Final Report Summary - INFRAVATION (ERA-NET Plus on Infrastructure Innovation)
Executive Summary:
Transport ministries across Europe (and globally) are facing ever tougher challenges to cope with the need to accommodate increased traffic growth, minimise congestion and maintain services in the face of increasing climate change effects, as well as deliver on environmental and societal objectives. In the current economic climate, this is the time when innovation for road infrastructure is an absolute imperative, to reduce costs without compromising on quality.
Many innovative technologies are under development in laboratories around the world. Sometimes claims are made about how these technologies can bring about enormous benefits. In other cases, the possible consequences for road construction and maintenance have not been assessed. Admittedly, it is difficult to fully assess the possible impacts of really innovative techniques. Infravation supported developments and encouraged the examination of all emerging technologies on the road to implementation.
In order to deliver the full benefits of research and development activities carried out in the transport infrastructure sectors, Infravation brought together funding from the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, USA and the EU into one common transnational Call framework, in order to fund joint research projects.
The ERA-NET Plus Infravation 2014 Call was carried out as a pooled research fund to develop transport infrastructure innovations which address the challenges identified in the European Commission’s White Paper on Transport: Smart, Green and Integrated transport. Its objective was to enable a high quality infrastructure offering high service levels to the user/economy/society through solutions for both new and existing infrastructure.
Within the framework of this initiative, nine international consortia received funding for innovation projects in the area of transportation infrastructure carried out by between September 2015 and April 2018. Demonstration events formed an important element of all of the funded projects with the goal of gearing up the innovations for wider implementation.
Project Context and Objectives:
The idea for the Infravation programme emerged from the realisation that Europe needs to redefine its transport system for the 21st Century. Transport Ministries are faced with ever more stringent budget pressures following the Global economic crash to maintain and replace an ageing infrastructure asset. As the challenges faced are common across Europe it is only logical to address some of these challenges and related necessary acceleration of innovations at a transnational level.
To deliver this, the ERA-NET Plus action on infrastructure innovation – Infravation – was launched in March 2014, following an extensive preliminary stage to scope the key areas of concern. Infravation comprised funding from national road authorities of 10 European countries, the EC and for the first time, the USA, with a total amount of research funding of €9.5 million. Additional in-kind funding was provided by the involved national road authorities for all additionally spent efforts and costs including project management.
The Infravation common pot merged national and EC top-up funding enabling a coordinated, common governance structure for the R&D projects funded. This ensured the best expertise to be used, regardless of nationality and thereby minimising programme management, allowing the maximum use of resources for transnational research cooperation.
Infravation launched a call for proposals that had to address the following challenges:
A. Advanced predictive infrastructure performance processes
B. Enhanced durability and life-time extension
C. Rapid and non-destructive methods for routine quality and performance checks of materials and construction
D. Keeping freight routes open through zero-intrusive maintenance
E. Ensuring infrastructure performance under all weather conditions
F. Resource and energy efficiency in road construction and maintenance (eco-design)
G. Virgin material reduction by substitution or Recycling
The innovative solutions had to reach a TRL level of 6-7 at the end including a demonstration to proof that the innovative solution worked in practice.
Project Results:
The Infravation call was published on 3 March 2014. A large number of information and dissemination activities have been done centrally as well as on national levels by the Infravation funding providers to maximally advertise the open call. Among others, Infravation held a central Information and Brokerage event for potential proposers on 20 March 2014 in Brussels in order to bring proposers together to exchange ideas and build transnational consortia. The event was organised in close cooperation with ETNA Plus, the Transport National Contact Point network. There was great interest from the research community in the event. Over 120 participants attended representing both industry and research institutes.
Infravation applies a 2-step submission and evaluation approach. By the time of the closure of the call for light proposals on 30 June 2014, over 100 proposals were submitted. The evaluation of the submitted light proposals ended on 30 September 2014. Coordinators of the favourably evaluated light proposals had until the end of November 2014 to prepare and submit their full proposals. A pool of international independent experts on road infrastructure innovation evaluated these proposals between December 2014 and April 2015. This included a joint consensus meeting end of March 2015, where these independent evaluators came together to assess and rank each of the proposals. The final decision on projects selected for funding was taken at the Infravation Steering Group meeting end of April 2015.
After a thorough and strict peer review, finally 9 projects were selected for financing:
AlterPave – Use of end-of-life materials, waste and alternative binders as useful raw materials for pavements construction and rehabilitation
BioRePavation – Innovation in bio-recycling of old asphalt pavements
ECLIPS – Enhancing concrete life in infrastructure through phase-change systems
FASSTbridge – Fast and effective solution for steel bridges life-time extension
HEALROAD – Induction heating of asphalt mixes to increase road durability and reduce maintenance costs and disruptions
SEACON – Sustainable concrete using seawater, salt-contaminated aggregates and non-corrosive reinforcement
SEEBRIDGE – Automated compilation of semantically rich BIM models of bridges
SHAPE – Predicting strength changes in bridges from frequency data safety, hazard and poly-harmonic evaluation
SUREBRIDGE – Sustainable refurbishment of existing bridges
Negotiations with the selected consortia were carried out in the Summer of 2015 leading to the conclusion of grant agreements for all of the nine projects selected for funding. All projects commenced in September/October of 2015. Prior to this, the Infravation Call Management System (CMT) was developed further to include a platform for the monitoring of the progress of the funded projects. The broad majority of the projects had a duration of 30 months and concluded their work between February and April 2018. During this period, the projects were subject to close administrative and scientific & technical monitoring of the work carried out.
In summary, the Infravation tool has proven to be a successful and flexible mechanism and could be replicated with a bigger volume in the future. The Infravation initiative and approach was also favorably evaluated by the ERALEARN initiative [see: https://www.era-learn.eu/support-for-p2ps/alignment/good-practice-case-studies](opens in new window).
With transport potentially not a pillar in FP9 Horizon Europe, there could be significant advantages in undertaking a second round of funding in this area.
Potential Impact:
The results and potential impacts of Infravation are described along the following key objectives:
Improving coordination and reduce overlap in research and innovation in the field of affordable green materials and technologies for reliable road infrastructure:
Infravation has paved the way to a new extent and quality of trans-national cooperation in research funding by applying the real common pot approach that merges national and regional funding contributions and related EC top-up funding into one funding pot. This approach has allowed for a coordinated, common governance structure of the trans-national R&D projects to be funded, independent from individual national funding rules. Moreover, the common funding provisions applied for this Infravation call correspond to the underlying idea that the research results will be accessible for the funding organisations collectively. Thus, they positively contribute to reducing overlap in national research funding by applying integrated trans-national funding cooperation. What is more, for the first time the USA contributed funding to an ERA-NET Plus initiative. Thus, Infravation contributeed to coordination between European and US research and innovation in this field. Finally, this initiative is considered a stepping stone for further, long-term trans-national cooperation and coordination beyond this project.
Achieving critical mass and ensuring better use of limited resources in fields of mutual interest and a significant participation of Member States and Associated States:
In a time of economic crisis, Infravation brought together funding resources from 9 European countries, Israel, the USA and the EC into one funding pot in order to fund joint research projects of mutual interest. The total funding pot available for R&D funding amounted to 9.575 million EUR. The research topics addressed by the Infravation call reflected the needs and mutual interest of Member States for joint research on road infrastructure. In order to ensure best research results and to optimise critical mass, the Infravation consortium decided to open the call also for applicants from non-funding EU27 and FP7 associated countries.
Sharing good practices in implementing research programmes and promoting transnational collaboration and generating new knowledge and Innovation:
Infravation was well embedded in the landscape of road research and the consortium built on the knowledge and lessons learnt from previous and on-going trans-national cooperation initiatives in the field. This concerns ERA-NET ROAD and CEDR – two organisations that represent the trans-national cooperation of national road directorates as well as the Forever Open Road Programme (FEHRL). Additionally, consortium members brought in their experiences from Era-net Transport (ENT) and the ERA-NET Plus Electromobility+. Infravation contributed to sharing and combining the good practices of those initiatives. Thus, Infravation focused on generating new knowledge and experience in trans-national funding cooperation offering the possibility for mutual learning and exchange between Infravation, Era-net Transport and Electromobility+ as well as further initiatives under Horizon 2020.
Mobilising SMEs in transnational projects to enhance Innovation:
Infravation placed a particular emphasis on mobilising SMEs. Initial meetings with industry representatives, indicated that the level of interest from industry needed to be improved and in particular that `traditional infrastructure companies have too much inertia to provide the desired innovations.
List of Websites:
http://www.infravation.net/(opens in new window)
Transport ministries across Europe (and globally) are facing ever tougher challenges to cope with the need to accommodate increased traffic growth, minimise congestion and maintain services in the face of increasing climate change effects, as well as deliver on environmental and societal objectives. In the current economic climate, this is the time when innovation for road infrastructure is an absolute imperative, to reduce costs without compromising on quality.
Many innovative technologies are under development in laboratories around the world. Sometimes claims are made about how these technologies can bring about enormous benefits. In other cases, the possible consequences for road construction and maintenance have not been assessed. Admittedly, it is difficult to fully assess the possible impacts of really innovative techniques. Infravation supported developments and encouraged the examination of all emerging technologies on the road to implementation.
In order to deliver the full benefits of research and development activities carried out in the transport infrastructure sectors, Infravation brought together funding from the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, USA and the EU into one common transnational Call framework, in order to fund joint research projects.
The ERA-NET Plus Infravation 2014 Call was carried out as a pooled research fund to develop transport infrastructure innovations which address the challenges identified in the European Commission’s White Paper on Transport: Smart, Green and Integrated transport. Its objective was to enable a high quality infrastructure offering high service levels to the user/economy/society through solutions for both new and existing infrastructure.
Within the framework of this initiative, nine international consortia received funding for innovation projects in the area of transportation infrastructure carried out by between September 2015 and April 2018. Demonstration events formed an important element of all of the funded projects with the goal of gearing up the innovations for wider implementation.
Project Context and Objectives:
The idea for the Infravation programme emerged from the realisation that Europe needs to redefine its transport system for the 21st Century. Transport Ministries are faced with ever more stringent budget pressures following the Global economic crash to maintain and replace an ageing infrastructure asset. As the challenges faced are common across Europe it is only logical to address some of these challenges and related necessary acceleration of innovations at a transnational level.
To deliver this, the ERA-NET Plus action on infrastructure innovation – Infravation – was launched in March 2014, following an extensive preliminary stage to scope the key areas of concern. Infravation comprised funding from national road authorities of 10 European countries, the EC and for the first time, the USA, with a total amount of research funding of €9.5 million. Additional in-kind funding was provided by the involved national road authorities for all additionally spent efforts and costs including project management.
The Infravation common pot merged national and EC top-up funding enabling a coordinated, common governance structure for the R&D projects funded. This ensured the best expertise to be used, regardless of nationality and thereby minimising programme management, allowing the maximum use of resources for transnational research cooperation.
Infravation launched a call for proposals that had to address the following challenges:
A. Advanced predictive infrastructure performance processes
B. Enhanced durability and life-time extension
C. Rapid and non-destructive methods for routine quality and performance checks of materials and construction
D. Keeping freight routes open through zero-intrusive maintenance
E. Ensuring infrastructure performance under all weather conditions
F. Resource and energy efficiency in road construction and maintenance (eco-design)
G. Virgin material reduction by substitution or Recycling
The innovative solutions had to reach a TRL level of 6-7 at the end including a demonstration to proof that the innovative solution worked in practice.
Project Results:
The Infravation call was published on 3 March 2014. A large number of information and dissemination activities have been done centrally as well as on national levels by the Infravation funding providers to maximally advertise the open call. Among others, Infravation held a central Information and Brokerage event for potential proposers on 20 March 2014 in Brussels in order to bring proposers together to exchange ideas and build transnational consortia. The event was organised in close cooperation with ETNA Plus, the Transport National Contact Point network. There was great interest from the research community in the event. Over 120 participants attended representing both industry and research institutes.
Infravation applies a 2-step submission and evaluation approach. By the time of the closure of the call for light proposals on 30 June 2014, over 100 proposals were submitted. The evaluation of the submitted light proposals ended on 30 September 2014. Coordinators of the favourably evaluated light proposals had until the end of November 2014 to prepare and submit their full proposals. A pool of international independent experts on road infrastructure innovation evaluated these proposals between December 2014 and April 2015. This included a joint consensus meeting end of March 2015, where these independent evaluators came together to assess and rank each of the proposals. The final decision on projects selected for funding was taken at the Infravation Steering Group meeting end of April 2015.
After a thorough and strict peer review, finally 9 projects were selected for financing:
AlterPave – Use of end-of-life materials, waste and alternative binders as useful raw materials for pavements construction and rehabilitation
BioRePavation – Innovation in bio-recycling of old asphalt pavements
ECLIPS – Enhancing concrete life in infrastructure through phase-change systems
FASSTbridge – Fast and effective solution for steel bridges life-time extension
HEALROAD – Induction heating of asphalt mixes to increase road durability and reduce maintenance costs and disruptions
SEACON – Sustainable concrete using seawater, salt-contaminated aggregates and non-corrosive reinforcement
SEEBRIDGE – Automated compilation of semantically rich BIM models of bridges
SHAPE – Predicting strength changes in bridges from frequency data safety, hazard and poly-harmonic evaluation
SUREBRIDGE – Sustainable refurbishment of existing bridges
Negotiations with the selected consortia were carried out in the Summer of 2015 leading to the conclusion of grant agreements for all of the nine projects selected for funding. All projects commenced in September/October of 2015. Prior to this, the Infravation Call Management System (CMT) was developed further to include a platform for the monitoring of the progress of the funded projects. The broad majority of the projects had a duration of 30 months and concluded their work between February and April 2018. During this period, the projects were subject to close administrative and scientific & technical monitoring of the work carried out.
In summary, the Infravation tool has proven to be a successful and flexible mechanism and could be replicated with a bigger volume in the future. The Infravation initiative and approach was also favorably evaluated by the ERALEARN initiative [see: https://www.era-learn.eu/support-for-p2ps/alignment/good-practice-case-studies](opens in new window).
With transport potentially not a pillar in FP9 Horizon Europe, there could be significant advantages in undertaking a second round of funding in this area.
Potential Impact:
The results and potential impacts of Infravation are described along the following key objectives:
Improving coordination and reduce overlap in research and innovation in the field of affordable green materials and technologies for reliable road infrastructure:
Infravation has paved the way to a new extent and quality of trans-national cooperation in research funding by applying the real common pot approach that merges national and regional funding contributions and related EC top-up funding into one funding pot. This approach has allowed for a coordinated, common governance structure of the trans-national R&D projects to be funded, independent from individual national funding rules. Moreover, the common funding provisions applied for this Infravation call correspond to the underlying idea that the research results will be accessible for the funding organisations collectively. Thus, they positively contribute to reducing overlap in national research funding by applying integrated trans-national funding cooperation. What is more, for the first time the USA contributed funding to an ERA-NET Plus initiative. Thus, Infravation contributeed to coordination between European and US research and innovation in this field. Finally, this initiative is considered a stepping stone for further, long-term trans-national cooperation and coordination beyond this project.
Achieving critical mass and ensuring better use of limited resources in fields of mutual interest and a significant participation of Member States and Associated States:
In a time of economic crisis, Infravation brought together funding resources from 9 European countries, Israel, the USA and the EC into one funding pot in order to fund joint research projects of mutual interest. The total funding pot available for R&D funding amounted to 9.575 million EUR. The research topics addressed by the Infravation call reflected the needs and mutual interest of Member States for joint research on road infrastructure. In order to ensure best research results and to optimise critical mass, the Infravation consortium decided to open the call also for applicants from non-funding EU27 and FP7 associated countries.
Sharing good practices in implementing research programmes and promoting transnational collaboration and generating new knowledge and Innovation:
Infravation was well embedded in the landscape of road research and the consortium built on the knowledge and lessons learnt from previous and on-going trans-national cooperation initiatives in the field. This concerns ERA-NET ROAD and CEDR – two organisations that represent the trans-national cooperation of national road directorates as well as the Forever Open Road Programme (FEHRL). Additionally, consortium members brought in their experiences from Era-net Transport (ENT) and the ERA-NET Plus Electromobility+. Infravation contributed to sharing and combining the good practices of those initiatives. Thus, Infravation focused on generating new knowledge and experience in trans-national funding cooperation offering the possibility for mutual learning and exchange between Infravation, Era-net Transport and Electromobility+ as well as further initiatives under Horizon 2020.
Mobilising SMEs in transnational projects to enhance Innovation:
Infravation placed a particular emphasis on mobilising SMEs. Initial meetings with industry representatives, indicated that the level of interest from industry needed to be improved and in particular that `traditional infrastructure companies have too much inertia to provide the desired innovations.
List of Websites:
http://www.infravation.net/(opens in new window)