Forging a stronger link between research and policy-making in transport An interview with Umberto Scapagnini, MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy published in the European Commission's "Transport Advance" newsletter, produced by the EXTRA project of the EU's TRANSPORT research prog... An interview with Umberto Scapagnini, MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy published in the European Commission's "Transport Advance" newsletter, produced by the EXTRA project of the EU's TRANSPORT research programme, reveals his opinions on transport research within the context of the EU's Framework Programmes. Mr Scapagnini summarises the main challenges, as he sees them, for RTD in the next century and stresses in particular the need to strengthen the link between RTD and policy, thereby providing policy-makers with the tools to make the right decisions for transport policy development. He also underlines the problems of congestion and environmental pollution as one of the main challenges to be faced and expects the issue of sustainable mobility to become increasingly important. On the effectiveness of research activities, four main elements are outlined, which Mr Scapagnini views as crucial to ensure the competitiveness and effectiveness of transport research: - Dissemination of information; - Effective linkages with other EU actions such as the PHARE programme and the Structural Funds; - Coordination amongst all the various branches of the Framework Programme to ensure no overlap between the programmes themselves, and between them and the national research actions; - The overall approach should be oriented to problem solving. On the adoption of the upcoming Fifth RTD Framework Programme, Mr Scapagnini considers that the Parliament's budgetary position is reasonable in the light of the ambitious programme, and reaffirms the Parliament's commitment to ensuring that the money is properly spent and that the benefits of research are applied equally.
