EAG gives first opinion on key action for transport
The External Advisory Group (EAG) has found that the key action "Sustainable mobility and intermodality" under the Sustainable and Competitive Growth Programme of the Fifth Framework Programme is sufficiently ambitious to enable the building of a vision for the long-term future of transport. This was its first opinion on the key action. However, implementing the vision of sustainable mobility relies on a step by step approach and the key action's success will crucially depend on the formulation of specific research and development tasks for each call for proposal, according to EAG. The multidisciplinary approach of the key action is innovative for research programmes in the field of transport and corresponds to the new philosophy of the Fifth Framework Programme, says EAG. The key action has a strong emphasis on solving problems, which require a mix of hardware and software solutions. Although the presentation of some problems at an abstract level is unavoidable due to the key action's policy-oriented nature and its European scale, this level of abstraction should be kept to minimum. EAG also believes that, because of the key action's problem-solving character, the exploitation of research results should be assured. It is imperative that the calls of proposals and the resulting projects, where appropriate, are consistent with EU transport policy so that they can form the basis of effective policies, recommends EAG.