Transportation Research Challenges Based on the Analysis of EU Projects

In recent years several projects have been realised in the field of transportation, but there is a lack of systematic analysis of research challenges connected to these projects. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to provide an overview of these challenges through EU funded projects in the field of smart, green and integrated transport. Based on EU strategic documents, reports and roadmaps, 10 topics are identified playing a crucial role in transportation-related research. A systematic analysis of the projects is realised, where the projects collected from an online database in the Horizon 2020 framework programme from 2015 to 2020 are categorised into these topics. The results show that travel behaviour, big data and open data, sustainable mobility planning and smart solutions are covered by several projects which reflect the main research trends. While active and shared modes, multimodal transportation, trip optimisation and Mobility as a Service are also popular topics. Based on the results, the most underrepresented research areas are artificial intelligence and social networks. The analysis of the connections between the research topics could enable the achievement of a long-term paradigm shift in urban mobility, which is beneficial for researchers, professionals and policy makers

D3.4 Foresight prospects for the future of EU rural areas

This report is an overview of a sample of existing foresight and scenarios studies carried out at European and global level to identify plausible futures and scenarios for rural areas for time periods up to 2050. It provides an extended update of the SHERPA Working Document ‘Overview of a sample of existing foresight and scenario studies carried out at EU and global levels’ (Brunori and Mazzocchi, 2020), which encompassed a set of foresight studies from approximately between 2009-2019. Though not exclusively focused on rural areas, the potential for significant impacts on the latter was acknowledged in these studies and the report provided important insights in view to the then forthcoming process of the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas of the EU. A most recent set of studies have been appraised, carried out in the period from 2020 onwards. Amongst them, we pay specific attention to the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas of the European Union – and H2020 projects contributing to this consultation –, the JRC ‘Scenarios for EU Rural Areas 2040’, as well as other foresight studies not exclusively targeting rural areas, but addressing mega-trends and delivering outcomes of relevance to the future of rural areas

Co-creation, innovation, decision-making, tech-transfer, and sustainability actions

Funding Information: Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This work was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program [H2020-SC5-2019–2]—869520 NextLand, [H2020-SPACE-202]—101004362 NextOcean, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (UIDB/00124/2020 and Social Sciences DataLab, PINFRA/22209/2016), POR Lisboa and POR Norte (Social Sciences DataLab, PINFRA/22209/2016). Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).European Community (EC) Horizon-funded projects and Earth Observation-based Consortia aim to create sustainable value for Space, Land, and Oceans. They typically focus on addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Many of these projects (e.g. Commercialization and Innovation Actions) have an ambitious challenge to ensure that partners share core competencies to simultaneously achieve technological and commercial success and sustainability after the end of the EC funds. To achieve this ambitious challenge, Horizon projects must have a proper governance model and a systematized process that can manage the existing paradoxical tensions involving numerous European partners and their respective agendas and stakeholders. This article presents the VCW-Value Creation Wheel (Lages in J Bus Res 69: 4849–4855, 2016), as a framework that has its roots back in 1995 and has been used since 2015 in the context of numerous Space Business, Earth Observation, and European Community (EC) projects, to address complex problems and paradoxical tensions. In this article, we discuss six of these paradoxical tensions that large Horizon Consortia face in commercialization, namely when managing innovation ecosystems, co-creating, taking digitalization, decision-making, tech-transfer, and sustainability actions. We discuss and evaluate how alliance partners could find the optimal balance between (1) cooperation, competition, and coopetition perspectives; (2) financial, environmental, and social value creation; (3) tech-push and market-pull orientations; (4) global and local market solutions; (5) functionality driven and human-centered design (UX/UI); (6) centralized and decentralized online store approaches. We discuss these challenges within the case of the EC H2020 NextLand project answering the call for greening the economy in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We analyze NextLand Online Store, and its Business and Innovation Ecosystem while considering the input of its different stakeholders, such as NextLand’s commercial team, service providers, users, advisors, EC referees, and internal and external stakeholders. Preliminary insights from a twin project in the field of Blue Economy (EC H2020 NextOcean), are also used to support our arguments. Partners, referees, and EC officers should address the tensions mentioned in this article during the referee and approval processes in the pre-grant and post-grant agreement stages. Moreover, we propose using the Value Creation Wheel (VCW) method and the VCW meta-framework as a systematized process that allows us to co-create and manage the innovation ecosystem while engaging all the stakeholders and presenting solutions to address these tensions. The article concludes with theoretical implications and limitations, managerial and public policy implications, and lessons for Horizon Europe, earth observation, remote sensing, and space business projects.publishersversionpublishe

JRC Implementation Review 2017: In the context of the interim evaluation of the Horizon 2020 Programme

This report presents an external assessment of the follow-up that the JRC has given to the ex-post evaluation of its direct actions under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) conducted in 2015. The report addresses the new JRC 2030 strategy and the adaptation of the organisational structure in July 2016. The evaluation panel compliments the organisation and its leadership on the work in the design of the strategy, in gathering the support and adapting the organisational structure for the implementation of the strategy. In relatively short time the JRC went through the biggest change since the introduction of its policy-support mission in the Fifth Framework Programme in 1998. The panel notes the enthusiasm and the impressive speed with which the JRC has implemented a large number of improvements (Chapter 2). Having seen so many parts of the renewed organisation, the panel also had a critical look at the change (Chapter 3), and gives three general recommendations for further development of the JRC (Chapter 4). - Keep focus on excellence in science - Connect the whole organisation to the transformation - A modern JRC merits modern governanceJRC.DDG2-Deputy Director-General in charge of Directorates B,C,D,E,F,

The futures of Canadian governance: Foresight competencies for public administration in the digital era

Abstract Evidence?based practice has advanced in public administration, with increasing reliance on social research and population sampling in decision making. Yet the evidence?based turn risks marginalizing the value of strategic foresight and futures competencies in informing policy and planning. Where evidence enables policymakers to select the best near?term course of action, future outcomes are inferred and projected, and not determined by past evidence. Foresight provides a necessary competency for defining and investing in the right direction of future policy and action, by articulating future problematics with multiple foresight methods. While social and technological futures cannot be precisely predicted, future scenarios and prospectuses can be designed to inform options and trajectories for intervention and new policy. The emerging area of digital?era governance is examined, where complex scenarios for future policies are based on present evidence (such as trends) and informed speculation to formulate policies and options in dynamically changing societal contexts