Blue Bastion - Innovation projects for Maritime Security

The RHID & Blue Cluster Blue Bastion calls are designed to activate collaborative innovation projects that strengthen the protection of critical maritime infrastructure. This first call explicitly focuses on Blue Bastion Demonstrator projects, enabling rapid demonstration of potential solutions in relevant maritime environments. In parallel, Blue Bastion also comprises Research and Operational Innovation instruments, which follow a longer‑term project logic and are opened on a different schedule.  

All projects funded under Blue Bastion must align with the strategic roadmap on maritime security, which provides thematic focus areas, capability priorities, and development pathways for the ecosystem. Together, these instruments form a coherent portfolio that supports innovation from applied research to near‑operational deployment, while ensuring continuity and ecosystem impact.

The RHID & Blue Cluster Blue Bastion Demonstrator call 2026 stimulates the rapid demonstration of innovative solutions for the protection of critical maritime infrastructure, with a strong focus on collaboration within consortia.

This call supports projects with a maximum duration of six months and funding of up to EUR 350,000 per project, aimed at technological demonstrations in near-realistic maritime environments.

• The call fosters an ecosystem in which industry, knowledge institutions, and operational stakeholders collaborate on integrated solutions, with an emphasis on themes such as surveillance, autonomous systems, AI, cybersecurity, and communications.
• Projects must align with the strategic roadmap ‘Maritime Security’ of the Blue Cluster and contribute to operational relevance, risk mitigation, and preparation for entry into the European market.
• Partnerships between research and industry are mandatory. If a proposal is submitted, it must contain at least one private company and one research institute

The deadline for submitting proposals is 8 June 2026, with project start dates on 1 September 2026 and an end date of 28 February 2027. 

RHID and Blue Cluster places great importance on the quality of their service and on improving the way they operate. RHID and Blue Cluster will handle complaints about the administrative handling of this call for proposals and/or about content of the call and the contracts that are concluded as a result of the call.  

See Complaints form in section documents