EU project assesses how to get the 'best' out of benchmarking
Benchmarking - a tool that looks outward to find best practice and high performance in order to make improvements to a product or a process - is already a well established and highly respected practice in the private transport sector. In last decade, public authorities have also started to assess its value. In recognition of this untapped potential, the European Commission has funded a project aimed at exploring how benchmarking can be used to support and improve policymaking in transport at EU and national levels. Funded under the competitive and sustainable growth programme (GROWTH) of the Fifth Framework Programme (FP5), the recently completed BEST (benchmarking European sustainable transport) project brought together partners from five Member States, as well as Poland and Norway. Lucy Gordon, coordinator of BEST, told CORDIS News. 'While the BEST project should not be seen in isolation; building as it does on the accomplishments of previously EU funded benchmarking transport pilot benchmarking projects, it is to date the first attempt by the Commission to create a comprehensive transport benchmarking network at EU level.' After three years of intense work, the network has brought together more than 300 participants, namely transport experts, transport policy makers and other stakeholders to exchange knowledge and experience about benchmarking in both transport and non-transport sectors. The network was structured around a series of six conferences focusing on different aspects of benchmarking, such as identifying indicators and the principles of benchmarking. The core participants of the network conferences were representatives of the ministries of transport from the Member States and accession countries. As Ms Gordon explained, their role was crucial to the success of the project: 'By inviting national transport ministry representatives to our conferences, we encouraged them to learn about alternative benchmarking techniques and bring these ideas back with them to their respective public authorities and private operators. In a way, we sought to turn these representatives into 'ambassadors of benchmarking.' The findings of BEST conferences were also fed into another 'sister' transport research project, Benchmarking of Benchmarking (BOB), which was carried out in parallel to BEST. The results of BOB were then relayed back into the conferences for further discussion as they arose. 'The aim of the pilots was to act as a 'laboratory' to test in practice the recommendations produced by BEST, to assess the benefits of benchmarking in the transport sector, and to evaluate its contribution to achieving and informing transport policy objectives,' said Ms Gordon. 'While BEST has produced many results, some of the most valuable - such as the learning and exchange of expertise that have taken place - are intangible and more time is needed to apply and integrate the lessons learnt. These projects are only the beginning of a long process,' said Ms Gordon, noting, 'the most resounding message from the participants in the network has been that the Commission should act as a catalyst by facilitating a framework to keep the network together and by promoting the application of benchmarking, not necessarily financially, but through political and 'moral' support.' 'However, as yet, no follow-up activities to the network have been planned by the Commission,' explained Ms Gordon. 'Once our final reports have been approved by the Commission, they will be made available on the project website and disseminated via CORDIS,' she added.
Kraje
Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland