Transport is a key enabler of economic activity and social connectedness. While providing essential services to society and economy, transport is also an important part of the economy and it is at the core of a number of major sustainability challenges, in particular climate change, air quality, safety, energy security and efficiency in the use of resources (EC 2011: Transport White Paper).

The overall mission of this project is to support the uptake of innovative sustainable urban mobility solutions in Europe and other regions in the world, in particular in Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean.

The call text has identified several regions in the world, policy areas and previous and on-going projects relevant for addressing the topic: Implementing innovative and green urban transport solutions in Europe and beyond (SST.2013.3-2). SOLUTIONS will address all regions and policy areas, and will link into all projects mentioned in the call text. We believe that this approach generates the greatest synergies, which will be for the benefit of participating cities and the projects SOLUTIONS will link to and build upon.

While SOLUTIONS will build strongly on previous and on-going projects and initiatives, as is the nature of a coordinating action, it also aims to provide added value that goes beyond summarising and facilitating knowledge sharing and research and technology transfer. SOLUTIONS aims to bridge the “implementation gap” between the potential of innovative sustainable mobility and transport solutions and packages of solutions and the actual level of up-take and quality of the deployment mechanisms.