Europe's transport industry ready for ERA
The future of European transport has been under focus recently as experts have gathered in order to discuss how research can help both the aeronautics and automotive industries. At Aeronautics Days in Hamburg, Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin highlighted the importance of further cooperation in order to keep European industry competitive. 'We must organise research at the European level,' Mr Busquin told CORDIS News. 'Aeronautics research is divided. In each country you have some organisations, and at European level you have the key action, which is a very important key action because it has 700 million euro in the Fifth Framework Programme, but it's better to have open coordination between national programmes and Community programmes,' he continued. At both Aerodays and the recent PREMTECH (advanced propulsion systems and emission reduction technologies) review, presentations were made by representatives from EU Member States. Whilst national delegates were keen to highlight their own achievements, most also made it clear that they recognised the need for further cross border collaboration, and welcomed the proposed ERA (European Research Area) as an effective way of achieving this. 'There is a need for a national programme and a need for a European programme,' said Joachim Szodruch from EADS Airbus at Aerodays. 'At European level, together with other researchers, added value can be created and we can develop ideas further.' Representing Austria's national transport research policy at the PREMTECH meeting, Andreas Dorda, head of unit from the Austrian transport and environment ministry recognised that there are overlaps between national programmes, and was positive about further cooperation in the context of an ERA. 'We believe that there are topics where intense international cooperation has to be followed,' said Mr Dorda. In an interview with CORDIS News, head of unit from the European Commission's inland transport and marine technologies unit Christos Tokamanis outlined why he doesn't foresee any problems in convincing national researchers to cooperate with European colleagues in the ERA. 'European programmes and the ERA would aim in a common direction, whereas national programmes are aimed at maximising national capability. So, putting these together, we can only optimise the resources for a specific objective,' said Mr Tokamanis. 'We understand each other's objectives,' continued Mr Tokamanis. He added that the Commission knows that national objectives are not all identical as they address different parts of the project. At European level, researchers 'can integrate technologies which can be produced in different Member States at different parts of the supply chain'. As the Commission has indicated that there is likely to be a focus on larger projects in the Sixth Framework programme, aeronautics appears assured of receiving much support in the next few years. Asked whether the focus on larger projects will damage automotive research, Mr Tokamanis pointed out that the PREMTECH network is itself a large project. He added however that there has been some confusion over the definition of a large project. 'The definition of a large project is not only one single entity with millions of euro, but a lot of projects around a common objective. So, the implementation of large projects takes a lot of definitions into account and it can be used in different ways, depending on the industry, depending on the future product one wishes to develop.' Nor does Mr Tokamanis view the creation of a high level group who were responsible for writing 'European Aeronautics: A Vision for 2020' as giving aeronautics an advantage over the automotive industry. 'I don't think that there is a need for a high level group, simply because at the moment, as we are, we are catering for the automotive industry, for maritime industry, for the rail industry. The advisory group that we have is sufficient really. It advises on future activities. Up until now, they have given us a very good assessment of the current work that we're funding,' he said.