Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TRA2024 (Transport Research Arena 2024: Dublin)
Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2024-10-31
In 2024, the Transport Research Arena (TRA) conference took place in Dublin, Ireland from Monday 15 to Thursday 18 of April. TRA is the foremost European transport event that covers all transport modes and all aspects of mobility. TRA offers a great venue for researchers, policymakers, and industry representatives to get together and contribute to the discussion on how research and innovation can reshape the transport and mobility system. The conference provides a unique opportunity to hear about mobility trends in different parts of Europe, learn from achievements in industry as well as share best practices of policies and deployments.
The overall objective of this Coordination and Support Action (CSA) project was to facilitate and ensure the high-quality organization of TRA2024. This effort is significant for European transport research, as it seeks to engage stakeholders, policymakers, researchers, and the public to address genuine societal needs with practical solutions. The CSA partners worked with key stakeholders to ensure that the conference themes supported European policies. Moreover, the project had the full support of the Irish Minister for Transport and the relevant Irish agencies.
The TRA2024 conference addressed further societal needs, particularly around diversity in the transport sector, and engaged with under-represented groups, ensuring that the research reflects the diverse needs of society. The partners worked together to deliver a conference that builds on the success of previous TRA conferences. The CSA sought to provide a forum that allowed the key actors in the transport sector to come together and develop solutions for society’s needs. The TRA2024 project did not generate new results or products as other Horizon Europe projects do, it instead delivered a productive environment in which key actors in Europe’s vast transport sector met. This will lead to improved connections between stakeholders and enhanced visibility for Europe’s transport policies.
The conference connected industrial partners with researchers and facilitated the exploitation of research, while also featuring a high-quality communications programme that engaged the general public. There is a strong social demand for novel ways to reduce the environmental impact of our transport sector, and TRA2024 highlighted how Europe is responding to this. Finally, the TRA VISIONS competitions showcased the best of European transport research and hopefully incentivised future transport innovators.
The overall objective of this Coordination and Support Action (CSA) project was to facilitate and ensure the high-quality organization of TRA2024. This effort is significant for European transport research, as it seeks to engage stakeholders, policymakers, researchers, and the public to address genuine societal needs with practical solutions. The CSA partners worked with key stakeholders to ensure that the conference themes supported European policies. Moreover, the project had the full support of the Irish Minister for Transport and the relevant Irish agencies.
The TRA2024 conference addressed further societal needs, particularly around diversity in the transport sector, and engaged with under-represented groups, ensuring that the research reflects the diverse needs of society. The partners worked together to deliver a conference that builds on the success of previous TRA conferences. The CSA sought to provide a forum that allowed the key actors in the transport sector to come together and develop solutions for society’s needs. The TRA2024 project did not generate new results or products as other Horizon Europe projects do, it instead delivered a productive environment in which key actors in Europe’s vast transport sector met. This will lead to improved connections between stakeholders and enhanced visibility for Europe’s transport policies.
The conference connected industrial partners with researchers and facilitated the exploitation of research, while also featuring a high-quality communications programme that engaged the general public. There is a strong social demand for novel ways to reduce the environmental impact of our transport sector, and TRA2024 highlighted how Europe is responding to this. Finally, the TRA VISIONS competitions showcased the best of European transport research and hopefully incentivised future transport innovators.
The TRA2024 conference focused on four overarching themes and their respective sub-themes, aiming to address the evolving challenges in the European transport sector. The first theme, "Safe & Inclusive Transport," emphasizes the importance of social engagement and user-centric policies in navigating the green and digital transitions. Papers were invited to explore areas such as transport safety, future workforce and skills, people-centered and inclusive transport, and transport policy. The second theme, "Sustainable Mobility of People and Goods," targets the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact, with a call for research on urban, regional, and rural transport, zero-emissions transport, health and environmental impact, and logistics and sustainable transport. The third theme, "Efficient & Resilient Systems," highlights the need for resilient infrastructure and operations to withstand disruptions, aligning with green and digital transitions. Areas of interest include resilient infrastructure, networks and operations, circular economy, and transport energy transition. The fourth theme, "Collaborative Digitalisation," recognizes digitalization as a key driver of change, requiring efficient connectivity and data sharing. Sub-themes include digital transition, transport data sharing, connected and automated mobility, and digital transport infrastructure. Overall, the conference aimed to foster multi-disciplinary discussions on these themes to address challenges and opportunities in the transport sector. More than 1150 abstracts were received and over 900 scientific papers were submitted by the international research community. The accepted papers were distributed in more than 100 scientific and technical parallel sessions. The conference themes were also addressed via the plenary and strategic sessions, the ministerial host sessions and round tables, and special, industry, school outreach, and EC lunchtime sessions, as well as demonstrations, technical tours, and exhibitions.
The CSA TRA2024 helped in the delivery of a successful TRA conference, meeting the expected outcomes and contributing to addressing the long-term impacts required under Destination 5: Clean and competitive solutions for all transport modes.
Some expected outcomes under the work programme topic are:
-Increase the visibility, political and strategic relevance of the transport sector and the EU policy in the field.
-Enhanced dissemination, communication, and valorisation of transport R&I objectives, perspectives, strategies, and results.
-More effective links and exchanges between research and innovation stakeholders and policymakers, to support the development, deployment, and exploitation of innovative solutions in Europe.
-Increase the attractiveness of transport-related studies and reinforce the pursuit of excellence in European transport research and innovation, by giving recognition and visibility to the best achievements.
-Encourage the participation of women and other underrepresented groups in the transport sector.
Some expected outcomes under the work programme topic are:
-Increase the visibility, political and strategic relevance of the transport sector and the EU policy in the field.
-Enhanced dissemination, communication, and valorisation of transport R&I objectives, perspectives, strategies, and results.
-More effective links and exchanges between research and innovation stakeholders and policymakers, to support the development, deployment, and exploitation of innovative solutions in Europe.
-Increase the attractiveness of transport-related studies and reinforce the pursuit of excellence in European transport research and innovation, by giving recognition and visibility to the best achievements.
-Encourage the participation of women and other underrepresented groups in the transport sector.