Clusters for better road vehicles
Europe has committed to making road vehicles greener, safer and smarter. One way to achieve this goal is by building and managing societal clusters. The EU-funded SAGE (Safe and green road vehicles) project aimed to create a 'meta-cluster' of organisations representing the road vehicle industry. The goal was to help the participants share knowledge, thereby strengthening regional European research capacity while transforming road vehicle technologies and markets. Further goals included expansion to involve Asian organisations and developing a mentoring plan for emerging European automotive regions. Work during the first reporting period centred on mapping, analysis and strategy. The phase yielded a joint strategy created from analysis of various regions, including respective strengths and weaknesses, and potential for cooperation. Such analyses led to policy impacts and stronger clusters. Results also included the building of stable new partnerships. Such work led to proposals for several new projects. Two projects received funding and, as of the project's second year, several more were either under review or ready for submission. SAGE fostered mobility, including that of visiting professors, researchers and students. The group established foundations for true mobility via an Erasmus-type agreement among SAGE partner universities. Researchers conducted a benchmarking analysis of nine Asian automotive clusters. SAGE subsequently chose three with which to develop in-depth relationships: Shanghai, China; Nagoya, Japan; and Daejeon, Korea. Visits to the regions produced concrete projects, agreements between individual clusters and plans for their inclusion as SAGE associate partners. Such liaison achieved important new connections with Asian partners and new opportunities for collaboration. SAGE mapped existing and emerging European clusters and developed a methodology for assessment. The consortium extended invitations to collaborate to four European clusters: Abruzzo, Italy; Galicia, Spain; Bursa, Turkey; and Romania. Project marketing efforts increased stakeholder visibility in Europe and internationally. Dissemination work helped to highlight the strengths of each cluster, and included participation in several transportation conferences. SAGE provided an improved understanding of the role of cluster organisations in transportation policy and research. Additionally, the work produced a stable partnership of European automotive clusters.
Keywords
Road vehicles, automotive, research capacity, transportation