Final Report Summary - SAGE (Safe and green road vehicles) Executive Summary:The SAGE partnership consists of five regional research driven automotive clusters in Västra Götaland (SE), Paris/Normandy (FR), Regensburg (DE), Piemonte (IT) and Warsaw (PO). The goal of SAGE is to strengthen European competitiveness in the road vehicle sector by creating an integrated “meta-cluster”, open to all European contributors, taking the global lead in safe, green and sustainable road vehicle technology, drawing its strength from smart specialisation and efficient knowledge sharing. SAGE will also address its effort towards the development of an international strategy targeted at automotive clusters in Asia as well as a mentoring plan for emerging automotive regions in Europe. In addition, SAGE aims to promote the project as well as the respective clusters and their individual strengths. During the first period of the SAGE project work was focused on mapping, analysis and strategy. This work resulted in a joint strategy based on in-dept knowledge and analysis of the respective regions, their R&I capacity and their collaboration models as well as identified gaps, overlaps and potential synergies between the regions. The regional inventories and analyses have played a catalytic role in the SAGE regions and have led to both policy impact and stronger clusters. On a transnational level SAGE has achieved to build a stable and long-term partnership based on trust and a willingness to cooperate. During the second half of the project work has concentrated on capacity building activities and the construction of joint projects. When the project closes in October 2014 the status for the research/innovation/education projects developed within SAGE is the following: 2 projects are accepted for funding; 2 projects were submitted but not accepted for funding in their current shape; 3 projects are under review and at least 3 projects are about to be submitted. Another great result of SAGE is the mobility of staff/students/researchers. During the project period several exchanges have been carried out including visiting professors, exchange of researchers and exchange of students and PhDs. The foundation for future mobility has also been built through new Erasmus type agreements between the SAGE universities.An important result of the SAGE project has been the international work package focused on Asia. In a first step a benchmarking study of nine clusters was conducted. With the results of this study the SAGE partnership choose three clusters to go forward with; Daejeon (Korea), Nagoya (Japan) and Shanghai (China). During 2014 the SAGE team visited these clusters in order to learn more and to initiate concrete cooperation. The visits resulted in both concrete projects, letters of understanding between individual clusters and an agreement to include these clusters as associated partners to SAGE. The international work package has enabled a deeper understanding of the automotive R&I landscape in Asia as well as good connections to important Asian stakeholders and a great potential for international collaboration projects. The mentoring work package in SAGE has successfully mapped existing and emerging clusters in Europe and in the next stage developed a methodology for the assessment. Four emerging clusters were chosen to receive an invitation to be associated to/collaborate with SAGE: CEAGA in Galicia, Spain, IAM in Abruzzo, Italy, Auto Muntenia in Romania and Bursa region in Turkey. Mentoring workshops have been carried out in all four regions and the cooperation has led to several concrete activities. In parallel to this work, mentoring of the Warsaw E-Mobil clusters has developed successfully within the project. It includes cluster workshops, face-to-face mentoring, study tours and mobility.The marketing of the respective clusters, territories and stakeholders in SAGE has enhanced their visibility on a European as well as an international level. Communication material has been built on the SAGE analyses and focus on the individual strengths of each cluster. SAGE has participated in several important transport R&I conferences with great visibility. Project Context and Objectives:The SAGE partnership consists of five regional research driven automotive clusters in Västra Götaland (SE), Paris/Normandy (FR), Regensburg (DE), Piemonte (IT) and Warsaw (PO). The clusters have joined forces in order to address common challenges and to use the unique strengths of the respective regions in collaborative research and innovation. SAGE is built on the triple helix concept, because if both societal and technical change is required, both public and private actors need to be engaged more deeply. The SAGE partnership is convinced that innovation strategies need to be built around systemic approaches and strategic cooperation. The goal of SAGE is to strengthen European competitiveness in the road vehicle sector by creating an integrated “meta-cluster”, open to all European contributors, taking the global lead in safe, green and sustainable road vehicle technology, drawing its strength from smart specialisation and efficient knowledge sharing. SAGE will also address its effort towards the development of an international strategy targeted at automotive clusters in Asia as well as a mentoring plan for emerging automotive regions in Europe. In addition, SAGE aims to promote the project as well as the respective clusters and their individual strengths. To achieve this, the project work addresses five key objectives:1. To assess the current and future capacity of Europe’s most important regional research driven clusters to contribute to the development of tomorrow’s safe and sustainable road vehicle technology, and, consequently, to identify gaps, overlaps, and potential synergies.2. To assemble a portfolio of best practices as regards the key aspects of cluster management and regional R&I policy deployment based on exchange of ideas and experiences also with clusters outside SAGE and outside Europe. 3. To achieve the broadest possible base for competence development, SAGE will ensure thatEuropean regions with a potential to contribute significantly can do so, by identifying those with a less developed cluster profile and increasing their pace of development.4. A common SAGE agenda for innovation, research and education will be conceived and the implementation will be prepared by the detailed planning of activities and the design of a feasible financial plan. This agenda will aim at short-term achievements within the project duration as well as on long-term goals to be realised within the coming ten years period.5. A collaboration platform will be put in place to enable efficient and reliable knowledge exchange and to continue the SAGE cooperation beyond the timeline of the current project. Project Results:During the first period of the SAGE project work was focused on mapping, analysis and strategy. SAGE produced 5 regional inventories and 5 regional SWOT analyses as well as one comparative study based on the inventories and one joint SWOT analysis on consortium level. This work then resulted in a joint strategy based on in-dept knowledge and analysis of the respective regions, their R&I capacity and their collaboration models as well as identified gaps, overlaps and potential synergies between the regions. The regional inventories and analyses is a unique material that have played a catalytic role in the SAGE regions and have led to both policy impact and stronger clusters. The extensive material from the first phase of the project also include the mapping of funding possibilities, stakeholder lists and other useful information for the future of the consortium. It was also a learning process that enabled the international team to develop joint working methods and to get to know their own as well as the other clusters. It also gave the participants extensive knowledge about the European innovation system for innovation. SAGE has achieved to build a stable and long-term partnership based on trust and a willingness to cooperate. The Joint Action Plan (JAP) was drafted by cross-regional teams and with the active involvement of experts and stakeholders from the respective regions. The JAP included clearly identified R&I priorities, a comprehensive overview of funding opportunities and a portfolio of project ideas. During the second half of the project work has concentrated on developing these project ideas and submitting them for funding in Horizon 2020. The thematic teams of experts (Safe, Green, Connectivity, Mobility) have continued to be at the core of the project. When the current project closes in October 2014 the status for the research/innovation/education projects developed within SAGE is the following: Projects accepted for funding:• TRA Vision 2016TRA Vision 2016 answered and won the call MG 9.7. The project is to organize two competitions for transport research awards to be announced at the TRA conference in 2016. Polito is coordinating this project and SAGE partners WUT, Chalmers and Mov’eo are on the advisory board. • FABRIC The FABRIC project (Feasibility analysis and development of on-road charging solutions for future electric vehicles) is led by CRF and includes SAGE partners VeDeCoM (Mov’eo), AB Volvo and Polito. The project is funded by FP7 and started in early 2014. Projects under review:• TOMORROWTools and policy guidelines for innovative ecofriendly mobility systems for the cities of tomorrow (Tomorrow) was submitted to call MG 5.1 in spring 2014 and then invited by the EC (in harsh competition) to submit a second stage proposal in July 2014. Mov’eo is leading the proposal in which all SAGE regions are represented (Polito, CRF, Stadt Regensburg, Chalmers, WUT). Tomorrow was developed within the working group Mobility. • Next generation transport infrastructure Next generation transport infrastructure was submitted to call MG 8.2 in August 2014. Polito is the coordinator and SAGE partners WUT and Region Piemonte are involved. The project was developed within the working group Green. • AC4EAutomotive Clusters for Excellence (ACFE) was submitted to call COS-WP.3-2014 in October 2014. The proposal is led by Mov’eo and builds on the experiences of the SAGE project. Two of the partners in the proposal are SAGE partner Lindholmen Science Park and associated SAGE partner CEAGA. Projects not accepted for funding:• INNOWATIOWtoW and LCA Design and Integration of Green mobility based on system network (INNOWATIO) was a project on student exchange submitted to call MSCA-ITN-2014. It was led by Polito and had SAGE partners Chalmers and WUT involved. The proposal was not accepted for funding.• FITSFuture Internet test beds for intelligent Transport Systems (FITS), submitted to call ICT-11-2014, involved partners Mov’eo and Lindholmen Science Park. It was developed within the infrastructure working group.Projects in planning (examples):• HMI networkMov’eo (and PSA) is leading this proposal to be submitted to the COST program in March 2015. The project idea is to expand an already existing French network on HMI to European level. All SAGE regions are involved and several project meetings have already taken place. The proposal is well prepared within the Connectivity working group to be submitted as soon as the call opens. • European living lab for clean and smart urban mobilityThis proposal has been prepared within the mobility working group and a consortium led by Gothenburg (Lindholmen Science Park) is currently under formation. The project is planned to answer to MG 5.5 call in March 2015. • Partly or fully automated driving Preparations are on-going between the SAGE partners to answer the MG 3.6 call in March 2015. The proposal has been developed within the Connectivity working group.Another great result of SAGE is the mobility of staff/students/researchers. During the project period several exchanges have been carried out including: A visiting professor from Polito to WUT; a PhD student from Regensburg to AB Volvo; Researcher mobility between RUAS and Chalmers and RUAS students in an exchange program at Polito. The foundation for future mobility has also been built through new Erasmus type agreements between: Polito and WUT; Polito and RUAS; Mov’eo universities and Polito and finally Chalmers and WUT.Smart specialisation has been an important feature of the SAGE project during the whole three years. The smart specialisation approach used in SAGE includes leveraging the SAGE activities by linking them to the respective operational program (structural funds) and RIS3 (Research and Innovation strategies for smart specialisation) in each region. It also includes leveraging the SAGE activities by applying the principles of smart specialisation to the consortium and its activities. As an important SAGE result it can be concluded: • a high level of congruency between the SAGE vision and priorities and the SAGE regions respective regional policy environments • that SAGE partners have been actively involved in the RIS3 process, thus ensuring cohesion between cluster development and regional policy making • that SAGE regions have taken into account the recommendations of the EU cohesion policy 2014-2020 with respect to the support to SME’s on the one side and clusters on the other • that leading principles and steps towards smart specialisation have been integrated to a wide extent in SAGE activities An important result of the SAGE project has been the international work package focused on Asia. The objectives of the work package were to identify and benchmark international regions within the automotive areas in India, China, Korea and Japan, and also to select and establish links to a selected number of regions in these areas. In a first step a benchmarking study of nine Asian research driven regions with connection to the automotive industry were described. The nine regions were Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Tokyo, Nagoya, Busan/Ulsan, Daejeon, Bangalore/Chennai and Mumbai/Pune. The study provided the stakeholders in the SAGE regions with a unique material on automotive clusters in Asia that has proven to be of great value. With the results of the benchmark study the SAGE partnership choose three clusters to go forward with;• Daejeon (Korea)• Nagoya (Japan)• Shanghai (China)The International collaboration strategy describes the selected Asian regions in terms of capabilities, target markets, R&D activities, collaboration models, stakeholders and so on and presents focus areas and strategies for collaboration with each region. During 2014 the SAGE team visited these clusters in order to:• Meet representatives from the triple helix• Understand better the ecosystem of the selected cluster • Present the SAGE consortium and our strengths and research interests • Discuss concrete opportunities for cooperation The visits included workshops, meetings and important study visits. They resulted in both concrete projects, letters of understanding between individual clusters and an agreement to include these clusters as associated partners to SAGE. The international work package has enabled a deeper understanding of the automotive R&I landscape in Asia as well as good connections to important Asian stakeholders and a great potential for international collaboration projects. The mentoring work package in SAGE has successfully mapped existing and emerging clusters in Europe and in the next stage developed a methodology for the assessment. Four emerging clusters were chosen to receive an invitation to be associated to/collaborate with SAGE: CEAGA in Galicia, Spain, IAM in Abruzzo, Italy, Auto Muntenia in Romania and Bursa region in Turkey. Mentoring workshops have been carried out in all four regions and the cooperation has led to several concrete activities. In parallel to this work, mentoring of the Warsaw E-Mobil clusters has developed successfully within the project. Mentoring activities Warsaw:• Dedicated cluster management workshop between Warsaw E-Mobil cluster and Mov’eo in May 2013.• Cluster seminar with SAGE partners and Warsaw E-Mobil cluster in May 2013.• Study visits by Warsaw E-Mobil cluster to Politecnico di Torino in December 2013 and in Mars 2014.• Visiting professor from Politecnico di Torino was invited by the Faculty of Automotive and Machinery Engineering at Warsaw University of Technology to give lectures for both Master and PhD students in May 2014. • Study visits by Warsaw E-Mobil cluster to Gothenburg in May 2014 including visits to Chalmers University, Public transport office, City administration and Lindholmen Science Park and presentations by industry, SME’s and researchers. The visit resulted in a commitment between WUT and Chalmers to sign a MoU.• Student exchange: PhD student from WUT visited Polito at the end of 2014. WUT and Polito has signed an agreement for future Erasmus exchange.• Participation at all SAGE meetings and events.• Participation at major European transport conferences such as the TRA 2014. • Participation in H2020 project proposals prepared within SAGE such as Tomorrow and Innowatio. Mentoring activities CEAGA:A workshop was organized in November 2013 in Galicia. Besides this workshop, CEAGA and its partner CTAG (Galician Automotive Technology Centre) also participated to other SAGE meetings (Torino, Rouen). In Rouen CTAG presented at the networking session. CTAG was also present at the final conference in Gothenburg and presented at one of the parallel sessions (Cooperative ITS for urban mobility). CEAGA is a partner in a project proposal developed within SAGE and led by Mov’eo to the COSME cluster program, submitted this October (Automotive Clusters for Excellence). CEAGA has the status as associated partner to SAGE which is communicated in all communication material. Mentoring activities IAM:A workshop was organized in February 2014 at the IAM premises. Besides this workshop, IAM also participated to other SAGE meetings (Torino, Warsaw). In Warsaw IAM gave a much appreciated presentation at the cluster seminar. IAM has the status as associated partner to SAGE which is communicated in all communication material.Mentoring activities Muntenia:A mentoring workshop was organized in Muntenia in July 2014. Also, Mov’eo and Auto Muntenia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for future cooperation. Since the cluster in Muntenia is very young (2012), Mov’eo has agreed to continue to mentor the cluster also after the SAGE project. A meeting between the two clusters is planned in Paris in November 2014 and a future mission in Romania with Mov’eo members will be organized in spring 2015. By belonging to the Mov’eo international network, Auto Muntenia will continue to have strong links to the other SAGE partners in the future. Mentoring activities Bursa:The workshop in Istanbul in September 2014 was very well visited by the Turkish stakeholders and there was a huge interest for SAGE, for the SAGE partners and for cooperation possibilities in the future. Because of the fact that the workshop was organized at the end of the SAGE project, no common commitments for the future was made, but individual contacts with the participating SAGE partners are on-going. The marketing of the respective clusters, territories and stakeholders in SAGE has enhanced their visibility on a European as well as an international level. Communication material has been built on the SAGE analyses and focus on the individual strengths of each cluster. SAGE has participated in several important transport R&I conferences with great visibility. The possibly most important result of SAGE is the Memorandum of Understanding, signed at the end conference in Gothenburg at the 22nd of October 2014. In this memorandum the SAGE partnership agrees to continue to develop the successful cooperation initiated within the concluded Regions of Knowledge project. The agreement is valid for two years and each SAGE region is represented by one (cluster) organization that takes on the responsibility to be the intermediary between the regional stakeholders and the other SAGE regions. The MoU also welcomes cooperation with the associated partners as well as other European clusters and additional partners can be invited to join at a later stage if agreed between the partners. The objectives of the MoU are to: • develop collaborative projects within transport research, development, innovation and education that builds on the respective strengths in the participating regions and that is of benefit to the regional stakeholders • offer to regional stakeholders a European platform for networking and collaboration within the focus areas safe, green, connected and mobility solutions • exchange best practice on cluster management and organization and jointly work to raise awareness of the importance of clusters in transport R&I • share information on relevant funding opportunities and policy development on European level The agreed activities are: • A management team that consists of one person per organization commits to at least four telephone conferences per year. The chairmanship is to rotate yearly. • An annual conference is organized every year. The conference is the main opportunity for networking and project development but could also gather running projects, focus on a certain thematic or be organized together with another event. • Student exchange is implemented according to the Erasmus agreements and staff exchange and study visits are welcomed by the hosting regions. • Tools developed within the SAGE project (internal web, templates, mapping, contact lists etc) are maintained and used. • SAGE continues to have a close contact with the GRACE network mobilizing for a KIC in urban mobility in 2018. City of Regensburg has taken on the responsibility to chair the management team for 2015 and Mov’eo has done the same for 2016. This means that the leadership that will ensure the future exploitation of SAGE is secured.Potential Impact:SAGE has brought cluster policy and strategies to the conscience of stakeholders in the regions. The project has led to an increased awareness of the role cluster organisations play in transport policy and R&I. It has enabled stakeholders to a better understanding of their own cluster as well as of the European ecosystem of innovation. At regional level the project has contributed to the strengthening of Lindholmen Science Park as a regional cluster node in Västra Götaland, the SAGE-Torino initiative intended to bridge the gap between stakeholders in Torino and the policy development and increased effectiveness of the already established clusters Mov’eo and E-Mobility cluster Regensburg. The final result of SAGE is a long-term and stable partnership between European automotive clusters willing to take a lead on safe and green road vehicle technology. A Memorandum of Understanding between the participating clusters was signed at the final conference in Gothenburg on the 22nd of October. In this memorandum the partners commit to continue the successful cooperation with a strong focus on project development, transnational mobility and share of experiences and information. The partnership is open to clusters with complementing competences, also outside Europe. The partnership has a lean management organisation that enables efficient knowledge-sharing as well as access to a pool of competences and tools. It provides regional stakeholders and companies with a network for collaborative R&I as well as for business opportunities. SME involvement and smart specialisation are corner-stones of the SAGE collaboration platform. An additional final result is an increased visibility of the SAGE clusters on the international scene. This has the potential to strengthen the clusters as the global competitiveness continues to increase. The European Commission strongly points to clusters and other innovation hubs such as science parks when it comes to implementing the European Innovation Union. SAGE welcomes this approach. The SAGE experience tells us that it is essential for regions to have neutral arenas where business and academia can meet and develop common projects. It is equally essential that there is an infrastructure for innovation in place – test and demonstration facilities, competence, experts and project leaders. In order to bring different agendas together and agree on mutual goals, brokerage is needed. The SAGE consortium believe that clusters will continue to play an increasingly important role in European transport research and innovation. Main dissemination activities include:• WebsiteThe SAGE website has been up and running since March 2012. It delivers relevant information on SAGE and it is regularly actualized with news from the partner regions, relevant stakeholders and the European institutions. It includes an event calendar, links to other projects, a document section and contact information. All clusters in SAGE has regional web-pages linking to the SAGE website. A specific webpage for the final event of SAGE (European Urban Mobility 2014) was created in 2014. • NewsletterThe SAGE newsletter has been published in six issues. It has been widely distributed in all SAGE regions (approx. 400 recievers per issue) and to relevant stakeholders on national and international level. The newsletter has focused on the progress of the project. Each newsletter has had an editorial by the project manager and articles covering both transnational project activities as well as articles from the participating regions. • SAGE printed materialLeafletRoll-upsPosters for specific eventsPublication The publication has be used to promote SAGE at conferences and events, but also to invite other clusters to cooperate. The publications was printed in 1 500 copies and it has been widely disseminated in all SAGE regions and at events on European level. The SAGE publication was also disseminated through the European Parliament Magazine website. This site has 200 000 visitors yearly.• Communications at eventsAn extensive number of SAGE presentations at local, regional and national level is reported on in the participant portal. SAGE has also presented its work (oral or posters) at international events and conferences. Several of these events are among the largest and most important in Europe within transport research and innovation and with thousands of visitors. - International Symposium on Electric Vehicles 2012, Warsaw- International Diesel Conference, 2012, Rouen- Regions of Knowledge Seminar, 2013, Brussels- TCI cluster conference, 2013, Kolding - COP19, 2103, Warsaw- International eCarTec fair, Munchen - EVS 27, Barcelona- TRA 2014, Paris• Awareness Raising workshopsAwareness raising workshops were carried out in all five partner regions during the first phase of the project. The objective of the workshops was to inform cluster members and key regional stakeholders about the SAGE project and invite them to participate in SAGE activities. Each region formed their workshop according to their regional setting. Approximately 550 people visited the workshops in total. During the second phase of the project each region has continued to organise workshops with regional stakeholders at different times when there has been need for involvement or dissemination. • Annual ConferencesThree annual conference have been organised during the SAGE project, attracting around 300 participants in total. The annual conferences have been major opportunities for dissemination of project results, involvement of stakeholders and networking between the countries. The conference European Urban Mobility 2014 (SAGE final conference) was organised by Region Västra Götaland, Chalmers University of Technology and Lindholmen Science Park together with the SAGE consortium and another consortium called GRACE (which overlaps the SAGE consortium). The GRACE consortium is led by Chalmers and has the objective of mobilising for a KIC (EIT Knowledge and Innovation Community) in 2018. European Urban Mobility focused on the different thematic within urban mobility such as planning issues, seamless mobility, ITS, green technologies, freight and public acceptability. The conference aimed to have a holistic approach to urban mobility and to incorporate perspectives from different stakeholders and countries. The aim was to come one step closer towards a consortium applying for a KIC in 2018 and to bring the SAGE consortium into these discussions. The conference was also the final conference of SAGE and the experiences from the project were discussed both in front of a larger audience and in a more devoted project meeting. SAGE also took the opportunity to sign the Memorandum of Understanding about future cooperation. In order to communicate the event SAGE/GRACE launched the webpage www.europeanurbanmobility.eu• WP6 WorkshopsFour workshops have been carried out within work package 6. The aim of these workshops have been to mentor emerging European clusters but it has also been an opportunity to communicate the project and to market the SAGE clusters, individually and together. The workshops have been carried out in:Abruzzo, ItalyGalicia, SpainMuntenia, RomaniaIstanbul, Turkey • WP7 WorkshopsThree study visits to Asia were carried out within work package seven and at each study visit a workshop was organised together with local stakeholders (D7.2). The workshops had the objective to communicate the SAGE project and the SAGE clusters as well as learn about the Asian clusters and initiate cooperation. The workshops were organised in:Shanghai, ChinaNagoya, JapanDaejeon, Korea List of Websites:www.sage-project.eu
