EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for HORIZON-CL5-2025-04-D5-10

1. Single Market Access – 450 + Million Consumers

• Deploying a 5 MW (FC) or 10 MW (ICE) zero-carbon propulsion demonstrator under an EU programme gives automatic visibility and credibility across all 27 Member States, Iceland & Norway.

• Early movers can commercialise retrofit and new-build packages for the 23 000 EU-flagged vessels and the 90+ deep-sea ports that must comply with FuelEU Maritime as of 2025.

• Common technical specifications arising from the project’s “knowledge repository” shorten time-to-market for equipment sales, service contracts and digital twins across the Union.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Horizon Europe consortia typically gather 8-20 partners from ≥3 countries, enabling:

• Shipyards (e.g. Italy, Spain, Croatia), engine makers (e.g. Finland, Germany), and fuel suppliers (e.g. Denmark, Netherlands) to co-design integrated systems.

• Joint safety drills with port authorities in North Sea, Baltic and Mediterranean hubs, creating transferrable SOPs.

• Mobility schemes (Marie-Skłodowska Curie, ERASMUS+) can be pig-backed for crew upskilling, while ERANet Cofund projects offer test-bed data.

3. EU Policy Alignment – A Shortcut to Market Uptake

• Green Deal, Fit-for-55, FuelEU Maritime, and the 2023 IMO GHG Strategy are directly referenced in the call; meeting these regulations early eases certification in all coastal Member States.

• The project advances ZEWT Partnership KPI of “75 % decarbonisation of EU waterborne transport by 2050,” therefore enjoys political backing and streamlined dissemination via the Partnership platform.

• Alignment with the European Economic Security Strategy increases chances for IP retention in Europe and eligibility for national recovery & resilience plans (RRF) co-funding.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Standardisation Leadership

• Producing EU-level safety protocols for ammonia, methanol, hydrogen and e-fuels feeds directly into CEN/CENELEC and IMO rule-making.

• Early involvement of EMSA, CESNI and port authorities allows partners to shape unified bunkering rules, reducing compliance costs vs. fragmented national approaches.

5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• Synergies with JRC labs, EU Digital Innovation Hubs, and testing facilities (e.g., MARIN, HSVA) accelerate virtual prototyping & hardware-in-the-loop trials requested by the topic.

• Europe hosts >60 fuel-cell pilot lines and >40 specialised maritime clusters; the grant acts as a magnet for these actors via open data mandates and replication studies.

• Participation unlocks EOSC (European Open Science Cloud) resources for big-data analytics on vessel performance.

6. Funding Synergies & Blended Finance

• Demonstration CAPEX can be followed by:

• Innovation Fund large-scale window (up to 60 % OPEX coverage) for first-of-a-kind commercial vessels.

• CEF-AFIF calls for complementary bunkering infrastructure at participating ports.

• EIB Green Shipping Guarantee 2.0 for debt financing of fleet roll-out.

• InvestEU & BlueInvest equity for scale-ups supplying storage tanks, FC stacks or digital twins.

• National “Important Projects of Common European Interest” (IPCEI) on hydrogen can co-finance the fuel supply chain created in the project.

7. EU-Scale Deployment, Replicability & Impact

• Mandatory three replication studies ensure adaptability to ferries, cruise ships and Ro-Ro vessels operating in distinct EU sea basins, facilitating pan-European uptake.

• Meeting the call’s 55 % tank-to-shaft efficiency target and 90 % pollutant reduction generates >7 Mt CO₂-eq annual savings if deployed on only 10 % of EU deep-sea fleet.

• Certified training modules developed under the grant can be adopted by 750+ maritime academies in the European Maritime Education Platform (EMEP), solving crew-skill shortages EU-wide.

8. Strategic Value Beyond National Programmes

• Consolidates EU technological autonomy by favouring EU/EEA shipyards and suppliers, reducing reliance on Asian engine retrofits.

• Creates a first-mover barrier for non-EU competitors through IP generated under Horizon Europe’s fair-access rules.

• Boosts regional cohesion: Baltic Sea countries gain green-corridor solutions, while Mediterranean yards access high-power FC know-how.

9. Actionable Next Steps for Applicants

1. Build a triad core: (i) OEM propulsion leader, (ii) EU shipyard with >5 000 GT orderbook, (iii) Tier-1 port authority.

2. Map complementary EU instruments (Innovation Fund, CEF-AFIF, EIB) in the Part B “continuation strategy.”

3. Engage CEN/CENELEC TC 400 and IMO MSC via early Stakeholder Advisory Board to maximise standardisation influence.

4. Leverage Copernicus Marine data & EMSA THETIS MRV database for life-cycle emissions baselining.

5. Pre-align crew training content with European Maritime Safety Agency’s STCW conventions to expedite certification.

Bottom line: Competing in this Horizon Innovation Action unlocks unmatched cross-border resources, regulatory influence and financing pathways that no single Member State scheme can offer—positioning the consortium to set the de-facto EU (and potentially global) benchmark for high-power zero-carbon propulsion in waterborne transport.