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Developing the Strategic Research Agenda: update on progress
REACT e-Newsletter
Issue 4 -October 2010.
One of the key objectives of REACT is to articulate a long-term vision and a strategic research agenda (SRA) for low-carbon transport that will contribute to the development of a European strategy on the issue. This will improve synergies and coordination of
funded research initiatives among EC and national agencies; provide a clear direction for stakeholders involved and indicate the
speed of progress needed. At the European level, this focus on cooperation, innovation and technology leadership is important
for efficient use of resources and for global competition. From a more technical point of view, an SRA can stand for a reference
point for the definition of future research priorities. REACT’s objective to articulate an SRA for low-carbon transport involves a
well-structured methodology comprising several stages: (a) synthesis and gap analysis of existing European Technology Platforms
(ETPs) SRAs; (b) review of previous studies and ETPs to develop a draft SRA structure for low-carbon transport; (c) expert consultation using the Delphi Method to refine and finalise the SRA structure; (d) open consultation including diverse stakeholders and
the general public in completing the full SRA.
In this Issue:
Update on REACT Strategic
Research Agenda (SRA). p. 1-4
REACT Final Event. p. 4
Online Competition and
Indicators for Carbon Impact. p. 5
REACT Dissemination . 6-7
During the first six months we focused on the first two stages of this process. Specifically, we examined relevant existing SRAs: WATERBORNE TP for the maritime sector;
ACARE for the aeronautics sector; ERRAC for the railways sector; and ERTRAC for the
road transport sector. All the SRAs share a similar general structure. This includes: (i)
high level objectives; (ii) targets; (iii) research areas; (iv) specific research fields, focusing on particular technologies; (v) existing studies in the field of the particular technologies; (vi) attribute categories (e.g., level of maturity; utility for society; achievability
within the timeframe; impacts on competitiveness; market applicability). The REACT
SRA adopts this basic structure.
Critically, however, the existing European transport SRAs focus only on particular
modes of transport, and primarily on technological aspects. The REACT SRA on
climate-friendly transport therefore aims to integrate across multiple transport modes
(including non-motorised), and to include social/behavioural as well as technological
aspects of transport. Tdiscussions, we produced a draft version of the REACT SRA in
March 2010 which has been used in the first stage of the expert Delphi consultation.
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REACT e-Newsletter
Issue 4 -October 2010.
Thus, we have had to supplement the ETPs’ SRAs with a
review of the transport studies literature on broader social,
economic, political and institutional research which is
relevant to low-carbon transport, while also taking into
consideration EU strategic vision towards 2020. From this
analysis and extensive internal project discussions, we
produced a draft version of the REACT SRA in March 2010
which has been used in the first stage of the expert Delphi
consultation.
During months 6-12 of REACT, we have focused on our stakeholder consultation activities to collaboratively develop the
SRA. The first stage of expert consultation involved an intensive one-day workshop on 29th of June in Rijeka, Croatia.
Participants represented various European countries and
different categories (policy-makers, business/industry,
researchers, EU project managers and participants, etc.).
Their expertise covered different transport modes and research
fields/disciplines. Participants asked to discuss the suitability and
completeness of the draft SRA structure and indicators, and to
pilot the SRA assessment procedure (i.e., collecting personal
structured opinions). This involved brainstorming and discussion,
thematic focus groups, and individual questionnaire completion.
Various suggestions were made for improving the SRA, including
adding research areas, joining categories together, providing a
more intuitive structure for the social elements of the SRA, and
altering the indicators used to assess the research areas. Following the workshop, the expert stakeholders’ comments have been
used to extensively revise the SRA. The revised version has been
circulated to all workshop participants for further comments; and,
once agreed, this version will be used for the next stage of the
Delphi consultation – online completion of the SRA. The online
tool which allows both completion of, and comment on, the SRA is
being developed and will go live in the Autumn.
Strategic Research Agenda – online consultation
The SRA can be divided in two parts: research areas detailed definition and indicators.
Research areas:
The first six column of the Agenda (contained in the green
rectangle in Table 1) define clusters for organising the specific
research areas. This is the part where the specific research areas
are structured around two pillars: Engineering and Information
Technology (1) and Social Sciences and Policies (2).
Each pillar is followed by different steps of detailed description of
the research areas which need to be addressed to achieve the
reduction of CO2:
• Main field
• Sector
• Research approach
• Main research area
• Specific research area
• Examples
Indicators
Main questions will try to define indicators for new research.
• Research demand indicators:
o Start of applied research
o Start of implementation
• Impact indicators:
o Contribution to reduce GHG emissions
o Cost-efficiency in reduction of GHG emissions
o Most important other effects
o Assessment of the selected other effect
o Feasibility
o Priority of future research and implementation
The tree - structure of a part of the SRA
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REACT e-Newsletter
Issue 4 -October 2010.
Indicators
Name
Range
Format
Input message
Start of applied research
From
2010 to
2030
From
2010 to
2030
From 0 to
5
Number
Please, select the starting year for applied research
Number
Please, select the starting year of the implementation stage
Number
Cost-efficiency in
reduction of GHG
emissions
From 0 to
5
Number
Most important other
effects
Assessment of the selected
other effect
N/A
Text
From -5 to
+5
Number
Feasibility
From 0 to
5
Number
Priority of future research
and implementation
From 0 to
5
Number
Comments
N/A
Text
Please, assess the potential contribution to reducing GHG emissions according to the following
scale:0 = I'm not sure, I cannot express with certainty my evaluation 1 = very low 2 = low 3 =
average 4 = high 5 = very high
Please, assess the cost-efficiency in reduction of GHG emissions, according to the following
scale:0 = I'm not sure, I cannot express with certainty my evaluation 1 = very low 2 = low 3 =
average 4 = high 5 = very high
Please, select one of the following categories if you think that the current specific research area
will have a positive or negative impact on one of them
Please, assess the effect of the development of the current research area on the category you
selected. Use a scale from - 5 (very negative) to + 5 (very positive) including 0 (I don’t know,
I’m not sure)
Assess the possibility for the current specific research area to overcome social and/or political
obstacles (e.g. hardly behavioural acceptable or politically inconvenient) to its development.
Use the following scale: 0 = I'm not sure, I cannot express with certainty my evaluation 1 = very
low 2 = low 3 = average 4 = high 5 = very high
Please, insert your overall evaluation considering your personal vision of research on climate
friendly transports. Use the following scale: 0 = I'm not sure, I cannot express with certainty my
evaluation 1 = very low 2 = low 3 = average 4 = high 5 = very high
Please, insert here any comments about the current specific research areas.
Start of implementation
Contribution to reduce
GHG emissions
Table: Zoomed view on the indicators and an example of evaluation for a given specific research area
Indicators define the criteria for evaluating every specific research areas. This is the way REACT chose to
fulfil the project objective of assessing priority research areas, for what climate friendly transports research
is concerned. Some indicator can assume a free value, some other only values included into a specific
range. All the indicators have their own format. In the following table specifics for the indicators are
resumed.
Table: The specifics for indicators to consider to implementing the online tool
Expert consultation procedure
The objective of the expert consultation is populating the indicators columns. The procedure will run using the Delphi Method.
The Delphi Method is organised in rounds. In the first round
evaluators (in our case it is the experts) are fed with closed questions and their answers, that are anonymous, are collected. For
every questions, the related answers are statistically analysed.
The outcome of the analysis is mainly the distribution in terms of
percentage of the evaluators’ answers. At the beginning of the
second round, the statistical outcomes are provided and they
work as indicators of how the rest of the evaluators have
answered the same question.
The Delphi Method is organised in rounds. In the first round
evaluators (in our case it is the experts) are fed with closed questions and their answers, that are anonymous, are collected. For
every questions, the related answers are statistically analysed.
The outcome of the analysis is mainly the distribution in terms of
percentage of the evaluators’ answers. At the beginning of the
second round, the statistical outcomes are provided and they
work as indicators of how the rest of the evaluators have
answered the same question.
Figure: example of Delphi Method procedure
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REACT e-Newsletter
ON-LINE TOOL
Issue 4 -October 2010.
In the REACT expert consultation, experts are free to evaluate, according to the previously described indicators, all the specific
research areas they wish. For choosing the specific research area they want to evaluate, they must have the possibility to freely
navigate throughout all the tree structure of the agenda, from the root to the leaves. Because of the complexity of the on-line
questionnaire, a new software that will combine on-line questionnaire with the graph tool is being built. As the SRA is very complex, and experts could be consulted about different indicators, a completely new tool had to be created. In order to allow users
to move around the complexity of SRA, graphing diagram, similar to brainstorming diagram of SRA has been used. Using this
tool it is simple to concentrate to the topics that are relevant to each expert.The open consultation procedure will be created
in two ways, one for experts, and one for interested persons, not fully known as experts, but with significant knowledge of
topics. As the former group will be bigger than expert one, the indicators will be a bit different, indicating public Bayesian beliefs
of the user in any field of SR
Just by clicking on the dynmic
graph of the online questionnaire
and the application will allow
experts to give easily values for
indicators
Figure : On Line questionnaire
Figure: Graph tool for freely navigation through all structure of agenda
REACT event: Climate Friendly Transport Conference
REACT project is organising a high-calibre event in Belgrade on 16th and 17th May 2011. The main objective is to increase awareness on research project results in climate-friendly transport field with the ultimate goal of helping the entire road transport
community to focus around the common strategic goal of green transportation modes for the benefit of industry and society.
The event will feature major presentations by high-level decision makers, researchers and key industry players and it will present
a perfect opportunity not only to gain an insight on research findings but also to network.
A call on papers will be released in October on a pan-European scale inviting researchers active in the green transport theme to
participate by submitting abstracts.
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REACT e-Newsletter
Issue 4 -October 2010.
REACT Competition: The most innovative Climate-Friendly Transport Project
REACT is launching a competition on the most innovative Climate-Friendly Transport Project. The general aim of the
competition is to identify and to communicate the most relevant projects and studies on transport and mobility
that are having or will have a significant impact on reducing GHG emissions.
The award ceremony will be part of the Final REACT event session organized in Belgrade on 16th and 17th May
2011. The winners, (1 winner, 2 runner ups) with covered expenses from React Consortium, will present their ideas
in a plenary session in the final Belgrade Conference, where the low-carbon transport academic community and
important stakeholders will participate. The competition will run through the website where participants will be
asked to vote for any project apart from their own based on the following criteria:
Criteria
Description
Contribution to reduce
GHG emissions
The project has to provide GHG reduction potential by 2030.
Quantitative importance for GHG reduction in the transport sector
Cost-efficiency in
reduction of GHG
emissions
Most important other
effects (positive or
negative)
Feasibility
Relation of costs per unit GHG reduced
Priority of future research
and implementation
To what extend should this field be prioritized for future research and
implementation
Select one category: 1. other ecological impacts, 2. social equity, 3.
quality of life, 4. job creation, 5. competitiveness
Register now on our website to
receive invitation to take part in
the competition!
www.react-transport.eu
Political and social feasibility
Development of a Common Set of Indicators for Carbon Impact
The word „indicator“ is derived from the Latin verb „indicare“ which means „to point out“ – an indicator thus is a symbol or a
variable pointing towards the state of a specific measure or development and makes it easier to understand. One important task
in the REACT project is to identify a set of relevant indicators to assess the impact of measures to reduce the carbon footprint of
the transport sector, to develop formulas to assess carbon impact for different measures and discuss data sources and the availability of default values for certain parameters. The transport sector has a huge share in Europes carbon emissions and opposite
to the trend in other sectors are still increasing in emissions. There are, however, a lot of measures which can be taken to reduce
the carbon footprint of the transport sector.
We focus our research on indicators that can be used to calculate the CO2 emission reductions triggered by transport measures
of different kinds. Indicators which have been assessed as important are: Number of vehicle trips, total passenger kilometers,
average vehice trip length, vehicle energy consumption, fuel carbon content, and many more.
These indicators will be sorted to provide a basic set of indicators, which are sufficient for all practical needs. To assess the carbon
emission savings from a transport measure, we use the ASIF method, which was initially introduced by Schipper et al. (2000) and
is commonly used for example in methodologies for CDM (Clean Development Mechanism), by the GEF (Global Environmental
Facility) and the CTF (Clean Technology Funds). This method is a bottom-up approach to calculate CO2 emissions from the transport sector and can be displayed in a scaled-down version as:
Here, G are the emissions, A is the activity (in km) in a transport sector, S (Split) is the shares of a transport mode, I its energy
intensity (MJ / km) and F the carbon emissions of the fuel(s) (in g CO2 / km).
Each transport measure is changing one or more of these indicators and from this change, the CO2 savings can be calculated.
In the analysis, these four main indicators are split up into sub-indicators. For these indicators, calculation methods are provided
as well as standard values. Additionally, an extensive literature research for sources and experiences with these indicators is
being carried out. An Excel-Tool will developed to give stakeholders and project evaluators an easy method to assess the impact
of possible transport measures.
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REACT e-Newsletter
Issue 4 -October 2010.
In transport measures with the aim to reduce the CO2 emissions, side effects such as negative rebound effects and positive
multiplicator effects are possible. One example is the induced traffic, which describes that after a measure for better traffic flow
new traffic is generated that compensates the positive effect. Another example are measures for fuel consumption reduction,
which leads to decreasing fuel costs for car drivers who then drive more (because it is cheaper) and thus compensate for the CO2
emission savings of the measure. Those effects are being discussed and a literature review on standard values is being carried
out.
The preliminary set of indicators will be discussed in the REACT stakeholder workshop in Milan in February 2011.
Dissemination report: first project year summary
Awareness and dissemination activities constitute a crucial part of REACT project. Therefore, particular attention, during the first
year of the project, has been paid to dissemination and valorization actions that synthesize knowledge coming from REACT project
to a wide variety of stakeholders including the policy makers at national, regional, European and international level. The exploitation of the developed knowledge relating to Strategic Research Agenda in climate-friendly transport has been assured by a sharp
and well focused Dissemination strategy plan, ensuring effective collaboration both internally in the project and with communities
external to it, and coordinating REACT with related project and activities carried out in Europe and elsewhere.
The strategy endeavours all project activities in order to create awareness and engage the widest audience possible on climate
friendly transport research. This dissemination strategy focuses on communicating and stimulating consultations with funding
initiatives to research hot issues and to interact in dialogue with relevant stakeholders
The basic dissemination strategy comprises a combination of various channels, in order to distribute the results and create awareness for the topics they cover. There are several possible channels identified for disseminating information and results about
REACT. The selection of modalities and ways varies in relation to the communication targets. As detailed in the Dissemination strategy plan, during the first 12 months of the project the dissemination activities have included: conferences, teleconferences, meetings, workshops, emails, articles, poster and the creation of the project logo and project website in order to reach the largest
number of professionals and lay audience. These dissemination activities have been conducted in order to interact actively with
all partner organizations. They are also directed so as to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and experience from REACT project to
all possible users both nationally and internationally, and to disseminate the REACT results across the EU member states and associated and candidate countries.
Liaison with “sister” projects
Different new projects, FP7 funded, researching the aspects of climate change and transport for instance scenarios for 2020 or
2050, have been in focus of REACT project, capitalizing on potential synergies. TOSCA and GHG-TransPoRD , the two sister projects,
participated at the first REACT workshop while REACT was present at the first GHG-TransPoRD and will attend the forthcoming
TOSCA too. The main objective was to exchange views and experiences and discuss the projects' outputs which might contribute
in more coherent deliverables and enhanced impact. REACT consortium organised the first workshop, involving participation of
different stakeholders in climate friendly transport research. This workshop was held in Rijeka, Croatia.
REACT articles were also included in newsletters such as the Enterprise Europe Newsletter
REACT Promotional materials.
A number of advertising materials for the REACT project have been produced and distributed through various channels during
international workshops, conferences, Open Days, seminars, etc. that were directly organized by the Project or in which Project
participants took part. We firstly developed the leaflet and logo of the REACT project in order to create the brand identity of the
project. The leaflet has been designed in order to present the project objectives, benefits and tools. It is intended to support the
presentations at conferences, congresses, seminars, etc., and the individual meetings carried out and it will also serve as a dissemination tool for potential mailings to target audiences. In addition, the dissemination materials will be designed and studied according to different dissemination needs, to various events typologies and being tailored to closely follow the evolution of the project..
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REACT e-Newsletter
Issue 4 -October 2010.
Dissemination through conferences and other contacts
The REACT team has also participated in numerous events in order to promote the project and its results. An indicative list can be
found below:
• World Canal Conference 2009, Novi Sad/Serbia, 21 – 27 September, 2009
• Round table "Sustainable development of transport and traffic systems - environmental protection and management of dangerous cargoes",
Belgrade/Serbia, 20th October, 2009
• United Nations Climate Change Conference "COP-15", Copenhagen/Denmark, (8th – 15th December 2009)
• Transportation Research Board 89 Annual meeting, Washington DC/USA (10th – 14th January, 2010)
• RGS workshop on Low-carbon Transport, Cardiff/UK(7th June 2010)
• Westminster Forum on Low-Carbon Transport, London/UK (9th June 2010)
• EURO XXIV international conference in Lisbon (Portugal), July 11-14, 2010
• World Conference on Transport Research(WCTRS), Lisbon/Portugal, 11th - 15th July, 2010
• EURO Working Group on Transportation Meeting, Padova (Italy), 23-25 September 2009
• Conference on Public Services and Public Transport in Low-Demand Regions in Wuppertal, 8th December, 2009
• Conference on “Zero Emission Mobility” in Berlin, 26th January, 2010
• EFONET – Final Conference, European Parliament, Brussels/Belgium, 7th - 8th June 2010
• 34th International Convention MIPRO, Opatija, May 2010.
REACT consortium has contacted all the NCPs in Europe and a great number of funding authorities and policy makers. Information
on the project was emailed to them while they will all be invited in the final event. A high-level meeting was also held at the ministry of Transport of Serbia where REACT was presented to high officials (including the deputy minister) who confirmed their presence to the final event and their support to its organisation.
REACT Cooperative Information Platform
REACT Cooperative Information Platform is considered to be an important building block of the project. The REACT website has
been developed, maintained and updated by GEO. All partners contribute to the enrichment of the website with material and
information regarding current scientific and dissemination activities. Through the REACT webpage the user can obtain all necessary info regarding the project objectives, progress of deliverables, events and developments. EACT consortium understanding
the need and importance of communicating to the relevant audiences the results and developments of the project has implemented a website structure that can correspond to those needs. More specifically through the website design, visual identity and
collaborative and informative tools REACT website aspires to have a lively interaction with the users.
The REACT networking tools are a set of options that give the opportunity to the user to obtain a new and immediate level of
interaction with REACT project activities. The REACT networking tools apart from the coordination activities that fuel the project
deliverables with input, play an important role to the dissemination of the project results as well.
The REACT Knowledge Base Repository (KBR) is developed, by research projects, initiatives, relative information, publications and
gathered by the scientific and coordination activities of REACT project The REACT KBR can disseminate project results and information in a downloadable, high quality, printable form providing the community of climate friendly transport researchers and
stakeholders with a point of reference.
Remarks
Based on the agreed dissemination plan, the consortium partners have performed several dissemination activities. These activities have reached almost 5000 professionals. It can be seen from these activities that our results of this period have been
presented and discussed in more than 30 external dissemination events.
Past activities in REACT naturally focused on improving awareness about the project and interactions with expert audiences. The
focus of the dissemination activities, in the second year of the project, will be spread from raising awareness to dissemination of
project results.
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