OpenLobby.EU
Explore

European Road Transport Research Advisory Council

ERTRAC

ERTRAC is the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Joaquim Nunes De Almeida (Director Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs) and

30 Jun 2025 · Research and innovation in the context of automotive action plan

Meeting with Joanna Drake (Deputy Director-General Research and Innovation)

10 Jun 2025 · Proposal for an Automotive Partnership in the next European budget

Meeting with Anna Panagopoulou (Cabinet of Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas), Simone Ritzek-Seidl (Cabinet of Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas)

15 May 2025 · Exchange on R&I in automotive sector

Meeting with Christian Ehler (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. and

3 Mar 2025 · FP10

Meeting with Eric Von Breska (Director Mobility and Transport)

4 Feb 2025 · Research and innovation in the automotive sector

Meeting with Clara De-La-Torre (Acting Director-General Climate Action)

8 Sept 2022 · Exchange on European Technology Platforms

Meeting with Walter Goetz (Cabinet of Commissioner Adina Vălean)

19 Oct 2021 · Research and Innovation for automotive industry

Response to European Partnership for Safe and Automated Road Transport

12 Aug 2019

ERTRAC welcomes the preparation of a European Partnership for Safe and Automated Road Transport under Horizon Europe. Collaborative research in the field of Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) will help Europe to achieve safer, cleaner, smarter and more efficient mobility solutions. Digitalisation and automation of road transport are key innovation drivers for the competitiveness of the industry and major transformation factors to shape the future of our mobility. ERTRAC is the European Technology Platform gathering all actors involved in road transport research: the industry, the research community, European associations, and public authorities from national and local level. A partnership under the format of a Co-programmed partnership (Option 1) can provide the necessary long-term framework for a strategic planning of research and pre-deployment activities for CCAM. Option 1 is preferred against Option 2 setting up an Institutionalised partnership, for the major reasons of speed, flexibility, openness, and administrative burdens. Speed: the ability to start the partnership as soon as possible is a critical aspect, considering the global race of the European industry in developing new solutions in a context of shorter innovation cycles and fast-acting competition from countries like the US and China. A Co-programmed partnership will enable a quick and timely start. Flexibility: a Co-programmed partnership is a more agile and flexible instrument to manage the research, testing and pre-deployment agenda of the CCAM field, which is highly dynamic and includes many uncertainties. Keeping a flexible programme is needed to match with the industry constantly evolving business environment, and to deliver results in time, while using wisely the available resources. Openness: participation must remain open to any stakeholder at any time of the partnership lifetime. The scope implies collaboration between several sectors: automotive, telecom, data, infrastructure, logistics, services providers, and the involvement of public authorities from national and local levels. The Co-programmed Partnership is the easiest instrument to ensure this openness, allowing the involvement of smaller actors: universities, SMEs, start-ups, local authorities. Reducing the administrative burdens for the partners should also be an objective, as it is critical not only to ensure an efficient organisation but also to ensure a wide participation. The Co-programmed Partnership offers the right frame: supporting the public private collaboration and the research agenda setting, but without creating additional participation constraints. Regarding the link between this proposal and other partnerships proposals, ERTRAC would like to stress the importance of ensuring coordination between the different initiatives. Especially with the partnership towards zero emission mobility, the two fields have numerous common topics and synergies to be exploited: the EC should not create silos between these two key innovation challenges that decarbonisation and digitalisation are for the future of mobility. We also need coordination with partnerships that provide enabling technologies for CCAM, such as electronics and smart systems (ECSEL), 5G, Cyber-Security, HPC, AI. Regarding the involvement of Member States, in addition to their involvement in the Programme Committee, interactions need to be deepened, as the infrastructures are often managed at national level and shall be developed in line with the developments happening on the vehicles side. The goal is to support a coordinated approach between the automotive sector and road managers towards an efficient deployment of CCAM. ERTRAC is ready to contribute to the preparation of this partnership. A collaboration takes place with Technology Platforms and European associations, having developed a common position on Partnerships in Horizon Europe for Road Transport: the latest draft is sent in annex.
Read full response

Meeting with Silke Obst (Cabinet of Commissioner Violeta Bulc)

24 Jan 2019 · Partnerships for Road Transport in Horizon Europe

Meeting with Violeta Bulc (Commissioner) and

17 Nov 2018 · Meeting with Hidria CEO

Meeting with Violeta Bulc (Commissioner) and

26 Oct 2018 · meeting with the president of ERTRAC and CEO of Hidria (Member of ERTRAC)

Meeting with Jean-Eric Paquet (Director-General Research and Innovation)

21 Jun 2018 · Transport research

Meeting with Blaz Pongracic (Cabinet of Commissioner Violeta Bulc)

4 Oct 2017 · Guidelines relating to European Commission funded opportunities in the field of transport.

Meeting with Günther Oettinger (Commissioner)

21 Apr 2017 · green car policy

Meeting with Violeta Bulc (Commissioner) and

19 Apr 2017 · meeting with Hidria, member of ERTRAC

Meeting with Violeta Bulc (Commissioner) and

19 Jul 2016 · Meeting with European Technology Platforms

Meeting with Violeta Bulc (Commissioner) and

27 May 2016 · Meeting with ERTRAC management and HIDRIA

Meeting with Violeta Bulc (Commissioner) and

2 Jun 2015 · Transport

Meeting with Friedrich-Nikolaus von Peter (Cabinet of Commissioner Violeta Bulc)

15 Jan 2015 · Role of ERTRAC