On 16 December, the long expected Shift2Rail Calls for proposals were published by the European Commission. The Call consists of two parts, the “Closed Call” aimed at members of the S2R Joint Undertaking, as well as an open part in which organisations not involved in S2R or officially linked to any of the S2R members can participate. It is extremely important to read the EC documents on the Rules of Participation in order to see who is eligible to participate in which part of the Call.
The Call will close on 17 March 2016. The Open Call contains 15 interesting topics supporting the main body of work of the S2R initiative. These topics are organised within five IPs (main research areas) of S2R, but a number of ‘horizontal’ research topics have also been published. There are research topics dealing with IT related issues, freight, noise reduction, energy efficiency issues, interoperability, predictive maintenance, long-term needs of the railway sector and others.
The UIC Research Unit is ready to provide you with all the information you may need and will also help set up a multi-partner consortium to prepare and submit a proposal for each Call topic. Through the RICG – the Research & Innovation Coordination Group – we can maximise the opportunities for the ROC and the development of the future European railway system. The RICG will hold its next meeting in Paris on 9 February which is open to all members but focusing on Europe.
Here are some useful links related to this Open Call:
The first Shift2Rail calls for members and non-members were published on the EC’s H2020 participant portal (deadline for submission 17 March 2016).
See related press release: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/rail/news/2015-12-17-shift2rail-calls_en.htm
Information on the S2R call 2015:
Information on the S2R call 2016:
