# IFSTTAR’s implication in European networks

IFSTTAR takes part in the construction of the European Research Area, in particular by focusing its research themes on European agendas and contributing to the relevant European instruments. Ifsttar is deeply involved in most European networks and maintains a strategical involvement in the most important European structures and associations for its researchers, seeking to develop synergies between them, through the European Research Transportation Alliance (ETRA).

These efforts are successful and contribute to a collaborative dynamics. For example, Ifsttar has committed itself to more than 93 FP7 projects and already more than 30 in Horizon 2020.

IFSTTAR’s European presence is deeply rooted in several organisation-networks:

  * ECTP - European Construction Technology Platform

ECTP is a European Technology Platform (ETP), i.e. an industry-led actor forum recognized by the European Commission as a key player in innovation, knowledge transfer and Competitiveness.  
Founded in 2004, ECTP brings together the collective vision of the European built environment. It brings together 163 member organizations, 26 countries in Europe (EU and associated countries Switzerland, Turkey and Israel), through the construction sector and other sectors throughout the built environment chain.  
  
ECTP intends to inform and influence research and innovation investments in Europe through work and projects in partnership with the European Commission and / or other sectors.  
ECTP comprises 5 groups whose members are being nominated:

    * \- Active Ageing & Design
    * \- Energy Efficient Buildings (E2B)
    * \- Heritage & Regeneration
    * \- Infrastructure & Mobility
    * \- Materials & Sustainability 

  * ELGIP - European Large Geotechnical Institutes Platform

ELGIP is putting together the main European actors of Geotechnic research. 

It is valuable forum for discussion, collaboration, information and experiences exchange, particularly in the framework of European projects elaboration. 

Members:

    * \- Germany: Technical University Darmstadt
    * \- Belgium: Belgian Building Research Institute (BBRI)
    * \- France: Ifsttar
    * \- Spain: Centro de Estudios y Experimentacion de Obras, Publicas, Laboratorio de Geotecnia (CEDEX)
    * \- Italy: Politecnico di Torino
    * \- Norway: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI)
    * \- The Netherlands: Deltares
    * \- Poland: Warsaw Geotechnical Laboratories Group
    * \- Portugal: Laboratorio Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC)
    * \- Slovenia: University of Maribor
    * \- Sweden: Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI)
    * \- Czech Republic: Czech Technical University in Prague (CTUP)
    * \- United Kigdom: Cambridge University (Schofield Centre)

YELGIP (Young ELGIP) is a spin off of ELGIP more specifically dedicated to young researchers in Geotechnics and organize specific meetings. 

  * ECTRI - European Conference of Transport Research Institutes

ECTRI was founded in April 2003 as an international non-profit organization and is based in Brussels. Its members are 28 major transport research institutes or universities from 21 European countries. 

ECTRI aims to contribute to the construction of the European Research Area (ERA) in surface transport by developing cooperation among its members in working groups, projects, thematic meetings and processes relevant to transport research. 

Since January 2017, Ifsttar holds the Vice-President position in ECTRI (Mr Jean Paul Mizzi); About fifteen IFSTTAR researchers are involved in the thematic groups of ECTRI (Mobility, road safety, safety and risk management, Freight and logistics, Ecopol, Traffic management) to produce strategic documents for action proposals. Research into the preparation of the Multi-annual Framework Program for Research (PCRD). 

  * EECI (VCE) – European Embedded Control Institute

EECI is an association founded in 2006 within the framework of the HYCON network of excellence (FP6-IST-511368). The objective is to become an essential focal point by stimulating multi-national and multidisciplinary collaborative research on embedded control.  
The EECI therefore strives to break down barriers between disciplines and to facilitate the dissemination of methods and tools. It develops training for students and researchers and encourages technology transfer to industry. 

More information on EECI web site

  * ERTICO - European Road Transport Telematics Implementation Coordination Organization - Intelligent Transport Systems & Services Europe

ERTICO is the European intelligent transport association created in 1991; IFSTTAR is a member since 2011. 

The main activities of ERTICO are:

    * \- Influence on the Commission (including DGs in charge of research and transport) on "ITS" subjects
    * \- Piloting of "innovative platforms "such as:
      * \- eSafety
      * \- Navigation/digital maps linked to Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADASIS)
      * \- eMobility ICT Interoperability Innovation (eMI3)
      * \- Trafic and Traveller Information (TISA)
      * \- Trafic Management 2.0 (TM 2.0)
      * \- Transport Network ITS Spatial Data (TN-ITS)
    * \- Networking and project-based work with community-based funding, CSA, research projects, tests
    * \- Conference organizer ITS Europe and ITS World. 

ERTICO has around 115 members. 

  * ETRA - European Transport Alliance

ETRA represents the alliance of five European associations / VCEs: ECTRI, EURNEX, FEHRL, FERSI, HUMANIST. 

This alliance aims at building a common vision for transport research in Europe for the period 2014-2020 with regard to governance, major scientific challenges and the organization of financing. 

The ETRA alliance has produced a number of strategic programming documents and organised scientific days, in particular at the TRA 2014 and 2016 conferences. 

Historically there was a president and a general secretary. In 2017, a rotating presidency between members has been adopted. 

  * EURNEX is a Network of excellence funded by the sixth Framework Programme (FP6) co-founded by IFSTTAR, which then became an association dedicated to railway research. 

The association has the following main objectives:

    * \- Participate in the integration of the railway research landscape in Europe, now fragmented
    * \- Contribute to the development of the future European railway system, which is more competitive by offering excellent research and education
    * \- Ensure the viability of the network through a strong association, bringing sustainable added value to its members and stakeholders in the rail system.
    * \- Strengthen cooperation in research and education, as well as the exchange of knowledge between the members of the association, European universities and research institutions
    * \- Facilitate the planning and implementation of joint research projects between members and create a sustainable research environment for the rail sector

EURNEX comprises 44 universities and research centers / institutes from 20 EU member states and Russia as well as major European railway associations such as UIC, UITP and UNIFE. 

Mr El Miloudi El Koursi (COSYS-Laboratory LEOST) from IFSTTAR is vice-chair of the association, involved in the thematic groups Smart mobility, safety and security, infrastructure and signaling and human factors. 

  * FEHRL - European Forum of National Road Research Laboratories 

FEHRL is an international association, based in Brussels, representing more than 30 national research institutes and laboratories throughout Europe and associated members from non-European countries (USA, Australia, Africa South and Israel). 

Since its creation in 1989, FEHRL has been working to strengthen the quality of road transport networks and to recognize the vital role those networks in Europe. The FEHRL is involved in research topics on road engineering, environmental issues, intelligent transport and geo-technologies. 

The main roles of FEHRL are to:

    * \- Actively participate in technological innovations in the construction and maintenance of road infrastructures
    * \- Protect the environment and improve the quality of life.
    * \- Contribute to creating and maintaining an efficient and secure road network in Europe

Mrs H. Jacquot Guimbal, Executive Director of IFSTTAR, has been Vice-President of the FERHL since 2015; Ms Agnès Jullien, Director of European and International Affairs of Ifsttar is member of the FEHRL Executive Committee since 2016, several Ifsttar researchers are involved in bodies and groups of experts. 

Finally, Ifsttar has been in association with the FERHL very involved in the "For Ever Open Road" approach. 

  * FERSI - European Forum of Road Safety Research Institutes

The European Forum of Road Safety Research Institutes (FERSI), set up in 1991, aims to encourage collaboration between European research institutes on road safety. It brings together 24 partners from European countries with a mandate from their governments to carry out pre-normative road safety research. 

The main mission of FERSI is to promote and coordinate high-quality research on road safety issues, consultations on the implementation of research results and to evaluate scientifically the implementation results. 

FERSI acts on behalf of its members as their representative to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council, while promoting the development of road safety research within the framework of European projects. 

IFSTTAR is co-founder of FERSI. Dominique Mignot (Director of Health and Safety Transport Department) is a member of the FERSI Executive Board. 

A dozen researchers from Ifsttar are directly involved in the work carried out by the working groups 

  * HUMANIST - Human Center for Design Information Society Technologies

This network of excellence has been founded during the six Framework Programme (FP6) by IFSTTAR/ Lescot lab, and has since become a virtual center of excellence. 

The objective of HUMANIST is to bring research themes related to the design of Information and Communication Technologies in Transport, to carry out federation actions of research and dissemination of knowledge at European level. 

With 16 partners in Europe (university and research center), Humanist's activities are the identification and writing of relevant research priority themes in response to the content of the H2020 tenders, with the aim of initiating proposals to be submitted to the European Commission. 

Humanist organises a conference as well as summers schools every two years since 2008 (the last one in June 2016 in Loughborough, UK). 

IFSTTAR hosts the secretariat of Humanist at its premises. 

  * Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe

It is a Joint Programming Initiative between 14 European states; Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom. It is a coordinated long-term research and innovation initiative to guide urban development in the context of global change. 

The approach is systemic, interdisciplinary and horizontal. It focuses on the interfaces between economy, mobility and ecology, serving society by raising public awareness and acceptability. 

This action promotes interactions between researchers, decision-makers, companies and civil society, with an innovative and impact-oriented approach. It is the entry point of the European Union for all stakeholders with an interest in urban planning. 

IFSTTAR is a member of JPI Urban on behalf of the Allenvi alliance (environment). 

IFSTTAR is part of the Governing Board with Mr A. Fremont, Deputy Scientific Director, in the management board with Mrs A. Ruas. 

  * NEARCTIS - Network for Advanced Road Cooperative Traffic Management in the Information Society

NEARCTIS is a FP7 Network of Excellence which has since become a Virtual Center of Excellence, in optimizing road traffic management by developing the use of cooperative transport systems. The idea is to exploit the potential of interactions between infrastructures, vehicles and drivers to meet the major challenges of road safety, environment, scarcity of fossil fuels and congestion of infrastructures. 

The main objectives of the network are:

    * \- Bring together European academic research in the field of traffic management
    * \- Build a virtual research institute with an integrated research program, common pooling resources, policy for the dissemination of methods and results and coordinated training capacities
    * \- Strengthen and maintain academic co-operation and with economic actors

This network is divided into 4 working groups to provide knowledge of state-of-the-art on traffic management and intelligent transport systems, to participate in proposals for research direction, to assist in the identification of Experimentation sites and share its experience of trainings given traffic management. 

NEARCTIS comprises 15 partner organisations and is managed by IFSTTAR. 

  * VPH - Virtual Physiological Human Network of Excellence

The goal of VPH is to promote, harmonize and integrate European research in the fields of biomechanical modeling and simulation of the human body. This work will improve our ability to predict, diagnose and treat diseases and will have a major impact on the future of our health systems, pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries. 

In the perspective of Ifsttar, this network is to lobby European institutions and communities to develop physiological modeling of the human body in order to improve diagnosis and contribute to personalised medicine. The methods developed and the tools required for these scientific objectives are shared with those needed for transport applications (big data, data sharing, open source tool, etc.) 

In this context, the VPH network involves the participation of the clinical and industrial sectors and wishes to be the collaboration and interaction node between research communities and health actors.