Ships (H2020 · 2021 · LC-MG-1-8-2019)
- SEAMLESS – Safe, Efficient and Autonomous: Multimodal Library of European Shortsea and inland Solutions (HORIZON · 2023 · HORIZON-CL5-2022-D5-01-05)
- AUTOBarge – European training and research network on Autonomous Barges for Smart Inland Shipping (H2020 · 2021 · MSCA-ITN-2020)
- HyShip – Demonstrating liquid hydrogen for the maritime sector (H2020 · 2021 · FCH-01-6-2020)
Live partner requests
Organisations actively looking for partners publish their requests on these official platforms.
Partner search on this topic
On the official topic page, open “Partner search announcements” to see organisations that have declared interest in this exact topic, or publish your own (EU Login required).
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Search organisations ↗Enterprise Europe Network
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Browse requests ↗Upcoming info days and brokerage events
Brokerage events are where most consortia are built.
- 10 Nov 2026 · European Research and Innovation Days 2026 (Brussels and online)
- 19 Nov 2026 · Horizon Europe Cluster 5 Info Day: Climate, Energy and Mobility (Charlemagne, Brussels, and online)
- 19 Nov 2026 · Horizon Europe Cluster 5 onsite brokerage event (Charlemagne, Brussels)
- 1 Dec 2026 · Interdisciplinary Pathways towards Green and Resilient Societies (Online)
Publish what you are looking for or what you can offer on the Ullswater partner board. We review each request, publish it on this page and introduce you to suitable partners.
Track-record data: CORDIS open data (European Commission), organisation level only, refreshed weekly. Rankings are calculated automatically by Ullswater Investments from text similarity between the call and funded projects; they are indicative.