Support for dissemination events in the field of Transport Research

Expected Outcome:

Project’s results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

1. Successful Transport Research Arena conference (TRA) in 2030;
2. Conference papers published in proceedings and in a recognised scientific journal;
3. Higher visibility, political and strategic relevance of the transport sector and of the EU policy in the field;
4. Enhanced dissemination, communication and valorisation of transport R&I objectives, perspectives, strategies and results;
5. More effective links and exchanges between research and innovation stakeholders, industry and policy makers, to support the development and deployment of innovative solutions in Europe and Associated Countries;
6. Increased 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;
7. Successful organisation of a series of awards in transport research and innovation to recognise excellence of young and senior researchers, covering all transport modes and cross-cutting issues;
8. Increased visibility, interest and number of applications for the two competitions for transport research and innovation awards.

Scope:

The action will prepare and provide support to the Transport Research Arena (TRA) conference to be organised in 2030 gathering transport stakeholders for discussing political, industrial and research issues on a European and global level.

In line with previous TRA biennial conferences, the event should address the technological and industrial developments of the transport sector (i.e. road, rail, waterborne, aviation sectors and cross-modal aspects) providing a high level, future-oriented perspective coming from politics, the industry and the research community, in response to Europe’s social and competitiveness needs and expectations. Specific attention should be put on a broad and balanced participation in the conference i.e., students, young researchers, women, under-represented groups, many country representatives, etc.

The action will be implemented in close collaboration with the Management and Programme Committees of the TRA, which includes the European Commission services, the different European Technology Platforms (ERTRAC for road, ERRAC for rail, WATERBORNE TP for waterborne, ALICE for logistics and ACARE for aeronautics and ECTP for construction), the Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR), the European Transport Research Alliance (ETRA) and the previous TRA conference organiser (TRA 2028) in order to maintain continuity of the event.

Proposals should address all the following aspects:

• Demonstrate the financial and organisational capacity of the national authorities interested to host the event and provide an economic plan covering the potential additional funding needs;
• Describe the involvement of the Member State holding the Presidency of the European Union in year 2030 to better ensure a high political and strategic relevance;
• Support the definition of the overall planning of the conference, including the main thematic pillars of the event as well as the structuring of the technical and political sessions;
• Contribute to the identification and selection of an appropriate conference venue, support the organisation of the conference’s logistics and include a Professional Conference Organiser (PCO) in the consortium;
• Provide operational support to the TRA conference, such as in relation to the website and conference management IT tools (e.g. for the registration of participants, handling of speakers’ contributions, submission and selection of scientific papers, conference application);
• Support the organisation of the demonstration activities and technical visits;
• Assess and monitor the environmental impact of the event and propose appropriate measures to reduce and mitigate this impact;
• Organise of high-quality awards series for transport research and innovation awards (TRA VISIONS) covering all transport modes and cross-cutting issues including technological, socio-economic, and behavioural aspects, in line with the EU policy objectives for digitalisation and climate-neutral and environmentally friendly mobility:
  • An award stream for students and young researchers with the goal of stimulating the interest among young researchers/students to develop innovative solutions in the field of transport;
  • An award stream for senior researchers in the field of innovative transport concepts based on results from EU-funded projects only. This will include in addition, a special honorary award as a recognition of outstanding and well-recognised contribution to transport-related research and innovation of a senior researcher who is about to complete or has completed his/her career.
• Involve the awarded researchers in the conference programme and promote links between the researchers and possible career development opportunities in the field (e.g. traineeships, jobs, courses, training);
• Foresee a very good media coverage and dissemination activities before, during and after the event for both the TRA conference and for the TRA VISIONS. A mechanism should be put in place to clearly track outreach efforts and evaluate their impact.