Closed

More efficient and effective multimodal freight transport nodes to increase flexibility, service visibility and reduce the average cost of freight transport

HORIZON Innovation Actions

Basic Information

Identifier
HORIZON-CL5-2021-D6-01-07
Programme
Safe, Resilient Transport and Smart Mobility services for passengers and goods
Programme Period
2021 - 2027
Status
Closed (31094503)
Opening Date
June 24, 2021
Deadline
October 19, 2021
Deadline Model
single-stage
Budget
€12,000,000
Keywords
Road infrastructureDigital AgendaTransport engineering, intelligent transport systeTransport engineeringArchitecture, smart buildings, smart cities, urbanIntermodal stationArtificial IntelligenceSocial InnovationInternational Cooperationintermodal transport unitautomationtranshipmentfreight transportstandardisationoperational efficiencymultimodal freight transport nodeslogisticsdigitalisation

Description

ExpectedOutcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

  • More efficient, effective and sustainable management of goods and freight flows in (air)ports and inland terminals, taking into account all costs (economic, social and environmental) of the proposed solutions/innovations, including externalities and possible rebound effects.
  • Expanded throughput of the nodes thanks to increased operational efficiency and optimised use of assets and infrastructures, without expanding the physical facilities.
  • Improved access to transhipment services at reduced costs.
  • More visible and standardised services provided within the multimodal freight transport nodes, seamlessly accessible by end users to maintain continuous door-to-door tracking of freight locations and boost shifting cargo to more efficient and sustainable transport modes.
  • Increased automation, digitalisation, standardisation and interoperability of processes, technologies and equipment, particularly intermodal transport units (ITUs) and cargo transport/transhipment procedures in multimodal freight transport nodes.
  • Better integration of the various freight transport nodes into overall logistic chains.
Scope:

To achieve competitive sustainability and higher levels of efficiency taking account of all costs and externalities and to maximise the utilisation of the multimodal freight transport nodes’ capacity, the proposals should research and demonstrate all of the following points:

  • Building on previous EU and other funded projects[1], and enabling compatibility with legacy systems, demonstrate and quantify the benefits of using different intermodal transport units (ITUs) and innovative automated loading systems to support multimodal logistics operations. Further develop standardisation strategies on intermodal transport units also focusing on different modes and logistics operators, cargo transport/transhipment procedures, technologies and interfaces to enable flexibility, efficiency and sustainability of the transport system.
  • In line with the strategy for EU international cooperation in research and innovation, international cooperation on standardisation of ITUs is encouraged.
  • Building on previous and on-going Horizon 2020 and CEF funded projects[2] and the Digital Transport and Logistics Forum’s findings[3], deploy and demonstrate advanced cooperative logistics IT solutions in actual operational environment (minimum at TRL 7) focusing on better integration of the nodes in overall supply chains and the accessibility and usability of node services in an automated/digital manner, with a user perspective approach. The deployed IT solutions should:
    • Provide full visibility of the standard services offered by the multimodal freight transport nodes, and by the companies operating in them, e.g. open and shared warehouses, terminal services, transhipment facilities, transport services from and to the terminals;
    • Providing better estimated and actual times of arrival and of departure through real time track and trace of the transport and goods, benefitting from standardised identification (e.g. RFID, new sensors) and improved positioning accuracy based on European GNSS;
    • Provide automated decision support system functionalities to optimise the supply chain overall performance and its resilience against disruptive events (including pandemics);
    • Ensure compatibility of deployed solutions with existing legacy systems;
    • Ensure the resilience of data and management systems to mitigate the consequence of accidental or malicious interventions;
    • Address data ownership, confidentiality, governance and access rights;
    • Facilitate greenhouse gas emissions reduction through, for example, smart scheduling and routing on expected arrivals times to nodes/terminals supporting slower approaching speeds.
  • Capitalising on previous Horizon 2020 projects[4], demonstrate the effectiveness of new business models and collaborative approaches - preferably supported by the IT infrastructure and solutions outlined above - able to support cooperative logistics operations with focus on the provision of open logistics nodal services. The business models should consider the legal constraints and include appropriate frameworks for contractual relations in collaborative environments. Based on the deployment of these new business models, identify concrete legal barriers and regulations at both European and national levels preventing their adoption and market uptake, and propose solutions and specific policy recommendations.
  • Ensure compatibility with existing and emerging EU logistics standards such as the European Maritime Single Window environment[5] for maritime transport and the platforms for Electronic Freight Transport information[6] and with the outcomes of initiatives such as the Digital Transport and Logistics Forum (DTLF).

Social innovation is recommended when the solution is at the socio-technical interface and requires social change, new social practices, social ownership or market uptake.

Specific Topic Conditions:

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 7-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

Cross-cutting Priorities:

International Cooperation
Social Innovation

[1]Horizon 2020 funded projects such as MODULUSHCA (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/314468), Clusters2.0 (http://www.clusters20.eu/), AEROFLEX (https://aeroflex-project.eu/), and Less than Wagon Load (http://lessthanwagonload.eu/).

[2]Horizon 2020 funded projects such as AEOLIX (https://aeolix.eu/), SELIS (http://www.selisproject.eu/), COREALIS (https://www.corealis.eu/), 5G-LOGINNOV (https://5g-ppp.eu/5g-loginnov/), and Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funded projects such as iTerminals 4.0 (https://iterminalsproject.eu/)

[3]Enabling organisations to reap the benefits of data sharing in logistics and supply chain, https://www.dtlf.eu/sites/default/files/public/uploads/fields/page/field_file/executive_summary2_reading__0.pdf

[4]Horizon 2020 funded projects such as ICONET https://www.iconetproject.eu/, and LOGISTAR https://logistar-project.eu/.

[5]Regulation (EU) 2019/1239 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 establishing a European Maritime Single Window environment and repealing Directive 2010/65/EU.

[6]Regulation (EU) 2020/1056 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2020 on electronic freight transport information (Text with EEA relevance)

View on EU Portal →

Destination & Scope

This Destination includes activities addressing safe and smart mobility services for passengers and goods.

Europe needs to manage the transformation of supply-based transport into safe, resilient and sustainable transport and demand-driven, smart mobility services for passengers and goods. Suitable research and innovation will enable significant safety, environmental, economic and social benefits by reducing accidents caused by human error, decreasing traffic congestion, reducing energy consumption and emissions of vehicles, increasing efficiency and productivity of freight transport operations. To succeed in this transformation, Europe’s ageing (and not always sustainable) transport infrastructure needs to be prepared for enabling cleaner and smarter operations.

Europe needs also to maintain a high-level of transport safety for its citizens. Resilience should be built in the transport systems to prevent, mitigate and recover from disruptions. Research and innovation will underpin the three safety pillars: technologies, regulations and human factors.

This Destination contributes to the following Strategic Plan’s Key Strategic Orientations (KSO):

  • C: Making Europe the first digitally enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy through the transformation of its mobility, energy, construction and production systems;
  • A: Promoting an open strategic autonomy[[‘Open strategic autonomy’ refers to the term ‘strategic autonomy while preserving an open economy’, as reflected in the conclusions of the European Council 1 – 2 October 2020.]] by leading the development of key digital, enabling and emerging technologies, sectors and value chains to accelerate and steer the digital and green transitions through human-centred technologies and innovations.

It covers the following impact areas:

  • Industrial leadership in key and emerging technologies that work for people;
  • Smart and sustainable transport.

The expected impact, in line with the Strategic Plan, is to contribute to “Safe, seamless, smart, inclusive, resilient and sustainable mobility systems for people and goods thanks to user-centric technologies and services including digital technologies and advanced satellite navigation services”, notably through:

  1. Accelerating the implementation of innovative connected, cooperative and automated mobility (CCAM) technologies and systems for passengers and goods (more detailed information below).
  2. Further developing a multimodal transport system through sustainable and smart long-haul and urban freight transport and logistics, upgraded and resilient physical and digital infrastructures for smarter vehicles and operations, for optimised system-wide network efficiency (more detailed information below).
  3. Drastically decreasing the number of transport accidents, incidents and fatalities towards the EU’s long-term goal of moving close to zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2050 even in road transportation (Vision Zero) and increase the resilience of transport systems (more detailed information below).

Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM)

The aim of relevant topics under this Destination is to accelerate the implementation of innovative connected, cooperative and automated mobility (CCAM) technologies and systems. Actions will help to develop new mobility concepts for passengers and goods – enabled by CCAM - leading to healthier, safer, more accessible, sustainable, cost-effective and demand-responsive transport everywhere. CCAM solutions will shift design and development from a driver-centred to mobility-user oriented approach, providing viable alternatives for private vehicle ownership while increasing inclusiveness of mobility. CCAM must be integrated in the whole transport system to fully exploit the potential benefits of CCAM and minimise potential adverse effects, such as increasingly congested traffic or new risks in mixed traffic environments.

The focus is on road transport, but relevant interfaces with other modes (for instance transfers and integration with public transport or rail freight transport) will be considered.

All technologies, solutions, testing and demonstration activities resulting from these actions should be documented fully and transparently, to ensure replicability, increase adoption, up-scaling, assist future planning decisions and EU and national policy-making and increase citizen buy-in.

Actions are in line with the recommendations of the new European Partnership on CCAM. The Vision of the Partnership is: “European leadership in safe and sustainable road transport through automation”. It aims to harmonise European R&I efforts to accelerate the implementation of innovative CCAM technologies and services. It aims to exploit the full systemic benefits of new mobility solutions enabled by CCAM. The European Partnership on CCAM plans to closely cooperate with other European Partnerships, in particular with “Towards zero emission road transport” (2ZERO), “Driving Urban Transitions” (DUT), “Key digital technologies” (KDT), “Smart networks and services” (SNS) and “AI, data and robotics” (AI). The European Partnership will establish cooperation mechanisms to ensure close interaction when defining R&I actions to maximise synergies and avoid overlaps.

R&I actions taking place at a socio-technical level aiming to better understand the science-society relationship (particularly when social practices, market uptake or ownership are concerned) should favour solutions that are grounded in social innovation in order to achieve its desired outcomes, i.e. by matching innovative ideas with social needs and by forming new collaborations between public and private actors, including civil society and researchers from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH).

To test CCAM solutions, applicants can seek possibilities of involving the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in order to valorise the relevant expertise and physical facilities of JRC in demonstrating and testing energy and mobility applications of the JRC Living Lab for Future Urban Ecosystems https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/research-facility/living-labs-at-the-jrc

The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting connected, cooperative and automated mobility under this Destination are:

  • Validated safety and security, improved robustness and resilience of CCAM technologies and systems.
  • Secure and trustworthy interaction between road users, CCAM and “conventional” vehicles, infrastructure and services to achieve safer and more efficient transport flows (people and goods) and better use of infrastructure capacity.
  • Seamless, affordable and user oriented CCAM based mobility and goods deliveries for all and high public acceptance of these services with clear understanding of its benefits and limits as well as rebound effects; based on the changing mobility needs and desires of a society in transition (digitally and environmentally).
  • Better coordination of R&I and large-scale testing activities in Europe and expanded knowledge base on CCAM solutions.
  • European leadership in the development and deployment of connected and automated mobility and logistics services and systems, ensuring long-term growth and jobs.

Multimodal and sustainable transport systems for passengers and goods

Multimodal and sustainable transport systems are the backbone for efficient mobility of passengers and freight. In particular, the areas of infrastructure, logistics and network/traffic management play a major role in making mobility and transport climate neutral, also through the digitalisation of the sectors. At the same time, being vulnerable to climate change and other disruptions, resilience in these three areas need to be increased. New and advanced infrastructures across all transport modes are required to enable the introduction of new vehicles, operations and mobility services. Furthermore, efficient and smart multimodal logistics are key for seamless and sustainable long-haul, regional and urban freight transport movements. Finally, dynamic multimodal network and traffic management systems are the “glue” of the entire transport network, for optimised door-to-door mobility of both passengers and freight.

To test solutions related to multimodal and sustainable transport systems for passengers and good, applicants may seek possibilities of involving the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in order to valorise the relevant expertise and physical facilities of JRC in demonstrating and testing energy and mobility applications of the JRC Living Lab for Future Urban Ecosystems[[https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/research-facility/living-labs-at-the-jrc]].

The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting Multimodal and sustainable transport systems for passengers and goods under this Destination are:

  • Upgraded and resilient physical and digital infrastructure for clean, accessible, affordable, connected and automated multimodal mobility.
  • Sustainable and smart long-haul, regional and urban freight transport and logistics, through increased efficiency, improved interconnectivity and smart enforcement.
  • Reduced external costs (e.g. congestion, traffic jams, emissions, air and noise pollution, road collisions) of urban, peri-urban (regional) and long distance freight transport as well as optimised system-wide network efficiency and resilience.
  • Enhanced local and/or regional capacity for governance and innovation in urban mobility and logistics.

Safety and resilience - per mode and across all transport modes

Safety and resilience are of primary concern for any transport system. The EU set ambitious targets in its 2011 Transport White Paper, the third Mobility Package and, more recently, the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy[[COM(2020) 789 final.]]. COVID-19 has been a stark reminder of the importance of resilience to external disruptions, particularly for transport. Research and innovation will underpin the three pillars affecting safety and resilience: technologies; regulations (alongside acceptable level of risks); and human factors (individual and organisational aspects, including interaction with automation). The approach is risk-based and systemic, including transport means/vehicles, infrastructure, the physical environment (e.g. weather) and the various actors (e.g. manufacturers, regulators, operators, users) as well as all their interfaces, including certification and standardisation bodies.

Synergies should be exploited across research at national, EU and international level together with national authorities, EU agencies and international organisations to improve rulemaking, safety promotion and oversight.

The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting transport safety and resilience under this Destination are:

Safety in Urban Areas/ Road Transport Safety

  • 50% reduction in serious injuries and fatalities in road crashes by 2030.
  • Improved reliability and performance of systems that aim to anticipate and minimize safety risks, avoiding risks and collisions, and reducing the consequences of unavoidable crashes.
  • Drastic reduction of road fatalities and serious crash injuries in low and medium income countries in Africa.
  • Better design principles of future road transport systems enabling also better traffic flow in big cities.

Waterborne Safety and Resilience

  • Ensure healthy passenger shipping by preventing and mitigating the spread of contagious diseases and infections.

Aviation Safety and Resilience

  • Decrease number of accidents and incidents due to organisational/human/automation factors and external hazards in all phases of flight, also beyond CAT category (80% goal in FlightPath2050), while enabling all weather operations.
  • Saving lives following a crash (post-crash survivability).
  • Anticipate emergence of new threats that could generate potential accidents and incidents (short, medium, and long term).
  • Ensure safety through aviation transformation (from green/digital technologies uptake up to independent certification).
  • Maintain safety and resilience despite the scale, pace and diversity of new entrants.

Eligibility & Conditions

General conditions

1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes

The page limit of the application is 70 pages.

 

 

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

 

 

2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

 

3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

 

If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).

 

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes

 

 

5. Evaluation and award:

 

  • Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
  • Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
  • Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes

 

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes

 

Specific conditions

7. Specific conditions: described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

 

Documents

Call documents:

Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System

The standard application form can be found in the link below, but be cautious that for this Call topic, the limit of 70 pages applies.

Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)

Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations

Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)

MGA

HE General MGA v1.0

 

Additional documents:

HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 1. General Introduction

HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility

HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 12. Missions

HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 13. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide

HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695

HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764

EU Financial Regulation

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Support & Resources

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Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.

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CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk –  the European Standards Organisations advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal.  

The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.

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