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The Information Society on the Move

Important! Information available on the Unit 'Transport & Tourism' pages is related to activities undertaken during EU's Fifth Framework Programme (1998-2002). Follow this link to access the Sixth Framework Programme site.

Clusters

As demand for mobility and transport increase throughout Europe, the public require more information and better services as well as safer and cleaner transport alternatives to meet their needs.

The Transport and Tourism Unit of the European Commission's Information Society Directorate-General manages and funds projects to stimulate and facilitate research and technological development in this area.

To create synergy, visibility and/or critical mass, funded projects sharing common themes are organised into co-operative "clusters". They may also serve as value-adding networks or working groups to improve the performance of individual projects and encourage the various stakeholders involved - researchers, users, industry etc. - to develop new ideas.

Objectives

Advances in information and communication systems, such as transport telematics, mobile telephony, on-board navigation systems and the internet, have improved traffic management on land, sea and in the skies, expanded travel information, services and support, and built the foundations for the travel and tourism boom.

Tourism is the biggest industry in the world, and is expected to continue growing for the foreseeable future. As tourism is both an information- and labour-intensive industry, improvements in technology and information management systems are key.

The Transport and Tourism Unit has set up objectives and standards in line with Information Society Technologies programmes and the specific needs of the sectors:

  • To develop information and communication technologies and systems for the transport infrastructure and vehicles of the future;
  • To develop innovative, location-based systems and services;
  • To support travel and tourism as they evolve into information-based industries; and
  • To develop appropriate legislative frameworks to support policy for the exploitation and implementation of these systems.

Activities

The Transport & Tourism Unit has adopted an active role to:

  • Help transport authorities and operators in Europe select inter-operable, safe, affordable and efficient technologies;
  • Enable European suppliers to compete, particularly for the market in next generation in-vehicle and 'personal systems';
  • To develop and apply positioning and communications infrastructure to support emerging markets;
  • To facilitate the development of more efficient value chains from consumer to destination management and organisation in tourism; and
  • To facilitate the development of a network of tourism information providers, and other value-added tourism services in Europe.