Overview
ERTRAC is the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council, which consists of high level representatives from all road transport sectors including consumers, vehicle manufacturers, component suppliers, road infrastructure operators and developers, service providers, energy suppliers, research organisations, cities and regions as well as public authorities at both European Union and national level. It is one of four transport-related European Technology Platforms (ETPs), the other three covering rail, air and waterborne modes.
Established in 2003, ERTRAC's goals are to mobilise all stakeholders, develop a shared vision, and ensure timely, co-ordinated and efficient application of research resources to meet the continuing challenges of road transport and European competitiveness.
This project follows on from the previous FP6 Co-ordination Action 'ERTRAC European road transport 2020: a vision and strategic research agenda' (2003-2006), which focused on four main themes:
- Mobility, Transport and Infrastructure;
- Safety and Security;
- Environment, Energy, Resources; and
- Design & Production.
ERTRAC II responds to the need to accelerate the development of sustainable, integrated transport solutions related to road transport. The aim is to enable ERTRAC to provide a framework to focus co-ordination efforts of public and private resources on the necessary research activities.
The principal objective of the ERTRAC II Coordination Action is to provide the management and organisational support together with administrative and technical input, required to facilitate ERTRAC in its assessment of European road transport research needs and the implementation of the Strategic Research Agenda.
By supporting the necessary information flow and consultation process in all decision making steps, thereby enabling an open consultation of all stakeholders, the ERTRAC II Coordination Action led to the largest consensus. This open consultation with all stakeholders (institutional and private sector) ensures the implementation of the SRA with maximum support from the stakeholders. Subsequently ERTRAC II supported the dissemination and promotion of ERTRAC activities and deliverables throughout Europe.
The initially identified objectives of ERTRAC project were to:
- improve the coordination between EC, national, regional and private R&D actions for road transport, thus strengthening the European Research Area (ERA);
- network with other Technology Platforms as well as with the EC and national bodies in terms of SRA, RTD synergies, finance and governance;
- stimulate increased and more effective public and private investment in R&D in the road transport sector;
- take into account latest developments by updating ERTRAC's SRA through workshops and by collecting opinions from all different and possibly newly identified actors;
- provide management support by setting up a secretariat for organisational and efficiency purpose;
- coordinate the activities related to the ERTRAC overall organisational structure, membership, plenary, steering group and working areas;
- define and animate the ERTRAC work programme and review;
- exchange experience, best-practice with other Technology Platforms, European Commission, European Parliament and Member States;
- disseminate and communicate ERTRAC results, activities and publications to the representatives of the Member States, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the wide range of actors in the road transport sector, to the media and to the citizens in general;
- design and produce new planned ERTRAC publications and promotional material for all kinds of media including exhibition stands as well as the co-organisation of the biannual conferences.
In order to carry out its work, ERTRAC was organised into a Plenary Group (a forum of all stakeholders), a Support Group (a management level working body) and a Work Group (expert support).
Work involved included analysing national programmes to overcome the fragmentation of road transport research and advising on FP7 (EU 7th Framework Programme) research priorities.
The coordination activities were structured into five work packages (WP):
- WP1: Technology Platform Management: The main aim of this work package is the overall organisational management of the technology platform, including the secretariat.
- WP2: Road Transport RTD Networking: The two main objectives of this WP are firstly to promote the coordination of European, national, regional and private R&D actions for road transport in order to increase efficiency and strengthen the European Research Area and secondly, to foster the networking with other technology platforms, as well as with the EC and national bodies in terms of SRA, RTD synergies, finance and governance.
- WP3: Strategic Research Agenda: This WP deals with the update of the ERTRAC strategic research agenda, which was published for the first time in 2004. There will be a review of the structure and the content of the SRA.
- WP4: SRA Implementation - Promoting Technology Initiatives: This WP is of utmost importance for ERTRAC to be in the 'implementation phase' of a technology platform. The SRA implementation has several objectives. The operational focus/promotion of concrete technology initiatives includes the commitment of stakeholders (industry, public authorities, financial community, etc.).
- WP5: Dissemination Activities: A proper promotion and communication of the ERTRAC outcome and activities is key to the success of the technology platform.
Funding
Results
The Coordination Action supported ERTRAC by providing the management and organisational administration together with technical support, which was required to achieve the objectives. Main results were:
- the ERTRAC research framework was published;
- assessment of European FP6 road transport research projects with respect to ERTRAC objectives;
- overview of national road transport research activities and programmes in 17 European countries;
- active contribution to the EC's European Technology Platform initiative;
- transport research arena conferences co-organised by ERTRAC, CEDR and the EC.
- ERTRAC conferences in Brussels with special focus on climate change and future scenarios;
- the ERTRAC office in Brussels was established.
The objectives of ERTRAC II were satisfied completely. The dissemination and use of results comprised various activities, which partly already started during the first ERTRAC project. The overall strategy for the dissemination of results as developed in the first ERTRAC project was continued. The web-site (please see www.ertrac.eu online) is regularly updated. In addition, a web-mail tool was established for an improved e-mail communication of the main stakeholders, in particular the secretary and the chairman.