Norway and Singapore Joint Maritime Research Call

A joint call by the Research Council of Norway and the Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) for collaborative research and innovation projects between research organisations in Norway and Singapore that contribute to a safer, greener and more efficient maritime industry. The research focus is green shipping, with primary priority for projects that directly reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from maritime transport. Priority challenges include safety, toxicity and risk mitigation for alternative fuels such as ammonia, hydrogen and methanol; next-generation bunkering and logistics including cryogenic handling and boil-off gas management; marine electrification and shore-power infrastructure; hydrodynamic optimisation and energy-saving devices; smart onboard energy management; physics-informed digital twins and machine-learning models of operational energy efficiency; voyage optimisation and just-in-time arrivals; autonomous and remote operations; interoperable ship-port-logistics data architectures; and green shipping corridor performance tracking. The call opens for applications on 2 December 2026; a registration of interest for partner matchmaking closes on 15 November 2026, and a webinar for applicants is planned for 19 November 2026. Projects run 36-48 months and may start between 1 July and 1 October 2027.

Joint proposals between approved research organisations in Norway and in Singapore, with one Norwegian responsible partner (the Project Owner, which applies to the Research Council) and one Singaporean Principal Investigator (contracting with SMI). Each project needs at least one Norwegian and one Singaporean industry partner that are not research organisations; they cover their own costs, preferably 10-30% of total project costs. There are no formal qualification requirements for the project manager, who must be employed by the Project Owner or a partner. Other international groups may take part with their own funding.