Brussels,  23/04/2010  -  The  EU 8th  Research Framework Programme (FP8)

covering  the  period  2014 to 2020 should declare sustainable mobility a

key  priority  for  research  funding and further encourage collaborative

research in the road transport and automotive sector. This will ensure to

reaping  maximum  benefit  from the work started within the 7th Programme

and sustain progress towards sustainable mobility.

These  recommendations  were  published today by the European Council for

Automotive  R&D  (EUCAR) in the paper ‘FP8 -- Priorities for Transport’’.

The   paper   is   EUCAR’s   initial  contribution  to  what  will  be  a

multi-stakeholder  discussion  between  the  Commission,  Member  States,

European  Parliament,  industry and academia to define Europe’s R&D focus

up  to  2020.  The  EUCAR  paper also relates directly to the Europe 2020

strategy, which calls for a European “Innovation Union”, the Commission’s

Strategy for Clean and Efficient Vehicles and the upcoming White Paper on

the Future of Transport.

The major European automotive manufacturers invest over €26bn per year in

research   and   development,  responding  to  the  societal  demand  for

sustainable  transport,  which  includes a competitive industry, safe and

affordable mobility of people and goods and a clean environment.

EUCAR  Chairman  Marc Duval-Destin, Vice President, Research and Advanced

Engineering  at  PSA Peugeot-Citroën stated: “FP8 should enhance the EU’s

support  for  collaborative  R&D in the automotive sector, increasing the

effectiveness   of   research  through  cooperation  and  leveraging  our

industry’s  private  investments”.  The current 7th Framework Programme’s

“Cooperation”  programme  is  funding  research projects which bring many

industrial    companies    and   research   organisations   together   in

pre-competitive  common  projects,  creating  a  pool  of  expertise  and

broadening the potential for exploitation of the results.

The main conclusions of the paper read as follows:

Structure  the  8th  Framework  Programme  to  include coherent

research themes, in which mobility and transport is included as one of

the priority themes.

Allocate a significant level of R&D funding to the mobility and

transport  priority  theme,  recognising road transport and automotive

research as a primary topic within that theme.

Ensure  consistent  cooperation  between  the EU and Member States to

enhance  the  effectiveness  of  research  activities  in the European

Research Area.

Embed  solutions for administrative burdens in research funding

into the structure of the 8th Framework Programme.

Continue  to  consult  actively  with  industry  to  ensure its

optimum  contribution  to  the  development  and  execution of the 8th

Framework Programme.

The full text of EUCAR’s priorities on FP8 is available at www.eucar.be

Contact point:

Dr Simon Godwin, Director EUCAR (European Council for Automotive R&D)

sg@eucar.be Tel: +32 2 738 73 66 Mob: +32 474 352 632