• H2020
• Societal Challenges
• Transport

Details have been announced of transport research grants under Horizon 2020. The sector will receive an investment of €6.3bn under Horizon 2020.

Under the Soietal Challnges pillar, the ‘Smart, green and integrated transport’ programme is the world’s largest investment programme in transport research and innovation. The aim is to transform Europe’s transport system into a competitive (creating jobs) and resource-efficient transport system.

The Mobility and Transport Directorate-General (DG MOVE) expects that the results of this investment programme will contribute to reach the crucial objective of cutting carbon emissions in transport by 60% by 2050. Consequently, Horizon 2020′s activities in transport will focus on stepping up research efforts to speed up deployment of the most promising innovations.

DG MOVE is one of the directorates-general in the European Commission that will implement Horizon 2020. DG MOVE will dedicate a financial share of approximately €1.9bn over the period 2014-2020.

Reflecting the need for close strategic involvement in these investments, this amount will be invested in transport infrastructure, urban mobility, logistics, and intelligent transport systems and applications. It will cover upstream research, technology development, technology integration, and demonstration and innovation activities, mostly through collaborative activities.

In addition, €600m is dedicated to the continuation of air traffic management research activities, to be implemented by the SESAR Joint Undertaking, which will be supervised by DG MOVE. In 2014, the Commission also intends to establish the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking.

To create speed and scale for deployment, DG MOVE will also develop policy actions and it will invest Horizon 2020 funds to generate synergies with other international, national and regional programmes, including the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).