The 2026 Results from Road Transport Research (RTR) Conference confirmed its role as Europe’s key gathering for road transport innovation. Held in Brussels on 10-12 February 2026, the event attracted around 500 participants, with results from almost 100 Horizon Europe transport projects taking centre stage.
Across 32 sessions, projects presented concrete advances in decarbonisation, automated mobility, digitalisation, road safety, electric vehicles, urban mobility, infrastructure and logistics – reflecting the breadth and maturity of Europe’s road transport R&I ecosystem.
Co-organised by the European Commission together with the Towards Zero Emissions Road Transport (2Zero) and Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility Association (CCAM) partnerships, the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC), and with the support of the BATT4EU partnership, RTR brings together all major road transport-related stakeholders. CINEA has been closely involved since the beginning – as a member of the organising committee and through active participation of colleagues as speakers and moderators.
Transport innovation is about the whole system
Speaking at the conference's opening session, Ewa Ptaszyńska, Head of CINEA’s Transport Research Unit, highlighted the strength and ambition of CINEA’s transport research portfolio, emphasising that Horizon Europe transport R&I delivers system-level value.
She underscored that transport innovation extends beyond vehicle technology. It encompasses physical and digital infrastructure, multimodal solutions, data-driven traffic management, efficient logistics, urban mobility that together enable innovation across the automotive sector.
“I'm proud to see so many projects delivering tangible, fit-for-deployment solutions – clear proof that Horizon Europe delivers system-level value, from smart and resilient infrastructure to data-driven traffic management and efficient logistics,” said Ewa Ptaszyńska.
From research to market: bridging the gap
The plenary session “From research to market: how to bridge the gap?” focused on Europe’s need to actively address innovation “death valleys”. Research creates solutions – but too often promising results struggle to reach market uptake and large-scale deployment.
Speakers stressed the need to better align R&I funding with public and private investment, strengthen synergies across EU programmes, and improve coordination at national and regional level.
As Arwed Schmidt of Easymile noted, researchers must think like entrepreneurs: the real client is the market, not the funding programme.
"Researchers must think like entrepreneurs - the real client is the market not the funding programme," said Arwed Schmidt of Easymile.
Managing programmes across the full innovation cycle, from Horizon Europe research to scaling via the Innovation Fund and the infrastructure deployment through the Connecting Europe Facility – CINEA is well positioned to connect funding streams and bridge financing gaps.
On behalf of the European Commission, Mark Nicklas, Head of the Mobility Unit, DG internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), underlined that future EU instruments aim to provide seamless support from research to industrialisation and market rollout.
Collaboration as a competitive advantage
#RTR2026 once again demonstrated the value of EU-funded collaboration. By bringing together industry, research organisations, public authorities and mobility stakeholders in cross-border consortia, European programmes enable systemic innovation – combining complementary expertise and fostering mutual learning across sectors, disciplines and countries.
This exchange of knowledge and perspectives is what turns individual project results into stronger, more coherent solutions for Europe.
The message from this year’s conference is clear: Europe has the knowledge, the projects and the partnerships. The priority now is to accelerate deployment – turning research results into real-world impact.
More
Event website (official event report and recordings available soon)
Details
- Publication date
- 12 February 2026
- Author
- European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency