Objectives

The main objectives of the SITPRO Plus Project are to employ the results and findings from FP5 and FP6 projects in the Transport Programme so as to contribute to

a. the definition of new research policy objectives and
b. intermediate performance targets for FP7.

As regards the first objective, in the context of European transport research, policy objectives are determined by several factors; the specific objectives of the Common Transport Policy (CTP), the broader objectives of other Community policies and the development of the European Research Area (ERA). On the basis of these objectives a research agenda will be drawn up, which, in turn, will determine the content of the Transport Research Programme and the specific research projects.

To achieve the second project objective, i.e. to set out performance targets for FP7, SITPRO Plus is developing a methodology for assessing and evaluating transport research projects supported in FP5 and FP6 and based on an ‘objectives–led’ approach. The types of impacts will ultimately be measured against the following objectives:

• Strengthening the industrial competitiveness of European industry by identifying the potential user sector(s), the type of impact (new/ improved process technologies/ products/ services etc., environmental, cost, performance improvements etc.) and mechanisms for disseminating and promoting the uptake of the research;
• Contributing to sustainable development and addressing societal problems in terms of generating new knowledge relevant to social, environmental and economic issues;
• Improving Community and public policies by disseminating the knowledge generated and involving the target users (policy makers at regional/ national/ EC/ international levels).

SITPRO Plus attempts to analyze the research results in a way that is directly useful for providing a feedback loop to the definition of new research objectives as well as providing input to the development of the Common Transport Policy and the European Research Area.