IWT platform projects
AUTOSHIP
Demonstrated enabling technologies for autonomous ships and improved methods for assessing and verifying autonomous shipping.
View Project
FOREMAST
FOREMAST project targets advancements along four pillars: automation, zero-emission energy management, vessel design, and digital optimisation tools. It aims to revolutionise IWT, offering a sustainable and efficient path forward for Europe’s waterborne freight industry. With its structured approach, FOREMAST promises to usher in a new era of innovation and sustainability in IWT.
View Project
SYNERGETICS
Matches retrofit solutions for fleet greening with specific ship types, dimensions, and operational profiles.
View Project
SETO
SETO will deliver an innovative digital solution that will allow authorities to access all information required for the smart enforcement of transport and safety legislation in real-time using the ‘one-click’ principle.
View Project
SEAMLESS
SEAMLESS aims at developing and adapting missing building blocks and enablers into a fully automated, economically viable, cost-effective, and resilient waterborne freight feeder loop service for Short Sea Shipping (SSS) and/or Inland Waterways Transport (IWT).
View Project
RH2IWER
The main aim of RH2IWER is to create a solid basis for the acceleration of hydrogen fuel cell powered vessels in inland waterway shipping by demonstrating six commercially operated vessels. These vessels are of varying lengths and types – 86m, 110m and 135m; container, bulk and tanker vessels with installed power ranging from 0.6 to ~2 MW. The project will also work with standardization of containerized fuel cell and hydrogen solutions.
View Project
RESHIP
The project, RESHIP, aims to redefine the onboard energy saving solutions for newbuilds and retrofits in marine and inland waterway with disruptive technologies in two distinct areas, Energy Saving Devices (ESDs) and onboard hydrogen utilisation.
View Project
ReNew
The consortium will develop a resilience and sustainability decision-support framework that will inform measures and solutions towards greener IWT options, including suitable infrastructure. Moreover, a digital twin model will enable the exchange of information between relevant systems, and outreach and upscale activities will create maximum impact towards smarter, greener IWT.
View Project
PLOTO
PLOTO aims at increasing the resilience of the Inland WaterWays (IWW) infrastructures and the connected land- infrastructures, thus ensuring reliable network availability under unfavourable conditions, such as extreme weather, accidents and other kind of hazards. Our main target is to combine downscaled climate change scenarios (applied to IWW infrastructures) with simulation tools and actual data, so as to provide the relevant authorities and their operators with an integrated tool able to support more effective management of their infrastructures at strategic and operational levels.
View Project
PLATINA4ACTION
The PLATINA4Action project aims to accelerate the implementation of green and connected inland waterway transport. Activities will focus on 1) supporting and coordinating research and innovation activities focussing on green and connected IWT to find synergies between parallel developments, 2) impact estimations of NAIADES III actions and supporting the policy discussions to achieve modal shift and zero-emission IWT and 3) the updating of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for IWT.
View Project
PLATINA3
Prtoviding coordination and support to raise modal share& zero-emission performance of IWT; a competitive, safe, climate resilient and integrated in synchromodal supply chains IWT sector; proper workforce (considering automation of navigation).
View Project
PIONEERS
PIONEERS brings together four ports with different characteristics, but shared commitments towards meeting the Green Deal goals and Blue Growth socio-economic aims, in order to address the challenge for European ports of reducing GHG emissions while remaining competitive. In order to achieve these ambitions, the Ports of Antwerp, Barcelona, Venlo and Constanta will implement green port innovation demonstrations across four main pillars: clean energy production and supply, sustainable port design, modal shift and flows optimization, and digital transformation.
View Project
Path2Zero
The propose is to develop a virtual representation of the inland shipping system, that can be used for assessing the efficiency of zero emission strategies. This digital twin will represent the real system with all relevant components. The focus is on three main aspect: the individual vessels, the logistic chains and the infrastructure. Potential interventions will be considered ranging from the application of new technologies for individual vessels to policy measures for an entire shipping corridor. Future scenarios can be imposed on the digital twin and their efficiency can be evaluated for the right path towards zero emission shipping.
View Project
NOVIMOVE
Closing gaps on the Rhine-Alpine Corridor with a 30% freight increase. Increase IWT reliability by making better use of the capacity and infrastructure.
View Project
MULTIRELOAD
The EU-funded MultiRELOAD project will enable European ports and freight nodes to actively drive the transition towards greenhouse gas emission-neutral shipping and wider multimodal mobility by 2025 with research and demonstration. Project activities will reduce freight transport by road by shifting it to inland waterways transport and rail, and enhance the collaboration between different freight nodes in Europe to jointly test innovations and create favourable market conditions for multimodal freight transport solutions. MultiRELOAD will demonstrate solutions in three innovation areas: smart multimodal logistics, digital and automated multimodal nodes and corridors, and innovative business models, with specific aims by 2025, mirroring the measures of the EU’s Smart Mobility Strategy.
View Project
MOSES
The aim of MOSES project is to enhance the SSS component of the European supply chain by addressing the vulnerabilities and strains related to the operation of large containerships. A two-fold strategy will be followed, in order to reduce the total time to berth for TEN-T Hub Ports and to stimulate the use of SSS feeder services to small ports that have limited or no infrastructure.
View Project
MAGPIE
MAGPIE accelerates the introduction of green energy carriers (batteries, hydrogen, ammonia, BioLNG and methanol) combined with realisation of logistic optimisation in ports through automation and autonomous operations. The main objective of MAGPIE is to demonstrate technical, operational, and procedural energy supply and digital solutions in a living lab environment to stimulate green, smart, and integrated multimodal transport and ensure roll out through the European Green Port of the Future Master Plan and dissemination and exploitation activities.
View Project
LASTING
Set-up of a communication strategy for waterborn RD&I actities in the EU. To broaden engagement, increase stakeholder engagement and impact of RD&i.
View Project
IW-Net
IW-NET will deliver a multimodal optimisation process across the EU Transport System, increasing the modal share of IWT and supporting reducing transport GHG emissions. The Living Lab applies user-centered application scenarios in important TEN-T corridors demonstrating and evaluating the impacts in simulations and tests covering technological, organisational, legal, economical, ecological, and safety/security issues.
View Project
IWETT
The IWETT project will achieve significant adoption of EGNOS based service in the inland waterway transport sector, namely on the Danube in Hungary, on the Spree-Oder Waterway in Germany and on the Guadalquivir river in Spain.
View Project
ISTS
Develop a more holistic framework for maritime intelligent transport systems with special emphasis on communication ebtween ship and shore and onboard interfaces for the same purpose. Project management for development of ISO 28005 standards and with that cooperation with IMO, UNECE and WCO on the MO Compendium.
View Project
InnoWatr
InnoWaTr aims to green 8 IWT freight streams, foster synergy, unlock business opportunities, and eliminate barriers by forming and managing new Freight Flow Coalitions (FFC's). It also seeks to align decision-makers in shipping, technology, logistics, finance, training, and policy across 8 NSR regions.
View Project
GRIP
The study aims to support European inland ports to become zero-emission, sustainable hubs connecting Europe.
The study assesses the environmental impact of ports on their surroundings, looks at the role of digitalisation in becoming more sustainable and identifies opportunities to adopt inland waterway transport for urban mobility and short-distance transport.
View Project
FOR-FREIGHT
The FOR-FREIGHT project aims to maximise the utilisation of multimodal freight transport capacity and reduce the average cost of freight transport through the development of novel solutions and their integration with legacy logistics systems.
View Project
FLAGSHIPS
The FLAGSHIPS project raises the readiness of zero-emission waterborne transport to an entirely new level by designing four and demonstrating two commercially operated hydrogen fuel cell vessels. The vessels include two design cases, pusher design and ferry design, and two demo cases, one in France (Paris) and one in Netherlands (Rotterdam).
View Project
FASTWATER
Specifically, FASTWATER will develop and demonstrate an evolutionary pathway for methanol technology, including retrofit solutions as well as next generation systems. Universal, scalable retrofit kits, medium speed and high speed methanol engines will be developed, demonstrated and commercialized. The demos include a harbour tug, a pilot boat and a coast guard vessel. A complete design for a methanol-powered river cruiser is also included.
View Project
ENTRANCE
Matchmaking of solution providers, buyers and finance possibilities. This to increase uptake of (cleaner) mobility innovations, access to financing, and a lower acquisition risk.
View Project
CURRENT DIRECT
The overarching aim of the Current Direct project is to develop and demonstrate an innovative interchangeable waterborne transport battery system and EaaS Platform in an operational environment at the Port of Rotterdam at TRL7 that facilitates fast charging of vessels, fleet optimization and novel business models. The Current Direct project is dedicated to (i) significantly reduce the total cost of waterborne transport batteries, (ii) cut GHG emissions of the marine transport sector through electrification of vessel fleets, (iii) increase the energy density of waterborne battery cells and (iv) trigger investments for innovation, job and knowledge creation in the European marine transport and battery sector.
View Project
CRISTAL
Water transport is one of the most efficient and sustainable forms of inland transit. The EU-funded CRISTAL project aims to increase the amount of freight transported via inland waterways by a minimum of 20 % over three years and to improve reliability by 80 %. The project will be conducted at three pilot sites in Italy, Poland and France. There, researchers will focus on creating cooperative solutions which include: technological innovation and digitalisation, advancement towards the physical internet, as well as governance and business models. The project will also seek to make transport corridors more resilient, ensuring that capacity can remain at 50 % even during extreme weather events.
View Project
COMEX2
COMEX² (2023-2028) continues the successful work of the RIS COMEX project (2016-2022) by expanding and optimising the common European RIS system called EuRIS (www.eurisportal.eu) and its provided services and data on functional, technical and geographical scope for the benefits of the stakeholders. Focus is also put on making the organisational, legal and financial framework for sustainable operation of EuRIS more flexible and future fit to enable onboarding of additional partners and to ease administrative aspects. Other main objectives are to set measures towards reporting-only-once within European IWT and other common topics- as well as to ensure resilience of national RIS infrastructure.
View Project
CLEVER
CLEVER aims to overcome barriers by developing new harmonised GHG emission factors for transport sector (freight & passenger), encompassing uncovered categories, new and conventional fuels and production paths while taking up the full energy lifecycle (Well-To-Wheel/Wake), and providing clearer guides for calculating and accounting emission factors, covering GHG emissions (CO2eq) of the entire transport chain in all modes.
View Project
BOOSTLOG
BOOSTLOG Vision is transforming European freight transport and logistics R&I ecosystem to perform optimally boosting impact generation out of R&I investment contributing to EU policy objectives towards climate neutrality, pollution, congestion and noise reduction, free movement of goods, internal security, digital transformation of logistics chains and data sharing logistics ecosystems and supports companies sustainability and competitiveness generating value for society.
View Project
AVIS
The purpose of this EC´s project is to analyse how EU Space Data can be used for Automated Vessels on European Inland Waterways. In order to do this analysis, a prototype will be defined, design and implemented and will be used in pilots demonstrations in different EU IWW important corridors.
The following objectives are already extracted from the ITT:
-Definition of requirements:
-Definition of Safe and Secure Navigation for Autonomous navigation for IWW
-Contribute to EU Framework for IWW and Autonomous vessels.
oIdentify and analyse challenges and barriers for automated vessels not only at technical level but at
-Develop a prototype of on-board equipment that uses Galileo differentiators to address the main needs not covered so far by existing equipment.
-Pilot projects: The study will implement several pilots along selected inland waterways with the aim of demonstrating the feasibility and added value of AVIS prototype solution.
-Standardization: Propose a new standard concerning minimum requirements (e.g., on EU Space Data) to guarantee safe autonomous vessel navigation in inland waterways in support of future regulatory initiatives,
-And finally, outreach activities will be performed in the course of this study.
View Project
AUTOFLEX
AUTOFLEX is an EU-funded research project facilitating the transition to climate-friendly, flexible and resilient transport. The initiative will help develop new autonomous inland cargo vessels that can reliably carry out transport services in small waterways, even in confined waters and in extremely low water situations. Furthermore, it will design new distribution hubs as an interface to road transport, which will ensure both cargo transshipment and zero-emission energy supply for the ships and trucks at the same time.
View Project
AUTOBarge
Build-up a highly skilled workforce for the autonomous inland waterway transport sector;
Further develop the essential building blocks of the SUDA-model of an AV (Sense the environment, Understand the environment, Decide about the next action/ maneuver to take, Act according to that decision) that are needed for an autonomous vessel to take over the role of the human captain and crew;
Address the many other socio-technical, logistic, economic, and regulatory conditions that need to be met for the successful and future-proof implementation of autonomous vessels in the inland-waterway transport sector
View Project
AENEAS
AENEAS aims to contribute towards climate-neutral and environmental friendly water transport through three new next generation clean energy storage solutions.
View Project
AEGIS
The overall vision and objective of AEGIS is to develop concepts for waterborne logistics systems with a functionality making them a real alternative for a shift in cargo transport from road to sea.
View Project
1S4IWT
The goal of 1System4IWT is to build a learning system that will serve as a solution to ensure and sustain the continuity of education and training. This project will design the system architecture to connect e-learning platforms of educational institutions with the eLearning System (INeS) for inland navigation, developed in previous EU-funded projects.
View Project
AUTOSHIP
Demonstrated enabling technologies for autonomous ships and improved methods for assessing and verifying autonomous shipping.
View Project
FOREMAST
FOREMAST project targets advancements along four pillars: automation, zero-emission energy management, vessel design, and digital optimisation tools. It aims to revolutionise IWT, offering a sustainable and efficient path forward for Europe’s waterborne freight industry. With its structured approach, FOREMAST promises to usher in a new era of innovation and sustainability in IWT.
View Project
SYNERGETICS
Matches retrofit solutions for fleet greening with specific ship types, dimensions, and operational profiles.
View Project
SETO
SETO will deliver an innovative digital solution that will allow authorities to access all information required for the smart enforcement of transport and safety legislation in real-time using the ‘one-click’ principle.
View Project
SEAMLESS
SEAMLESS aims at developing and adapting missing building blocks and enablers into a fully automated, economically viable, cost-effective, and resilient waterborne freight feeder loop service for Short Sea Shipping (SSS) and/or Inland Waterways Transport (IWT).
View Project
RH2IWER
The main aim of RH2IWER is to create a solid basis for the acceleration of hydrogen fuel cell powered vessels in inland waterway shipping by demonstrating six commercially operated vessels. These vessels are of varying lengths and types – 86m, 110m and 135m; container, bulk and tanker vessels with installed power ranging from 0.6 to ~2 MW. The project will also work with standardization of containerized fuel cell and hydrogen solutions.
View Project
RESHIP
The project, RESHIP, aims to redefine the onboard energy saving solutions for newbuilds and retrofits in marine and inland waterway with disruptive technologies in two distinct areas, Energy Saving Devices (ESDs) and onboard hydrogen utilisation.
View Project
ReNew
The consortium will develop a resilience and sustainability decision-support framework that will inform measures and solutions towards greener IWT options, including suitable infrastructure. Moreover, a digital twin model will enable the exchange of information between relevant systems, and outreach and upscale activities will create maximum impact towards smarter, greener IWT.
View Project
PLOTO
PLOTO aims at increasing the resilience of the Inland WaterWays (IWW) infrastructures and the connected land- infrastructures, thus ensuring reliable network availability under unfavourable conditions, such as extreme weather, accidents and other kind of hazards. Our main target is to combine downscaled climate change scenarios (applied to IWW infrastructures) with simulation tools and actual data, so as to provide the relevant authorities and their operators with an integrated tool able to support more effective management of their infrastructures at strategic and operational levels.
View Project
PLATINA4ACTION
The PLATINA4Action project aims to accelerate the implementation of green and connected inland waterway transport. Activities will focus on 1) supporting and coordinating research and innovation activities focussing on green and connected IWT to find synergies between parallel developments, 2) impact estimations of NAIADES III actions and supporting the policy discussions to achieve modal shift and zero-emission IWT and 3) the updating of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for IWT.
View Project
PLATINA3
Prtoviding coordination and support to raise modal share& zero-emission performance of IWT; a competitive, safe, climate resilient and integrated in synchromodal supply chains IWT sector; proper workforce (considering automation of navigation).
View Project
PIONEERS
PIONEERS brings together four ports with different characteristics, but shared commitments towards meeting the Green Deal goals and Blue Growth socio-economic aims, in order to address the challenge for European ports of reducing GHG emissions while remaining competitive. In order to achieve these ambitions, the Ports of Antwerp, Barcelona, Venlo and Constanta will implement green port innovation demonstrations across four main pillars: clean energy production and supply, sustainable port design, modal shift and flows optimization, and digital transformation.
View Project
Path2Zero
The propose is to develop a virtual representation of the inland shipping system, that can be used for assessing the efficiency of zero emission strategies. This digital twin will represent the real system with all relevant components. The focus is on three main aspect: the individual vessels, the logistic chains and the infrastructure. Potential interventions will be considered ranging from the application of new technologies for individual vessels to policy measures for an entire shipping corridor. Future scenarios can be imposed on the digital twin and their efficiency can be evaluated for the right path towards zero emission shipping.
View Project
NOVIMOVE
Closing gaps on the Rhine-Alpine Corridor with a 30% freight increase. Increase IWT reliability by making better use of the capacity and infrastructure.
View Project
MULTIRELOAD
The EU-funded MultiRELOAD project will enable European ports and freight nodes to actively drive the transition towards greenhouse gas emission-neutral shipping and wider multimodal mobility by 2025 with research and demonstration. Project activities will reduce freight transport by road by shifting it to inland waterways transport and rail, and enhance the collaboration between different freight nodes in Europe to jointly test innovations and create favourable market conditions for multimodal freight transport solutions. MultiRELOAD will demonstrate solutions in three innovation areas: smart multimodal logistics, digital and automated multimodal nodes and corridors, and innovative business models, with specific aims by 2025, mirroring the measures of the EU’s Smart Mobility Strategy.
View Project
MOSES
The aim of MOSES project is to enhance the SSS component of the European supply chain by addressing the vulnerabilities and strains related to the operation of large containerships. A two-fold strategy will be followed, in order to reduce the total time to berth for TEN-T Hub Ports and to stimulate the use of SSS feeder services to small ports that have limited or no infrastructure.
View Project
MAGPIE
MAGPIE accelerates the introduction of green energy carriers (batteries, hydrogen, ammonia, BioLNG and methanol) combined with realisation of logistic optimisation in ports through automation and autonomous operations. The main objective of MAGPIE is to demonstrate technical, operational, and procedural energy supply and digital solutions in a living lab environment to stimulate green, smart, and integrated multimodal transport and ensure roll out through the European Green Port of the Future Master Plan and dissemination and exploitation activities.
View Project
LASTING
Set-up of a communication strategy for waterborn RD&I actities in the EU. To broaden engagement, increase stakeholder engagement and impact of RD&i.
View Project
IW-Net
IW-NET will deliver a multimodal optimisation process across the EU Transport System, increasing the modal share of IWT and supporting reducing transport GHG emissions. The Living Lab applies user-centered application scenarios in important TEN-T corridors demonstrating and evaluating the impacts in simulations and tests covering technological, organisational, legal, economical, ecological, and safety/security issues.
View Project
IWETT
The IWETT project will achieve significant adoption of EGNOS based service in the inland waterway transport sector, namely on the Danube in Hungary, on the Spree-Oder Waterway in Germany and on the Guadalquivir river in Spain.
View Project
ISTS
Develop a more holistic framework for maritime intelligent transport systems with special emphasis on communication ebtween ship and shore and onboard interfaces for the same purpose. Project management for development of ISO 28005 standards and with that cooperation with IMO, UNECE and WCO on the MO Compendium.
View Project
InnoWatr
InnoWaTr aims to green 8 IWT freight streams, foster synergy, unlock business opportunities, and eliminate barriers by forming and managing new Freight Flow Coalitions (FFC's). It also seeks to align decision-makers in shipping, technology, logistics, finance, training, and policy across 8 NSR regions.
View Project
GRIP
The study aims to support European inland ports to become zero-emission, sustainable hubs connecting Europe.
The study assesses the environmental impact of ports on their surroundings, looks at the role of digitalisation in becoming more sustainable and identifies opportunities to adopt inland waterway transport for urban mobility and short-distance transport.
View Project
FOR-FREIGHT
The FOR-FREIGHT project aims to maximise the utilisation of multimodal freight transport capacity and reduce the average cost of freight transport through the development of novel solutions and their integration with legacy logistics systems.
View Project
FLAGSHIPS
The FLAGSHIPS project raises the readiness of zero-emission waterborne transport to an entirely new level by designing four and demonstrating two commercially operated hydrogen fuel cell vessels. The vessels include two design cases, pusher design and ferry design, and two demo cases, one in France (Paris) and one in Netherlands (Rotterdam).
View Project
FASTWATER
Specifically, FASTWATER will develop and demonstrate an evolutionary pathway for methanol technology, including retrofit solutions as well as next generation systems. Universal, scalable retrofit kits, medium speed and high speed methanol engines will be developed, demonstrated and commercialized. The demos include a harbour tug, a pilot boat and a coast guard vessel. A complete design for a methanol-powered river cruiser is also included.
View Project
ENTRANCE
Matchmaking of solution providers, buyers and finance possibilities. This to increase uptake of (cleaner) mobility innovations, access to financing, and a lower acquisition risk.
View Project
CURRENT DIRECT
The overarching aim of the Current Direct project is to develop and demonstrate an innovative interchangeable waterborne transport battery system and EaaS Platform in an operational environment at the Port of Rotterdam at TRL7 that facilitates fast charging of vessels, fleet optimization and novel business models. The Current Direct project is dedicated to (i) significantly reduce the total cost of waterborne transport batteries, (ii) cut GHG emissions of the marine transport sector through electrification of vessel fleets, (iii) increase the energy density of waterborne battery cells and (iv) trigger investments for innovation, job and knowledge creation in the European marine transport and battery sector.
View Project
CRISTAL
Water transport is one of the most efficient and sustainable forms of inland transit. The EU-funded CRISTAL project aims to increase the amount of freight transported via inland waterways by a minimum of 20 % over three years and to improve reliability by 80 %. The project will be conducted at three pilot sites in Italy, Poland and France. There, researchers will focus on creating cooperative solutions which include: technological innovation and digitalisation, advancement towards the physical internet, as well as governance and business models. The project will also seek to make transport corridors more resilient, ensuring that capacity can remain at 50 % even during extreme weather events.
View Project
COMEX2
COMEX² (2023-2028) continues the successful work of the RIS COMEX project (2016-2022) by expanding and optimising the common European RIS system called EuRIS (www.eurisportal.eu) and its provided services and data on functional, technical and geographical scope for the benefits of the stakeholders. Focus is also put on making the organisational, legal and financial framework for sustainable operation of EuRIS more flexible and future fit to enable onboarding of additional partners and to ease administrative aspects. Other main objectives are to set measures towards reporting-only-once within European IWT and other common topics- as well as to ensure resilience of national RIS infrastructure.
View Project
CLEVER
CLEVER aims to overcome barriers by developing new harmonised GHG emission factors for transport sector (freight & passenger), encompassing uncovered categories, new and conventional fuels and production paths while taking up the full energy lifecycle (Well-To-Wheel/Wake), and providing clearer guides for calculating and accounting emission factors, covering GHG emissions (CO2eq) of the entire transport chain in all modes.
View Project
BOOSTLOG
BOOSTLOG Vision is transforming European freight transport and logistics R&I ecosystem to perform optimally boosting impact generation out of R&I investment contributing to EU policy objectives towards climate neutrality, pollution, congestion and noise reduction, free movement of goods, internal security, digital transformation of logistics chains and data sharing logistics ecosystems and supports companies sustainability and competitiveness generating value for society.
View Project
AVIS
The purpose of this EC´s project is to analyse how EU Space Data can be used for Automated Vessels on European Inland Waterways. In order to do this analysis, a prototype will be defined, design and implemented and will be used in pilots demonstrations in different EU IWW important corridors.
The following objectives are already extracted from the ITT:
-Definition of requirements:
-Definition of Safe and Secure Navigation for Autonomous navigation for IWW
-Contribute to EU Framework for IWW and Autonomous vessels.
oIdentify and analyse challenges and barriers for automated vessels not only at technical level but at
-Develop a prototype of on-board equipment that uses Galileo differentiators to address the main needs not covered so far by existing equipment.
-Pilot projects: The study will implement several pilots along selected inland waterways with the aim of demonstrating the feasibility and added value of AVIS prototype solution.
-Standardization: Propose a new standard concerning minimum requirements (e.g., on EU Space Data) to guarantee safe autonomous vessel navigation in inland waterways in support of future regulatory initiatives,
-And finally, outreach activities will be performed in the course of this study.
View Project
AUTOFLEX
AUTOFLEX is an EU-funded research project facilitating the transition to climate-friendly, flexible and resilient transport. The initiative will help develop new autonomous inland cargo vessels that can reliably carry out transport services in small waterways, even in confined waters and in extremely low water situations. Furthermore, it will design new distribution hubs as an interface to road transport, which will ensure both cargo transshipment and zero-emission energy supply for the ships and trucks at the same time.
View Project
AUTOBarge
Build-up a highly skilled workforce for the autonomous inland waterway transport sector;
Further develop the essential building blocks of the SUDA-model of an AV (Sense the environment, Understand the environment, Decide about the next action/ maneuver to take, Act according to that decision) that are needed for an autonomous vessel to take over the role of the human captain and crew;
Address the many other socio-technical, logistic, economic, and regulatory conditions that need to be met for the successful and future-proof implementation of autonomous vessels in the inland-waterway transport sector
View Project
AENEAS
AENEAS aims to contribute towards climate-neutral and environmental friendly water transport through three new next generation clean energy storage solutions.
View Project
AEGIS
The overall vision and objective of AEGIS is to develop concepts for waterborne logistics systems with a functionality making them a real alternative for a shift in cargo transport from road to sea.
View Project
1S4IWT
The goal of 1System4IWT is to build a learning system that will serve as a solution to ensure and sustain the continuity of education and training. This project will design the system architecture to connect e-learning platforms of educational institutions with the eLearning System (INeS) for inland navigation, developed in previous EU-funded projects.
View ProjectKey Benefits of the Platform
- Optimized Project Execution: The platform ensures that RD&I projects are carried out more effectively through improved stakeholder engagement, streamlined dissemination, and impactful communication strategies.
- Knowledge Sharing: A space for exchanging documents and insights, enabling participants to learn from each other and increase the collective knowledge base on inland waterway transport innovation.
- Amplified Impact: By issuing joint statements and recommendations, the platform provides a consolidated voice to advocate for future RD&I needs and policy changes that address market barriers and support technology adoption.
- Increased Visibility: Through online channels such as a dedicated website and LinkedIn, the platform helps projects gain greater recognition and outreach within the IWT community and beyond.
Objectives
The IWT Projects Cooperation Platform aims to:
- Enable Synergies: Create connections between ongoing projects, particularly in technical areas, by providing a comprehensive overview of European Union-funded projects and mapping commonalities and gaps across themes, market segments, and geographical scopes.
- Facilitate Thematic Focus Groups: Organize task forces on key themes such as zero-emission innovations, offering a forum for discussing barriers, best practices, and feedback from RD&I efforts.
- Support Event Planning and Stakeholder Involvement: Coordinate joint consultations and engagement with relevant stakeholders, maintaining an up-to-date list of key players and events related to IWT.
- Boost Dissemination and Exploitation: Enhance the visibility and impact of project results through joint events like “IWT RD&I Projects Week” and shared communication channels, including a platform website and social media presence.
Scope
The platform primarily focuses on RD&I projects funded by the European programme Horizon Europe, covering areas such as Zero Emission Waterborne Transport (ZEWT), logistics, human resources, digitalisation, clean hydrogen, and battery technologies. Additionally, it includes other EU-supported initiatives like Connecting Europe Facility, Innovation Fund, INTERREG, and LIFE projects, as well as nationally funded RD&I projects with substantial budgets.
By providing an efficient cooperation environment for these projects, the IWT Projects Cooperation Platform aims to accelerate the transition towards greener and more efficient inland waterway transport solutions.