During the project kick-off meeting all details of the project execution were discussed and agreed on among the participants, following the description of work. The project work started immediately, as planned, and numerous technical and operative project meetings and workshops were executed. The second General Assembly was held in April 2018 and to foster a smooth and continuous flow of information among all project partners, quarterly jour fixe meetings were established.
The work in WP1 focused on the investigation of the progress and success of previous and ongoing road transport research projects with the aim to identify best-practice guidelines and to support ERTRAC and EGVI in the elaboration and definition of short- and long-term future research needs. WP2 focused on the analysis of funding approaches and opportunities for road transport research outside of Europe. Sustainable transport solutions were promoted in partner cities and cooperations with about 20 cities could be initiated, most of them in Europe, Asia and Latin America. In WP3 a communication structure and dissemination strategy were established. A close link to EURACTIVE as news platform was established, as well, to consolidate the dissemination towards European decision and policy makers, Member States representatives, the European Commission and the European Parliament. ERTRAC and EGVI dissemination activities were supported throughout the whole period.
The project work in the second reporting period continued smoothly based on an excellent co-operation of all partners involved. Numerous technical/operative projects meetings and workshops were executed. On overall project and consortium level, the third General Assembly was held in April 2019 in Brussels.
WP1 continued with the investigation of the progress and success of previous and ongoing road transport research projects regarding best practice guide-lines as well as the support of ERTRAC and EGVIA in the elaboration and definition of short- and long-term future research needs. These investigations were supported with a series of thematic workshops which will be described in more detail below. Further, the identification of potentially new research centres of excellence in areas where leading edge research is needed for the advancement of road mobility was carried out.
Within WP2 a comparative study on research support and funding in some exemplary member states was done as well on such research support mechanisms outside of Europe as investigated during the first reporting period. WP2 continued also aiming at the support of the development of sustainable transport solutions in cities as already initiated in the previous reporting period.
WP3 further focused on the communication and dissemination of the project results and ERTRAC and EGVI contents. The link already established to the EURACTIVE platform was used for the dissemination towards European decision makers, representatives of the Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament.
To demonstrate the importance and the impact of RTD activities under the ERTRAC roof, success stories of EC-funded research projects were identified and compiled.
During the final reporting period of the FUTURE-RADAR CSA the project work continued, even though influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic, on the basis of the excellent cooperation between all involved project partners.
Although web-meetings and telephone conferences were already used for the project work before, there was an increase of these meetings in 2020. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, some activities could not be carried out as initially planned during the last year. Particularly two physical workshops were affected: one on Circular Economy and one on Additive Manufacturing. Whereas the former could finally be executed as a web-based event in early 2020, the latter one had to be cancelled and will most likely be part of the FUTURE-RADAR follow-up action FUTURE-HORIZON. Furthermore, it was initially planned to visit some of the top candidates for centres of excellence for highly relevant research fields personally to discuss their potential contribution to the identification of future research needs. These visits could, unfortunately, not be performed.
One of the major events supported by FUTURE-RADAR, the TRA 2020, has to be cancelled by the organizers early in the year. FUTURE-RADAR partners, however, were involved in organizational meetings up until the cancellation of the physical event. Part of the TRA 2020 was ultimately hosted online.
