CIVITAS ELEVATE - CIVITAS 2020 Coordination and Support Action

Project Information

CIVITAS ELEVATE

Grant agreement ID: 824228

DOI

10.3030/824228

Project closed

EC signature date 22 November 2018

Start date 1 April 2019

End date 30 April 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 2 994 375,00

EU contribution

€ 2 994 375,00

Coordinated by

MOBIEL 21 VZW
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - CIVITAS ELEVATE (CIVITAS ELEVATE - CIVITAS 2020 Coordination and Support Action)

Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2023-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

CIVITAS ELEVATE was the Coordination and Support Action for CIVITAS 2020, and as such, it supported CIVITAS Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs), CIVITAS Innovation Actions (IAs), and the existing CIVINETs. The project, which was funded via Horizon 2020, started on 01 April 2019 and concluded on 30 April 2023.
The concept of the project rested on a simple assumption: For more than 15 years, CIVITAS has served as a critical hub for knowledge and experience on sustainable urban mobility measures, both practical and policy-related, that has been continuously made available to Europe’s urban areas. All previous, present and future CIVITAS projects tend to have their own dynamics, cooperation, evaluation, and dissemination structures. CIVITAS ELEVATE’s aim was to offer overarching coordination and support for all projects. Therefore, CIVITAS ELEVATE successfully expanded the CIVITAS support activities with a dedicated offer to the CIVITAS Research and Innovation Actions, the CIVITAS Innovation Actions, and the existing CIVINETs, and increased the Europe-wide impact of these projects on urban mobility policy making and thereby advancing the CIVITAS Community to a higher level of knowledge, exchange, impact and sustainability, while guaranteeing essential high-quality support. Summarised, it can be said that CIVITAS ELEVATE successfully engaged the CIVITAS Community, and beyond, which gathers actors united in their desire for sustainable and smart urban mobility.

CIVITAS ELEVATE’s overall objectives were:
1. Developing the CIVITAS knowledge base and transferring new knowledge
2. Enriching the current CIVITAS generation and feeding future EU initiatives and CIVITAS-type actions
3. Building a European mobility community able to navigate transition, and
4. Representing CIVITAS on the international stage

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

CIVITAS ELEVATE’s work started with a start-up phase from M1-M9. Although the proposal phase allowed for a good investigation of current facts and dynamics, the consortium felt that the innovative nature of CIVITAS ELEVATE’s activities require a systematic review of the state of affairs. This analysis provided a comprehensive reference picture and essential information on the priority needs for each of these topics and allowed the project to prepare the ground so as to be the springboard for the execution of the entire work programme. The work programme swinged into action through CIVITAS ELEVATE’s take-up phase, spanning from M10 to M42 for WPs 3, 4 and 6, and from M10 to M49 for WP2 and WP5. The main aim of WP2 - Secretariat, Engagement and Involvement was to create valuable opportunity for networking, engagement and cooperation between the different groups and communities of CIVITAS, further urban mobility stakeholders in Europe and beyond, as well as the CIVINETs and the CIVITAS Policy Advisory Committee (PAC). A dedicated CIVINET Activity Fund alongside ‘incubating’ new and innovative ways to further exploit knowledge, needs and tools that were available through CIVITAS constitutes the core activities of WP3 - CIVITAS Incubator and CIVINETs. The headline objective of WP4 - Capacity Building was to enhance personal capacities of current and future transport professionals, thereby (significantly) increasing the quality of current professional capacity building offers. WP5 - High Impact Outreach created and maintained a comprehensive communication and dissemination framework that enabled the (R)IA and CIVITAS 2020 projects as well as CIVINETs to portray their work with maximum impact. WP6 - Evaluation and Advancing Knowledge harmonised evaluation activities, based on the common CIVITAS Process and Impact Evaluation Framework, and provided guidance and support to the stakeholders involved in the (R)IA projects and from across CIVITAS 2020. The aim was to enhance the knowledge that the CIVITAS initiative has generated to improve urban mobility policy making and planning. One of CIVITAS ELEVATE's key strengths was that it enabled proactive collaboration among all involved stakeholders by sharing timely and valuable information, experiences, advice and knowledge. Learning from each other also means changing the scale of provision. Therefore, CIVITAS ELEVATE concluded with a scale-up phase from M43 to M49: WP7 - Scale-up and Form Syntheses. The activities within this WP provided tangible ideas and resources to develop and implement upscaling plans, grant insight into the realities and challenges stakeholders encounter and provide business cases for capacity building and supporting self-sustaining CIVINETs.

Deliverable D7.6 Exploitation Strategy identified the following most exploitable results:
1. Annual PAC Statements
2. CIVITAS Forum Network directory
3. Liaison and Steward System
4. Tools for self-supportive mobility interventions: a handbook
5. Four Urban Mobility Incubation Workshops
6. Summer courses, trainings and e-courses
7. A guide to the educational network in Europe
8. Fresh Brains: review report
9. CIVITAS Catalogue on Education in Urban Mobility
10. CIVITAS Success Story booklets
11. (R)IA Results Publications
12. Review and evaluation of the latest CIVITAS achievements
13. Three SUMP Topic Guides
14. CIVITAS Evaluation Framework
15. CIVITAS Replication Pack
16. CIVINET Activity Fund: summary report
17. CIVINext Toolkit’ to ensure CIVINET networks’ long-term viability
18. Business cases for capacity building
19. Recommendations for better urban policymaking

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

CIVITAS ELEVATE expanded the CIVITAS support activities with a dedicated offer to the current and forthcoming CIVITAS 2020 Innovation Actions (IA), the Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and the CIVINETs. Therefore, the mission of CIVITAS ELEVATE was to increase the Europe-wide impact of the CIVITAS (R)IA’s on urban mobility policy making and thereby advancing the CIVITAS community to a higher level of knowledge, exchange, impact and sustainability, while guaranteeing essential high-quality support.
By the end of work, CIVITAS ELEVATE
1. Promoted the take up of innovation that leads to more effective and efficient transition of urban mobility systems by strengthening the mechanisms for urban mobility policy making and planning
2. Provided capacity building, engaging, partnering and communication and dissemination actions aiming at a maximum impacts and reach of target audiences
3. Developed a knowledge-base, technical capacity, harmonised evaluation activities, and support for up-scaling and knowledge transfer available to cities and other interested parties
4. Received clear commitments and contribution from the action's participants to Europe-wide take up
5. Ensured both continuation of CIVITAS support activities and also support for future CIVITAS-type actions
6. Continued the CIVITAS Secretariat
In terms of innovation, and although being a CSA, ELEVATE succeeded in developing new methods and services, which are further exploited. For example, the Educational Network, the Mobility Powered By Youth approach, the Evaluation Framework, and also the support of the national CIVITAS networks (CIVINETs).

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