Horizon 2020 has come to an end so maybe it is time to have a first glance at the Horizon Europe programme (2021-2027) which is due to be finalised in the next months. Some calls are still under construction but the structure of the programme is now complete. Where can we then find topics related to transport and mobility within this new 7 year framework programme?

The new programme (see graph below) is divided in 3 pillars and one cross-over area (widening participation and strengthening ERA). The first pillar focuses on research, the second on how technology and innovation can contribute to improving our society and the final one mainly tries to bridge the gap between R&D and market-ready innovations.

Although some logistics related calls can be found in other areas, the main area of attention for us is cluster 5, climate, energy and mobility. In Horizon 2020 these were three separate clusters but have now been merged to create more cross-over innovation. Each cluster is divided in destinations and within cluster 5, most calls related to transport/mobility are located within destination 5 and 6.

The aim of destination 5 is to achieve “clean and competitive solutions for all transport modes and evolving towards climate-neutral and environmental friendly mobility through clean solutions across all transport modes while increasing the global competitiveness of the EU transport sector”. The specific calls here will be about: Zero-emission powertrain for heavy duty vehicle, improving the architecture of BEV, smart charging technology, new BE busses, reducing noise and CO² emissions from airplanes, use of alternative fuels on ships, sustainable retrofit solutions for ships, etc.

Destination 6 has as a main objective to achieve “safe, resilient transport and smart mobility services for passengers and goods + safe, seamless, smart, inclusive, resilient, climate neutral and sustainable mobility systems for people and goods thanks to user-centric technologies and services including digital technologies and advanced satellite navigation services”. Specific topics here will be for example: certification and security of CCAM, optimizing last mile logistics, improving safety for pedestrians, etc.

The draft work programme is not published on the internet but it can be consulted and you can also provide remarks to the calls proposed by the European Commission. If you would like to be involved in this process you can contact the Flemish shadow representative for transport by sending a mail to hilde.vermeulen@vlaanderen.be.

Apart from the pillar structure, the European Commission will also work with European partnerships which are a structured collaboration between institutions, companies, universities and public entities (including governments). They bring together all actors from a certain sector to make it more sustainable as a whole through the development of market-ready innovations. There are about 50 proposed partnerships but only seven relate to transport and mobility:

• Rail traffic: institutionalised partnership on transforming europe’s rail system (institutionalised)
• Integrated Air Traffic Management, Clean Aviation (institutionalised)
• Towards zero emission road transport (coprogrammed)
• Industrial battery value chain (coprogammed)
• CCAM (coprogrammed)
• Clean Hydrogen (institutionalised)
• Driving Urban Transition (Cofunded partnership)

The final element of the Horizon Europe puzzle are the missions. These are long term and very ambitious projects which are new and experimental. They are also mainly goal oriented and less defined than other parts of the framework programme. The approach will be defined more in detail in the near future. From our transport/mobility perspective, there is one interesting mission on smart and climate neutral cities.

The background of all these initiatives stems from a vision about how transport should evolve over the coming years. This is all summarized in the Strategic Transport Research and Innovation Agenda.

So what’s next ? well, the Commission hopes to adopt the working programmes in early spring and the first calls will open shortly after. If you want more information regarding the progress, feel free to contact the NCP for transport pascal.verheye@vlaio.be.