Activities - European Projects

ECTRI members are greatly involved in COST actions and FP6 transport research projects, with about 70 projects currently running related to various thematic issues (intelligent transport systems, economy, behavioral aspects, sustainability—including energy and environment—, safety and security, system of the future and urban mobility) and to all surface transport modes.

ECTRI supports its members in formulating and promoting research joint proposals within current Framework Programme and other programmes and calls.

In the frame of FP6, ECTRI is involved in 2 European projects : one Specific Support Action : NET-TRACK and one Coordination Action : EURFORUM

ECTRI has developed the NET-TRACK project (NETworking Transport ReseArch Resources, Competencies and Knowledge within the new boundaries of European Research Area), which began in October 2005 and will last 2 years. The aim of this project is to contribute to the realisation of the European Research Area (ERA) in the field of surface transport by involving leading research institutes from New Member States (NMS), Acceding Countries (AC) and Western Balkan Countries (WBC) in current European research efforts, notably in research management and in soft research infrastructures issues. Workshops on each issue were organized in June 2006 and June 2007. http://www.ectri.org/nettrack - More information : caroline.almeras@ectri.org

ECTRI is involved with 6 other partners (UITP (Coordinator), TUD, CERTU, ASSTRA, POLIS, EMTA) in the EURFORUM project, a Coordination Action funded by the EC under its 6th FP. The objective of EURFORUM is to create a forum at the European level, effectively representing stakeholders of European research on urban mobility, including representatives of local authorities, public transport associations, research bodies, etc. It will focus on a better and more innovative coordination of research serving urban mobility of people and goods. This forum will provide re-commendations for the coordination of European research on urban mobility issues in order to:
- help structure the supply side of European research in this field;
- pave the way to make Europe a real competitive global player in the field of urban mobility;
- reduce the overall cost of urban mobility;
-increase the attractiveness of public transport, walking and cycling, while encouraging a more rational use of motorised traffic.
EURFORUM covers all private and public transport modes and focusses both on technology-oriented and on policy-oriented research. The project pays special attention to urban mobility challenges in the New Member States. http://www.eurforum.net - More information : laurent.franckx@uitp.com

In the frame of FP6 ECTRI particularly supports 3 Networks of Excellence in which some ECTRI members are participating : Humanist, EURNEX and APSN, a Coordination Action: TRANSFORUM, and a Specific Support Action : EUROACCESS.

The goal of the HUMANIST NoE is to promote a Human centred desing approach and also to federate research in its scientific domain, by creating a European Virtual Centre. The creation of the virtual centre is an answer to the scattering of research capacities in Europe . This will be done by setting up strong connections between partners inside the NoE. The relationship with Universities and Academic World outside the NoE will not be set aside, and will be enhanced through training programmes and welcoming young researchers.

Outputs from NoE will also be targeted toward other relevant stakeholders such as National and European public authorities, Standardisation Bodies, National and European RTD Projects. Diffusion and transfer of knowledge, in addition to common partnerships between NoE and these entities will ensure flow of information in order to disseminate the concept of Human centred design outside the Network. Such a diffusion of information will ensure the effectiveness of the expected impacts. http://www.noehumanist.org/

The HUMANIST NoE involves 22 partners including, CERTH/HIT, CDV, DTF, INRETS (coordinator), TNO, TØI, TRL, UPM, VTT and VTI.

EURNEX - the European Rail Research Network of Excellence - was created in January 2004 and aims to integrate a fragmented research landscape, promote the railways contribution to sustainable development and improve the competitiveness and economic stability of the European rail sector. EURNEX members include 63 universities and research centres from 18 EU Member States and Russia, as well as key railway associations, such as UIC, UITP, and UNIFE. http://www.eurnex.net/

The EURNEX NoE involves 70 partners including CERTH/HIT, DLR, DTF, FHG, INRETS, UPM, VTI and VTT.

The aim of APSN - Advanced Passive Safety Network - is to mobilise the European scientific & business expertise in Vehicle Passive Safety to accelerate improvements in road safety in order to reduce the annual road victims for the European Union. APSN joint technical and scientific objective is to enhance the level of road safety at affordable costs for the individual user as well as for the European society. APSN members’ expertise varies from vehicle, body parts and restraint system manufacturers, computer modelling and softwares companies to international research and educational organisations like universities, crash testing and biomechanical research institutes. The Network counts more than 50 different organisations from about 20 different countries. http://www.passivesafety.com/

The APSN NoE involves 53 partners including FHG, INRETS, TNO (Coordinator) and TRL.

The TRANSFORUM - Scientific Forum on Transport Forecast Validation and Policy Assessement project concerns a co-ordination action that intends to create a virtual transport research forum for online discussion. This project aims at facilitating the work of researchers, policy makers and stakeholders brought together in order to check transport policy tools developed by FP- and national research against factors like scientific consistency, transparency and appropriateness to fit policy makers, users' and stakeholders' needs. http://www.transforum-eu.net/

The TRANSFORUM CA involves 9 patners including AVV (Coordinator) CDV, CERTH/HIT, INRETS, TNO, TRL, UPM and VTT.

ECTRI has favoured the preparation and is supporting the EUROACCESS project, a Specific Support Action (SSA) funded by the EC under the 6th FP. The objective of this project is to contribute to the development of the EU policy on the accessibility of the transport systems in the 27 member states, and 1 EFTA country, in order to promote social integration and active participation in society of people with disabilities. This project began on 1st January 2007 and will last 24 months with a budget of 425,000€. The consortium is composed of ERT, INRETS (Scientific Coordinator), CERTU, Ann Frye Ltd, Lunds University, TIS.pt and TØI. http://www.euro-access.org/ - More information: Claude Marin-Lamellet, INRETS

In the frame of COST programmes, some ECTRI members participate to the following projects:

WATCH - COST action n° 355 "Changing behaviour towards a more sustainable transport system". This action consists of analysing the conditions under which the process of growing unsustainable transport demand could be reversed, by changing travellers', shippers' and carriers' behaviours. This action includes the following ECTRI members: CDV, CERTH/HIT, DLR, DTF, INRETS (Coordinator), POLITO, TØI, UPM, VTT and VÙD.

EST - COST action n°356 "Towards the definition of a measurable environmentally sustainable transport". This action consists of designing harmonised and scientifically sound methods to build better environmental indices (or indicators) by using existing European indices, and to build methods to be applied to the decision-making process of the transport sector in the different European countries. This action includes the following ECTRI members: DLR, DTF, INRETS (Coordinator), KTI, POLITO, TØI, TRL, UPM and VTI. http://cost356.inrets.fr/

PROHELM - COST action n° 357 "Accident Prevention Options with Motorcycle Helmets". The main objective of this action is to increase knowledge on how motorcycle helmets could be improved to help facilitate the avoidance of accidents. This action includes INRETS. http://www.cost357.org/

PQN - COST action n°358 "Pedestrians' Quality Needs". The main objective of this action is to provide an essantial contribution to systems knowledge of pedestrians' quality needs and the requirements derived from those needs, thus simulating structural and functional interventions, policy making and regulation to support walking condition throughout the EU and other involved countries. This action includes the following ECTRI members: AVV (Coordinator), CDV, INRETS, TNO, TØI and VTT. http://www.walkeurope.org/