Speech by Neil Kinnock, to the Industrial Research and Development Advisory committee of the European Commission - "The role of research in transport policy" - Brussels, 24 October 1996 - Part 2

Research on mobility obviously does not merely require the development of new technologies or investigation of a subject which is perceived by an individual scientist to be interesting - although we should be flexible enough to allow for such cases. Research without serendipity is, after all, like football without deflected shots. But unavoidably and justifiably - especially when taxpayers' money is being used - research should relate directly to the changing requirements of industry and people. It should therefore have a very clear link to the development of today's and tomorrow's policies and actions. It should, in the best sense, be pragmatic.

There is certainly a long and wider agenda to be addressed with such an approach. Parts of some transport systems - notably in the road sector, for instance - are approaching, or have reached, the limits of their capacity.

• Traffic and transport is the largest consumer of non-renewable energy in the EU and, unlike industrial and domestic uses, its level of consumption is steadily rising both in absolute and in relative terms;
• According to a number of convergent estimates, traffic volumes are forecast to double in the next twenty five years;
• every day of the year there is 4000 km of congestion on the Union's motorways;
• it is estimated that traffic congestion costs the combined economy of the 15 Member States 120 Becu per year. If that, and the other external costs of transport and traffic - like accidents and pollution - are taken into account then an amount equivalent to 250 Becu per year, 4% of the Union's GDP, is being used up for completely negative purposes.

We cannot rationally continue to accept a situation in which huge resources are being invested in achieving just-in-time production and delivery only for the end product to sit in a traffic jam for hours nullifying the efforts which have been made to speed up and fine-tune the industrial production and distribution process. Transport cannot continue to be the weak link in the logistics chain. And whilst transport cannot be environmentally neutral either, its impositions on society and on the environment can and must surely be continually restrained or reduced.

But the question is how do we achieve the necessary changes? Member States are either not willing or not able to invest in traditional physical infrastructure in the same way as they have in the past. Some radical rethinking of policies and practices is required - and in that there is a clear and essential role for well planned and cogent research.

For that reason all of the recent policy initiatives that I have tried to promote - on the Trans European Transport Networks, the Green Papers on the Citizen's Network and on Fair and Efficient Pricing, and the White Papers on the Railways and on Maritime Strategy, for instance - have emphasised the valuable contribution of research and have sought to build upon the research being carried out in the relevant areas.

My conviction that effective research must offer some of the essential answers to the emerging crises of congestion, pollution and energy use, and to the intensifying demands for safety and for competitiveness is also the reason for the creation of a new Directorate which is responsible for both the development of transport policy and research and development in the Directorate General for Transport, DG VII.

Research into sustainable mobility does not, of course, only serve the interests of the Union's Common Transport Policy, it also offers valuable support to other vital community objectives such as cohesion, effective social, environmental and energy policies, employment, innovation and industrial competitiveness.

That integrative approach is, I believe, consistent with your observation that the Fifth R&D Framework Programme must recognise and promote complementarity between the different policies of the European Union.

A striking example of this interface is the way in which we have sought to take full advantage of the possibilities offered through a combination of the policies on the Trans European Transport Network and on transport research and development.

The Trans European Network policy applies to basic transport infrastructure such as roads, railways and ports as well as to navigation and management systems for all modes. We also aim at using transport resources more effectively and in a way that minimises adverse effects on the environment.

Network and R&D policies, developed together, should enable us to be much more effective in applying in the real world the innovations developed in the laboratory or on the test site. For example, they should permit the deployment of telematic tools which will facilitate:

• better use of existing infrastructure;
• the more effective management of traffic and of the demand for mobility;
• the promotion of greater efficiency and use of public transport;
• the prevention or mitigation of congestion;
• the reduction of energy consumption;
• and the maintenance of higher levels of safety, even when traffic is dense or fast, or moving through bad weather at sea, in the air or on land.

I am pleased to say, therefore, that we have already started to provide financial assistance for telematics deployment on the TEN and will continue to do so.

In areas as diverse as traffic management by satellite (a topic which is closely connected to the work of your sub group on the subject), harmonised railway train management or compatible telematic systems to manage road traffic (including road pricing technologies), the European Union can equip itself with intelligent transport systems if it has the political will to do so.

Partly for that reason of strengthening political commitment and partly because it has merit in itself, we will also seek to secure the more effective and active involvement in the research and development efforts of industries, customers, operators, equipment manufacturers, suppliers, and the appropriate infrastructure owners. That can have two clear benefits. First, both the private sector and other interested parties will be able to ensure that the Union's research priorities reflect true needs and requirements and, second, we will be more able to avoid giving birth to "white elephants".

At a Community level, therefore, the Commission will work to ensure that any high technology developments are related to user demand, are accepted by the users, are capable of being integrated into the transport system and, consequently, are likely to have a reasonable chance of commercial success.

I hope you will agree that this is the correct way to proceed. It certainly seems clear to me that the best way to maximise the possibility of industrial investment is to ensure that research is linked to user needs and policy solutions.

That approach, I believe, must be a guiding principle of the preparations for any future mobility research efforts and, in particular, the Fifth Framework programme. The hearings that we held in June at which all interested parties were represented were a valuable input into those preparations and a number of the ideas that emerged were included in our first contribution to my fellow Commissioner Edith Cresson and to DG XII who are preparing the overall Framework Programme.

Before concluding I'd like to comment briefly on two other points that were raised in your Opinion - the issue of globalisation and the approach to dissemination of results.

With the greater worldwide integration of economic activities, the completion of the Single Market and the strong growth of demand for trans- european mobility, research obviously needs to be increasingly applicable across national borders within the current Union and beyond it to the East and the South.

That clearly means that emphasis will have to be put on transport interconnection and on active cooperation with both the Central and Eastern European Countries and Euro-Mediterranean partner countries. In addition - and for reasons which are obvious to this audience - European researchers must increasingly cooperate on key strategic issues with advanced third countries such as the USA, Canada and Japan.

For its part, the Commission is already taking action through the work of the joint EU-US New Transatlantic Agenda Task Force. In our contacts with Washington we have proposed intermodality, air traffic management and maritime safety as three areas of transport research in which we would like to see intensified cooperation. A favourable reaction is likely from the US and, after receiving that, we would like to extend the cooperation to cover strategic research.

In all of these activities we want, of course, to ensure mutuality of effort and reward and not a seepage of know-how in one direction across the Atlantic. The case made on that issue in your Opinion is, I think, very sound and not in any sense "nationalistic" or Eurocentric.