The objective of this topic is to promote sustainable road transport in Europe and at international level. This action will contribute to a further harmonisation of research and innovation activities, and therefore contribute to the European Research Area, as well as to the European strategies for future transport systems. The action should also help accelerating time to market of new mobility solutions, by stimulating a wider participation to EU activities and supporting European and worldwide dissemination of results. In addition, this initiative will support climate action and air quality improvement in line with the Green Deals targets and objectives, and contribute to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals.
In line with these objectives, all the following aspects should be addressed:
- Organisation of events, conferences, workshops and dissemination activities to present and discuss future technology and trends, results, exchange experience and foster innovation aspects of road transport research and innovation;
- Identification of actions to support road transport area, in particular in the fields of education, training and skills at European level and standardisation and business models – mainly at EU level;
- Fostering of the links between European, national and (where feasible) regional programmes for road transport research, supporting coordination of activities with Member States;
- In the field of international cooperation, facilitating exchange between Europe and emerging economies in particular within Africa, Asia and Latin America;
- Identification of barriers for the deployment of research results and improvement of framework conditions at European and international level, including development of pre-feasibility studies at least in the specific areas of “Urban zero-emission mobility”, “Air quality and climate change” and “Road safety”;
- Track global progress on urban electric mobility, air quality and road safety and support UN activities (e.g. with UN Habitat and UNEP), and ITF/OECD;
- Updating and coordinating research agendas and roadmaps in the field of road transport, in particular for urban mobility, road infrastructure, considering also road safety and logistics, taking into account relevant Horizon Europe partnerships and international activities in the field.