Overview
The project was defined by the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology as a priority project to develop the cooperation on ITS development between the two areas. The project made use of the close cooperation that was established between the two organisations ERTICO - ITS Europe and AITS - ITS India. An agreement between the two organisations was signed in New Delhi 9 August 2005 in the presence of the Indian Minister for Science and Technology and the Indian Minister for Heavy Industry. The activities proposed allowed more focus on concrete priorities for ITS implementation in India and in particular with focus on eSafety. This would enhance the international cooperation activities of the Commission and allow the European industry to prepare successful cooperation projects with Indian counterparts.
The EU-India eSafety cooperation project aimed to boost cooperation between stakeholders in Europe and India in order to improve road safety and the efficiency of transport in India. The project organised events to explore opportunities to develop intelligent integrated safety systems in India.
The objectives of the EU-India cooperation in the long term were:
- Enhance road safety and sustainable mobility in India through implementation of eSafety systems and services;
- Support the strategic objectives of the IST programme, to prepare, support and facilitate the rapid adoption and transfer of technologies and research results;
- Assist the Indian authorities in creating efficient traffic management solutions for major future events like the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in 2010;
- Support the European industry to respond to emerging business opportunities;
- Transfer European standards on new innovative ITS solutions to the Indian market;
- Support consortia of European and Indian ITS experts from the industry, research sector and public authorities;
- Support the development of public-private partnerships;
- Make recommendations for new innovative ITS research activities to be launched in India;
- Develop cooperation for targeted ITS development for the following priority fields: integrated traffic management systems, traffic and traveller information, location-based services, emergency response services and public transport management.
Funding
Results
Results of the project are presented by the project objectives:
- The project events and activities have made a strong case to the Indian government and authorities to implement eSafety systems. Activities have raised awareness on how EU technologies can help improve road safety and sustainable mobility in India. The road safety policies in India are favourable towards implementing technologies to improve road safety and efficiency of transport in India. eSafety areas of major interest to India were real time traffic information and eCall.
- The EU-India project supported the transfer of EU technologies and research results of the eSafety initiative. At events information has been exchanged and a great deal of dissemination made in India on eSafety and EU technologies. Presentations of eSafety topics in India during the course of the EU-India project include real time traffic information, eCall, accident causation data collection. Other EU technologies disclosed include traffic management, enforcement, tolling, EU FRAME Forum. The project has endeavoured to raise awareness in India of the existing technologies in Europe which could be adopted by India. The project has also allowed exchange between networks of European stakeholders amongst themselves on EU ITS development and had the same effect in India. This may be viewed as a by product of the results. The project has also been an important example of IST international cooperation and one of the first projects for exploring demand for eSafety systems within emerging markets. The results could be explored within other future international cooperation projects.
- Solutions for the Commonwealth Games were discussed in most major EU-India meetings, but in particular the conference in Brussels 1 June was where European organisations such as Seimens and DLR showed how they had managed traffic of major sporting events in Europe and how similar models could be used in India. Furthermore, during the visit to Antwerp Traffic Management Centre on 2 June, the coordinator requested the representatives of the centre to relate their presentation according to the current requirements in India. Representatives described how the centre diverted traffic during events and roadworks which was relevant to how Indian authorities may manage traffic during the Commonwealth Games. The project consortium also noted a great deal of support for setting up a joint EU-India Traffic Management Centre pilot project in time for the Commonwealth Games 2010.