Greener, safer, smarter

Ever since the invention of the wheel, mankind has continued to develop better and more ingenious ways to improve mobility. Transport has transformed our society and our economy. Our lifestyles have become dependent on mobility. But if we all want cheaper, faster and more accessible transport for ourselves and our goods, we must also face up to the challenges of congestion, pollution, noise and deaths. That is why we are bringing together the best talents in Europe, from academia, business and government, to apply their collective experience to making transport ‘Greener – safer – smarter’. These are the three watchwords of the EU-sponsored transport research arena (TRA) 2008 conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 21-24 April. The conference will be based on more than 250 papers covering everything from accident prevention to air pollution, from materials to mobility, from impact mitigation to intelligent and innovative design.

The conference will particularly focus on strengthening European cooperation in road transport research. Transport by road represents a major source of industrial activity, economic revenue, employment and technological development in Europe. In securing millions of jobs in Europe and providing exports to global markets, it is a major economic pillar for the achievement of the Lisbon strategy. Lisbon is about improving our quality of life and remaining globally competitive, but in an environmentally sustainable fashion. While we want to increase growth and jobs, we also need to solve the question of how to improve European competitiveness while addressing the global challenges related to energy and climate change. This tension between the opportunities and challenges of globalisation is apparent in the field of road transport; we are all aware of the detrimental, sometimes catastrophic, side effects of this essential activity. Congestion and air pollution are growing in our cities and despite progress towards Europe’s pledge in 2001 to cut road deaths by 50 per cent by 2010, tens of thousands of people still meet their end on Europe’s roads in car accidents every year.

The consequences for the environment and available energy sources are also forcing us to respond. In March last year, the EU announced the ‘three 20s’ targets for the year 2020: to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent; to consume 20 per cent of our energy from renewable sources; and to increase energy efficiency by 20 per cent. In the realm of road transport we are committed to reducing CO2 emissions from new cars to 120g per km by 2012 – a reduction of around 25 per cent from current levels. This adds up to the most ambitious approach worldwide to developing a low-carbon economy and underlines the EU’s commitment to meeting its Kyoto protocol targets. These are all tough targets. Fulfilling our objectives on road safety, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and meeting our climate change commitments will need all the commitment and ingenuity that we can bring to them.

This is, of course, where research and innovation come to the fore. Our economy needs to be led by research and development and we must push forward with innovation.

To my mind, making the European – and global – transport industry cleaner, safer and smarter is firmly linked to industrial competitiveness. The two goals are complementary. Future road vehicles will need to be green in order to succeed, as environmental friendliness becomes an increasing focus of consumer choice. At the same time, the incorporation of the available new technologies on an industrial scale will lead to decreasing costs and increasing productivity. The motor vehicle and parts sector already invests more in research than any other European industrial sector. National research programmes are addressing relevant technologies, such as alternative fuels and hydrogen and fuels cells. So, too, is the European community, which is investing over €4bn in transport-related research over the seven years of the current research framework programme.

However, to make the best of our investments, cooperation will be key. While our objectives for sustainable road transport are ambitious, with the support and coordination of all road transport stakeholders, we can make them a reality. Whether we are a manager, an expert, a legislator or a lobbyist, we are certainly all road users. And we can all be visionaries for a state-of-the-art European road transport system.

TRA 2008 is an ideal opportunity to create a true European road transport research arena. It is by coordinating research activities, programmes and policies across Europe that road transport in Europe will become cleaner, safer and smarter – a system to be proud of.

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