Cobordism maps in Khovanov homology and singular instanton homology I

Khovanov homology and singular instanton knot Floer homology are both functorial with respect to link cobordisms. Although the two theories are related by a spectral sequence, direct correspondence between the cobordism maps has not been rigorously established. In this paper, we define a cobordism map on the instanton cube complex as a filtered chain map, and prove that it recovers the cobordism maps both in Khovanov homology and singular instanton theory. In a sequel paper, we further extend this cobordism map to immersed cobordisms.