Research partnerships between the EU, the private sector and the Member States are on track to deliver their objectives, improving people's lives, and boosting Europe's international competitiveness. This was confirmed by the results of interim evaluations of public-private and public-public partnerships supported by Horizon 2020, the EU's €77 billion research and innovation programme.
One of the evaluated public-private partnerships was Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking, which contributes to smart and sustainable growth through fostering research and innovation in the railway sector. Following the report's conclusions, one of the positive effects already achieved by Shift2Rail has been bringing many stakeholders together to work towards maintaining the competitiveness of the European rail sector and the global EU technology leadership, in addition to developing tomorrow's rail leading technologies.
The SESAR (Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research) Joint Undertaking (SJU), which is responsible for coordinating air traffic management research in the EU, was subject to two evaluations. One concerned the closure of the SESAR 1 Programme (2007-2016), while the second focused on the ongoing research activities under the SESAR 2020 Programme (2014-2020). Overall, the SESAR JU managed to complete over 300 projects, 350 validation exercises leading to 63 SESAR Solutions which are currently being deployed in EU in order to maintain high safety levels and improve cost and environmental efficiency of air traffic management in Europe.
The reports are based on the work of independent experts and the results of a stakeholder consultation. They clearly show that both Shift2Rail, which achieved its autonomy on 24 May 2016 and SESAR, which has already been active for 10 years, are delivering on their objectives, helping to overcome fragmentation and create continuity of research goals. The commitment of the members is evident and there are high expectations for its outputs. At the same time, the evaluation reports outline a series of elements on which the future work of Shift2Rail and SESAR should focus upon.
European Commission
Transport directly affects everyone in Europe. Whatever age we are, and whatever activities we undertake, transport and mobility play a fundamental role in today’s world. The aim of the Commission is to promote a mobility that is efficient, safe, secure and environmentally friendly and to create the conditions for a competitive industry generating growth and jobs. The issues and challenges connected to this require action at European or even international level; no national government can address them successfully alone. The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport works in concert with the European Union Member States, European industry, citizens and stakeholders.
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