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European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
News article25 November 2022European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency

‘Reimagining our mobility’ at the Transport Research Arena 2022

Over 30 CINEA projects took to the stage at the largest European research and technology conference on transport and mobility. 

CINEA Director Dirk Beckers speaking at Plenary 3 - TRA 2022
© Transport Research Arena

The Transport Research Arena (TRA) took place in Lisbon 14-17 November 2022. Hosted by the Portuguese Innovation Agency (ANI - Agência Nacional de Inovação) and co-organised by the European Commission, this year’s event welcomed over 2,200 specialists from Europe and beyond.

TRA is the foremost European transport event that covers all transport modes – road, rail, waterborne and air transport – and all aspects of mobility. Themed “Moving together – reimagining mobility worldwide”, discussions centred on the biggest challenges on the path to decarbonise transport by 2050, in line with the goals of the EU Green Deal. In the opening session ANI President, Joana Mendonça emphasised that “green options cannot only be an option for the few who can afford it”. This message resonated throughout the four days.

The event provided a unique opportunity to hear about transport and mobility trends in different parts of Europe, learn from achievements in industry, as well as share best practices of policies and deployments including from dozens of CINEA supported transport research projects. 

Synergies between funding programmes

Speaking at Plenary Session 3 on Innovative Infrastructure, CINEA Director Dirk Beckers underlined the critical EU funding channelled through the Horizon Transport and Connecting Europe Facility Transport programmes, as well as the synergies between the two.  

“Smarter, greener & seamless connectivity for all transport modes is a priority area of Horizon Europe. But innovation should not stop at R&I projects. In CINEA, we also support deployment with CEF and Innovation Fund programmes,” explained Beckers. 

At the Strategic Session on Sustainable Ports and Airports, Head of CINEA’s Transport Research Unit, Marcel Rommerts also emphasised synergies, highlighting a number of CINEA-supported projects collaborating in this field. Stargate, OLGA, Tulips, Pioneers and Magpie are leading the way in researching new solutions for ports and airports to reduce environmental impact and achieve the EU goals of climate neutrality by 2050.  

“Ports and airports play a key role in the decarbonisation of transport and the logistic chains. One of our ambitions is to exploit the synergies between these projects,” said Rommerts. 

Synergies for deployment of innovative solutions were also developed at a road transport session organised by the Commission and included partnerships such as 2ZERO (green vehicles) and CCAM (connected mobility), and associations such as ERTRAC and ALICE (logistics). 

Showcasing project success

The joint European Commission stand attracted great interest with presentations from 32 CINEA-managed projects and from the European Commission on outstanding results, funding opportunities and latest policy updates. The stand also hosted live demonstrations of transport innovations – from last-mile delivery robots to solar bikes, self-driving car tests, a novel ship propulsion and much more. 

Overall, TRA 2022 offered an excellent platform for researchers, policymakers and industry representatives to contribute to the discussion on how research and innovation can re-shape the transport and mobility system, and an opportunity for numerous CINEA projects to inspire on the biggest stage.

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Transport Research Arena

List of CINEA projects presented at EC stand

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