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The EU 8th Research Framework Programme (FP8) covering the period 2014 to 2020 should declare sustainable mobility a key priority for research funding and further encourage collaborative research in the road transport and automotive sector. This will ensure to reaping maximum benefit from the work started within the 7th Programme and sustain progress towards sustainable mobility.

These recommendations were published today by the European Council for Automotive R&D (EUCAR) in the paper ‘FP8 — Priorities for Transport’’. The paper is EUCAR’s initial contribution to what will be a multi-stakeholder discussion between the Commission, Member States, European Parliament, industry and academia to define Europe’s R&D focus up to 2020. The EUCAR paper also relates directly to the Europe 2020 strategy, which calls for a European “Innovation Union”, the Commission’s Strategy for Clean and Efficient Vehicles and the upcoming White Paper on the Future of Transport.

The major European automotive manufacturers invest over €26bn per year in research and development, responding to the societal demand for sustainable transport, which includes a competitive industry, safe and affordable mobility of people and goods and a clean environment.

EUCAR Chairman Marc Duval-Destin, Vice President, Research and Advanced Engineering at PSA Peugeot-Citroën stated: “FP8 should enhance the EU’s support for collaborative R&D in the automotive sector, increasing the effectiveness of research through cooperation and leveraging our industry’s private investments”. The current 7th Framework Programme’s “Cooperation” programme is funding research projects which bring many industrial companies and research organisations together in pre-competitive common projects, creating a pool of expertise and broadening the potential for exploitation of the results.

The main conclusions of the paper read as follows: Structure the 8th Framework Programme to include coherent research themes, in which mobility and transport is included as one of the priority themes. Allocate a significant level of R&D funding to the mobility and transport priority theme, recognising road transport and automotive research asa primary topic within that theme. Ensure consistent cooperation between the EU and Member States to enhance the effectiveness of research activities in the European Research Area. Embed solutions for administrative burdens in research funding into the structure of the 8th Framework Programme. Continue to consult actively with industry to ensure its optimum contribution to the development and execution of the 8th Framework Programme. 

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