Transnational call for proposals between Europe and China in the ERA-NET Cofund "Urban Accessibility and Connectivity"

In the framework of the ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (EN-UAC), the ANR is launching, in collaboration with 8 European countries and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), a call for proposals , to fund research and innovation projects with the aim of developing policies for more sustainable urban mobility.

CONTEXT

In answer to the global urbanisation challenge, the NFSC and JPI Urban Europe agreed to work towards a long-term cooperation programme in the field of sustainable urbanisation. This cooperation is based on the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) of JPI Urban Europe and the 13th Five Year Plan of the NSFC. A first call between the two parties took place in 2018.

This is the second call between JPI Urban Europe and NSFC as an additional call of the ERA-NET Cofund EN-UAC.

In the field of urban accessibility and connectivity, EN-UAC aims to meet the needs of urban public authorities to implement policies for a more sustainable urban mobility.

OBJECTIVES OF THE CALL

This call aims to support research and innovation projects with a high scientific and societal impact by:

• Mobilising a very wide range of scientific disciplines, in particular in interdisciplinary projects addressing current challenges in transport and logistics, mobility and urban sustainability. Disciplines may include, but are not limited to, management, economics, civil and industrial engineering, operations research, psychology, computer science, geography, sociology and urban planning.
   
• Encouraging collaborations between different types of partners: public research institutions, private research institutions, companies, cities/municipalities/regions, NGOs...
   
• Involving stakeholders in the consortia in order to ensure a better transfer of research results to the actors of the urban transition.

TOPICS OF THE CALL

A proposal must address at least one theme of the call but can be linked to a combination of both if it addresses a cross-cutting issue:

Theme 1: Sustainable Urban Logistics in the Age of Digitization

Urban transport and logistics operations are part of complex supply chains that serve the daily needs of billions of city dwellers. As the world's population increasingly migrates to cities, as cities expand in population and space, and as agricultural, construction and manufactured goods are sourced further and further afield, urban transport and logistics systems have become part of increasingly time-consuming and slow to respond supply systems. At the same time, transport and logistics systems within cities are becoming increasingly fragmented and reactive.

Theme 2: Strengthening Climate-neutral Mobility

Long-time urban issues linked to transportation include traffic congestion, carbon footprint, air and soil pollution, road safety and land consumption. In a context of growing and expanding urban entities, most of these problems remain, but several key parameters of urban development are currently challenged, shaken by uncertain societal trends, working habits and new technologies, calling for a renewed research effort. To address the current environmental and societal issues we face, we must find an alternative model to the urban sprawl and car-oriented model that performs negatively regarding most sustainable urban development indicators.

Readers interested by this call for proposals are invited to carefully read the text of the call as well as the annex for French participants available on this page.

APPLICATIONS TO THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Funding agencies from eight European countries participate in this call for proposals in partnership with the Natural Science Foundation of China (NFSC): Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden.

Projects funded under the present call for proposals must be submitted by consortium composed of at least two European partners, eligible for funding, from two European countries participating in the call. On the other hand, the consortium must be composed of at least two and up to three Chinese partners (from different affiliates, one of which is the main applicant of the proposal to the NSFC). A consortium must include at least one partner representing the "urban public authority".

Within each selected consortium, funding for participating beneficiaries will be provided by their respective national funding agencies, according to their terms and conditions of funding. Thus, the ANR will only fund the French teams.