Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EN-UAC (Urban Accessibility and Connectivity)
Período documentado: 2021-04-01 hasta 2025-05-31
EN-UAC pooled resources from 22 research and innovation funding organizations of 16 countries to implement joint actions in the area of urban mobility, accessibility and connectivity. EN-UAC created and consolidated a transnational innovation ecosystem for inter- and transdisciplinary research and innovation and enhanced science-policy cooperation to drive transitions towards such sustainable, inclusive models for urban accessibility and connectivity. This was achieved by the following specific objectives:
•SO1: implementation of a series of joint calls for research and innovation projects that address city authorities’ needs, ensure stakeholder involvement and ensure that funded projects are embedded into the wider JPI Urban Europe portfolio of projects;
•SO2: selection and adaption of the call instruments to support research-driven as well as challenge-driven/innovation approaches, offering cities, municipalities, mobility, transport and logistic service providers and all urban stakeholders opportunities to experiment and co-create the approaches and solutions;
•SO3: monitoring and interaction between funded projects in terms of individual project progress and mechanisms to embed the projects into the wider JPI Urban Europe programme;
•SO4: facilitating a wider communication, dissemination and exploitation of results towards policy makers, urban practitioners and citizens to enhance impact of projects and EN-UAC activities in Europe and beyond;
•SO5: developing cooperation between JPI Urban Europe/EN-UAC actions and other EC funded actions like CIVITAS initiatives and ELTIS database;
•SO6: establishing a community of research and practice to build capacities for transitions towards sustainable urban mobility, accessibility and connectivity and integrate other H2020, national and, if possible, international projects into this community, taking advantage of the existing JPI Urban Europe programme management and stakeholder involvement platform (AGORA);
EN-UAC leads to the funding of 15 projects from the EN-UAC call, 8 project from the Sino European call, 4 projects from the Innovation call and a knowledge hub. Dissemination activities were organized to promote the result of the projects, such as project catalogues, project result catalogues. The dissemination of the results to stakeholders was also organized through urban lunch talks and 3 Agora dialogues.
•SO1: implementation of a series of joint calls for research and innovation projects that address city authorities’ needs, ensure stakeholder involvement and ensure that funded projects are embedded into the wider JPI Urban Europe portfolio of projects;
•SO2: selection and adaption of the call instruments to support research-driven as well as challenge-driven/innovation approaches, offering cities, municipalities, mobility, transport and logistic service providers and all urban stakeholders opportunities to experiment and co-create the approaches and solutions;
•SO3: monitoring and interaction between funded projects in terms of individual project progress and mechanisms to embed the projects into the wider JPI Urban Europe programme;
•SO4: facilitating a wider communication, dissemination and exploitation of results towards policy makers, urban practitioners and citizens to enhance impact of projects and EN-UAC activities in Europe and beyond;
•SO5: developing cooperation between JPI Urban Europe/EN-UAC actions and other EC funded actions like CIVITAS initiatives and ELTIS database;
•SO6: establishing a community of research and practice to build capacities for transitions towards sustainable urban mobility, accessibility and connectivity and integrate other H2020, national and, if possible, international projects into this community, taking advantage of the existing JPI Urban Europe programme management and stakeholder involvement platform (AGORA);
EN-UAC leads to the funding of 15 projects from the EN-UAC call, 8 project from the Sino European call, 4 projects from the Innovation call and a knowledge hub. Dissemination activities were organized to promote the result of the projects, such as project catalogues, project result catalogues. The dissemination of the results to stakeholders was also organized through urban lunch talks and 3 Agora dialogues.
The activities of the ERA-NET EN-UAC are split into the following seven distinct work packages.
-WP1: Management
ANR managed the coordination of EN-UAC during the whole duration of the program. ANR took in charge the overall planning, financial management, internal communication and communication with the EC…
-Work package 2: Preparation and launch of the co-funded call
The call has been designed according to two entry points, e.g. two submission pathways in order to strengthen challenge-driven research and innovation projects and to give a particular emphasis to inter- and transdisciplinary research and 5 challenges were identified. The development of the call text was done in collaboration with other networks like the ERA-NET Electric Mobility Europe, EIT KIC Urban Mobility, Polis network, Eltis database.
-Work package 3: Evaluation and proposal selection for the co-funded call
The evaluation was done in a 2 stage procedure. The pre and full proposals were evaluated by an independent expert panel. The call covered a large set of type of research and innovation projects, from the basic research to the innovation and even demonstration. The innovation proposals were assessed not only by researchers but by practitioners too, who provide an experience in implementing solutions in cities and in innovation dissemination. Since the transnational funded project at the end involve practitioners, the presence of practitioners representatives in the expert panel of the call was relevant.
-Work package 4: Follow-up and monitoring of projects resulting from the co-funded call
WP4 ensured structured monitoring of the projects funded under the EN-UAC co-funded call, in order to assess progress, facilitate exchange and provide strategic feedback to JPI Urban Europe. Based on the JPI Urban Europe intervention logic, a monitoring framework was developed, including adapted indicators and specific data requirements for all project phases - from call preparation to implementation. Standardised reporting templates and the Online Monitoring System (OMS) were introduced to ensure consistent reporting across all participating projects and funding agencies.
At project level, annual progress, stakeholder engagement, interdisciplinarity and outputs were recorded via an Online Monitoring Tool and summarised in the annual summary reports.
-Work package 5: Communication, exploitation and dissemination of the results
The EN-UAC Communication and Dissemination Strategy is in line with the JPI Urban Europe Communication strategy. The communication activities achieved an efficient communication of results and outcomes from research and strategic activities funded by the different calls through different channel like project result catalogue, LinkedIn post, newsletters... Different events were also organised suck as the kick-off meeting, the mid-term and final events of the project from the cofunded call and additional calls.
- Work package 6: Joint calls without EU co-funding
3 additional calls were launched:
-The Sino-European call, leading to 8 funded projects;
-The innovation call, leading to 4 funded projects;
-The Knowledge Hub, leading to 1 project funded.
All projects from the 3 calls were monitored and the projects funded were included as much as possible in events organized by the co-funded call or in the dissemination activities such as the urban lunch talks (see WP7). All projects are included in the JPI Urban Europe website with a project catalogue.
-Work-package 7: Strengthening the urban accessibility and connectivity research and innovation community
In total, 7 urban lunch talks available on YouTube and 3 Agora Thematic Dialogue were achieved (one online, one un Bucharest, Romania, and one in Konya, Türkiye).
-WP1: Management
ANR managed the coordination of EN-UAC during the whole duration of the program. ANR took in charge the overall planning, financial management, internal communication and communication with the EC…
-Work package 2: Preparation and launch of the co-funded call
The call has been designed according to two entry points, e.g. two submission pathways in order to strengthen challenge-driven research and innovation projects and to give a particular emphasis to inter- and transdisciplinary research and 5 challenges were identified. The development of the call text was done in collaboration with other networks like the ERA-NET Electric Mobility Europe, EIT KIC Urban Mobility, Polis network, Eltis database.
-Work package 3: Evaluation and proposal selection for the co-funded call
The evaluation was done in a 2 stage procedure. The pre and full proposals were evaluated by an independent expert panel. The call covered a large set of type of research and innovation projects, from the basic research to the innovation and even demonstration. The innovation proposals were assessed not only by researchers but by practitioners too, who provide an experience in implementing solutions in cities and in innovation dissemination. Since the transnational funded project at the end involve practitioners, the presence of practitioners representatives in the expert panel of the call was relevant.
-Work package 4: Follow-up and monitoring of projects resulting from the co-funded call
WP4 ensured structured monitoring of the projects funded under the EN-UAC co-funded call, in order to assess progress, facilitate exchange and provide strategic feedback to JPI Urban Europe. Based on the JPI Urban Europe intervention logic, a monitoring framework was developed, including adapted indicators and specific data requirements for all project phases - from call preparation to implementation. Standardised reporting templates and the Online Monitoring System (OMS) were introduced to ensure consistent reporting across all participating projects and funding agencies.
At project level, annual progress, stakeholder engagement, interdisciplinarity and outputs were recorded via an Online Monitoring Tool and summarised in the annual summary reports.
-Work package 5: Communication, exploitation and dissemination of the results
The EN-UAC Communication and Dissemination Strategy is in line with the JPI Urban Europe Communication strategy. The communication activities achieved an efficient communication of results and outcomes from research and strategic activities funded by the different calls through different channel like project result catalogue, LinkedIn post, newsletters... Different events were also organised suck as the kick-off meeting, the mid-term and final events of the project from the cofunded call and additional calls.
- Work package 6: Joint calls without EU co-funding
3 additional calls were launched:
-The Sino-European call, leading to 8 funded projects;
-The innovation call, leading to 4 funded projects;
-The Knowledge Hub, leading to 1 project funded.
All projects from the 3 calls were monitored and the projects funded were included as much as possible in events organized by the co-funded call or in the dissemination activities such as the urban lunch talks (see WP7). All projects are included in the JPI Urban Europe website with a project catalogue.
-Work-package 7: Strengthening the urban accessibility and connectivity research and innovation community
In total, 7 urban lunch talks available on YouTube and 3 Agora Thematic Dialogue were achieved (one online, one un Bucharest, Romania, and one in Konya, Türkiye).
EN-UAC lead to the funding of 28 projects were funded through 4 calls with various targets, including one call dedicated to innovation oriented projects and one call with the NSFC (China). The total budget committed for all calls was 27.6 M€ + 20 million RMB. For each call (expect the knowledge hub as the activities expected were different), the participation of at least one city was mandatory. Synergies between the projects were developed with the help for the knowledge hub.
The good practices of the funded project were disseminated with the knowledge hub activities and the dissemination activities like the Agora events, urban lunch talks. In addition, the funded projects created tools, serious games, handbooks, apps, policy recommendations and some of them focused on the urban living labs. When possible, EN-UAC organized the events with other networks such as POLIS, EIT urban mobility. EN-UAC also had a strong interaction with the Driving Urban Transition partnership.
The good practices of the funded project were disseminated with the knowledge hub activities and the dissemination activities like the Agora events, urban lunch talks. In addition, the funded projects created tools, serious games, handbooks, apps, policy recommendations and some of them focused on the urban living labs. When possible, EN-UAC organized the events with other networks such as POLIS, EIT urban mobility. EN-UAC also had a strong interaction with the Driving Urban Transition partnership.