KONGSBERG MARITIME AS

Their core work

Kongsberg Maritime is a major Norwegian maritime technology company that develops and supplies systems for positioning, navigation, automation, and propulsion across commercial shipping, offshore energy, and naval sectors. Within H2020, they contribute advanced ship automation, simulation, and propulsion integration — particularly for autonomous vessels, hydrogen-powered ferries, and low-emission shipping solutions. They bring deep industrial capability in vessel control systems, sensor fusion, and maritime digital twins, serving as the technology backbone in large-scale demonstration projects. Their work spans from retrofitting existing ships for cleaner fuels to designing fully autonomous inland and short-sea vessels.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 phase (2014–2018), Kongsberg Maritime focused on clean shipping fundamentals: methanol retrofitting, fuel efficiency improvements, and greener ship design through projects like LeanShips and HOLISHIP. From 2019 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward autonomous shipping (AUTOSHIP, AUTOBarge) and hydrogen propulsion (FLAGSHIPS, HyShip), while adding a new dimension in human-automation interaction and AI-based decision support (MEDIATOR, ENHANCE). This trajectory shows a company moving from incremental emission reduction toward full vessel autonomy and zero-emission propulsion systems.

Kongsberg Maritime is converging on fully autonomous, hydrogen-powered maritime transport — expect future work to integrate AI-driven navigation with zero-emission propulsion at commercial scale.

How they like to work

Kongsberg Maritime consistently participates as a technology partner rather than a project coordinator — none of their 14 projects were self-coordinated, which is typical for a large industrial company contributing proprietary systems to research consortia. With 275 unique partners across 34 countries, they operate as a hub organization that connects widely rather than repeatedly partnering with the same groups. Their willingness to join projects ranging from EUR 18K (ENHANCE) to EUR 12M (AUTOSHIP) suggests they scale their involvement based on strategic fit rather than budget size alone.

With 275 unique consortium partners across 34 countries, Kongsberg Maritime maintains one of the broader collaboration networks among Norwegian maritime companies in H2020. Their partnerships span from Northern European maritime clusters to pan-European research institutions and aviation industry players.

What sets them apart

Kongsberg Maritime is one of very few companies that combines world-class maritime automation hardware with active R&D in both hydrogen propulsion and autonomous navigation — most competitors focus on only one of these domains. Their dual involvement in aviation (large aircraft demonstrators) and maritime gives them cross-modal safety and human factors expertise that is rare in the shipping sector. For consortium builders, they offer something hard to find: an industrial partner that can go from simulation and design all the way to full-scale vessel integration and sea trials.

Highlights from their portfolio

• AUTOSHIP
  By far their largest H2020 investment (EUR 12M), this flagship project on autonomous shipping for European short-sea and inland waterways represents Kongsberg Maritime's strategic bet on vessel autonomy.
• HySeas III
  Aimed to realize the world's first sea-going hydrogen-powered RoPax ferry (EUR 2.8M), positioning Kongsberg Maritime at the frontier of zero-emission maritime transport.
• FLAGSHIPS
  A long-running project (2019–2026) on large-scale marine fuel cell demonstration, signaling Kongsberg Maritime's sustained commitment to hydrogen as a maritime fuel.