# Shipyards of the future (ZEWT Partnership)
EUACC page: https://www.euacc.ai/calls/HORIZON-CL5-2026-05-D5-12
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## Public content

**topic id:** HORIZON-CL5-2026-05-D5-12
**call id:** HORIZON-CL5-2026-05
**title:** Shipyards of the future (ZEWT Partnership)
**programme:** Horizon Europe
**cluster:** CL5
**status:** closed
**deadline date:** 2026-04-16T00:00:00+00:00
**deadline model:** single-stage
**start date:** 2025-12-18T00:00:00+00:00
**url:** https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/HORIZON-CL5-2026-05-D5-12
**description:** Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes: 
 • A strengthened European value chain cooperation and integration between equipment manufacturers and large, medium, and small-scale shipyards resulting in enhanced European competitiveness. 
• Demonstration of improved shipyard manufacturing processes in small and medium-size shipyards, capable of building waterborne vessels in the EU/EEA.
• Reduced complexity to perform future retrofits of vessels and enabling the later inclusion of several emissions saving technologies and solutions.
• Higher capability and efficiency of European shipyards and equipment manufacturers to meet the increasing need to convert the shipping fleet towards zero-emission and biodiversity friendly maritime transport. 
• Making the shipbuilding and retrofitting industry better prepared for building and replicating low-to-zero emission ships. 
 Scope:
European shipbuilding industry is facing increasing pressure from international players, and there is a need to improve its competitiveness through innovation and technological advancements. The MARI-4YARD project together with RESURGAM, FIBRE4YARDS, SMARTYards and PENELOPE developed several solutions on materials, processes, AI and skills. Additionally, the project SEUS in Horizon Europe is developing an integrated software platform with the ambition to save time in engineering, assembly and construction at European shipyards. However, there is still a need to increase the ambition and demonstrate these solutions in medium and small-size shipyards.
At the same time, shipyards are often located in sensitive natural areas, such as coastal regions and estuaries. This provides an opportunity for shipyards to evaluate and reduce their impact on the surrounding biodiversity.
The topic aims to improve efficiency and sustainability of European ship newbuilding and retrofitting processes, to improve the use of resources and circularity, to develop necessary skills and improve working conditions. This requires considering all relevant innovations such as robotics, automation, digitalization and AI in the context of shipbuilding to enhance EU/EEA -focused value chains. The purpose is to increase the competitiveness of the European shipbuilding sector with a view to further replicating and utilizing results, including in potential applications to the Innovation Fund.
Proposals are expected to address all the following aspects:
 • Deployment and integration of innovative technologies and systems in small and medium-size EU and EEA shipyards to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of newbuild, repair and retrofit processes and process chains.
• Pilot applications should consider all aspects of the shipbuilding process (including technological, business-related and organizational aspects), equipment, and ship design, potentially including: a) automation and robotics in shipbuilding processes; b) advanced digitalization in design and production; c) innovations in retrofitting and predictive maintenance of shipbuilding assets; circular economy in all relevant processes (construction, repairs, retrofitting and dismantling).
• Pilot applications should also consider systems interoperability and integration with existing shipyard infrastructure, tools and equipment.
• Explore advanced ways of digital collaboration (co-simulation, sharing digital data) while considering cyber security, to improve synergies within value chains, including equipment manufacturers, shipyards, ship designers and shipowners.
• Testing and physical demonstration of the developed technologies in real life shipyard ecosystem and as much as possible in relation with full scale ship building, including benchmarking of existing practices and consideration of environmental impacts and potential safety improvements for workers. Demonstrations should take place in at least three EU/EEA shipyards.
• Develop biodiversity friendly strategies, integrating nature-based solutions on site, promoting circularity and sustainability of processes.
• Additionally, a strategy for skills development should be presented, associating social partners and civil society where relevant.
• Propose measures to solidify the current strengths of smaller and medium-sized shipyards across Europe, with a focus on increasing competitiveness and growth, reinforcing and growing European shipyards and improving environmental performance.
• For exploitation purposes, proposals should: a) develop business plans and rollout strategies, including measures to reduce knowledge and technology leakage outside of Europe; b) identify clear target groups (vessel types, segments and processes) and their current state, deficiencies and improvement needs, and make a clear exploitation strategy on how to roll out the results to end-users. 
 Proposals are expected to explain the contribution of their objectives, results, IP management and exploitation strategy to the EU added value creation and strategic autonomy throughout the supply and value chain, including competitiveness of the EU waterborne industry, enhancement of the EU’s R&I capacity, technological know-how capabilities and human capital, and resilience of the EU industrial and manufacturing base. Proposals are encouraged to include synergies with shipyards, equipment manufacturers and providers, including start-ups and SMEs, located and/or manufacturing in the EU and EEA.
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on ‘Zero Emission Waterborne Transport’ (ZEWT). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on results to the European Partnership ‘Zero Emission Waterborne Transport’ (ZEWT) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.
Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL.
**conditions:** 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).

In line with the “restriction on control in innovation actions in critical technology areas” delineated in General Annex B of the General Annexes, entities established in an eligible country but which are directly or indirectly controlled by China or by a legal entity established in China are not eligible to participate in the action.

Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.

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.

Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
 Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations 
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) 
Guidance
HE Programme Guide 
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Lump Sum MGA 
Call-specific instructions 
Detailed budget table (HE LS) 
Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?"

Additional documents:
 HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes
HE Programme Guide
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement 
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual 
Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions 
Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement
**action type:** HORIZON Innovation Actions
**budget:** 
  **budget Years Columns:** 
    - 2026
  **budget Topic Action Map:** 
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      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL5-2026-05-D5-12 - HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 21000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 2
        **max Contribution:** 10500000
        **min Contribution:** 10500000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-12-18
    **112882:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL5-2026-05-D5-13 - HORIZON-CSA HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 2000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 1
        **max Contribution:** 2000000
        **min Contribution:** 2000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-12-18
    **112883:** 
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        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 21000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 2
        **max Contribution:** 10500000
        **min Contribution:** 10500000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-12-18
    **112884:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL5-2026-05-D5-01 - HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 68000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 2
        **max Contribution:** 34000000
        **min Contribution:** 34000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-12-18
    **112885:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL5-2026-05-D5-02 - HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 16000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 1
        **max Contribution:** 16000000
        **min Contribution:** 16000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-12-18
    **112886:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL5-2026-05-D5-07 - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 10000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
        **deadline Model:** single-stage
        **expected Grants:** 2
        **max Contribution:** 5000000
        **min Contribution:** 5000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2025-12-18
**keywords:** HORIZON-CL5-2026-05-D5-12, HORIZON-CL5-2026-05
**last synced at:** 2026-11-09T17:23:17.403+00:00

## Review record

No independent verification record is available.

## Source metadata