6 December 2018 | Brussels, Belgium

The first edition of the ERF Lab was organised in the Espace MontePaschi Belgio gathering opinions from stakeholders different than the road industry but with high involvement in future patterns of mobility.

The latest technological developments and new trends in the global mobility framework are already impacting the road infrastructure sector and will do so even more in the future. The road infrastructure has to respond to these new challenges and look ahead to be ready for this evolving disruptive process.

Inspired by the series of Lab events organised during the last 2 years by the Spanish Road Association (AEC), the ERF Lab chose to start a series of Lab events, by gathering experts of transport, urban planning, mobility, artificial intelligence, service providers, representatives from private and public sectors. The philosophy of these ERF Labs is to foster cooperation and dialogue between all major players of the mobility and in particular road mobility.

Hence the organisation of the first edition of the ERF Lab on 6th December. The event was structured around two major topics: ‘Connecting the road infrastructure’ and ‘Ecosystems for better mobility’.

Keynote speakers from private, public and institutional sectors presented their vision and expertise with the participants. Presentations were followed by an interactive and animated discussion between all.

This first edition also coincided with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the ERF, which has established itself as a reference for representing the road infrastructure sector during the past 20 years, and it will continue to contribute to consolidate the leadership of roads as transport mode in the future.

Further to the success of this first Lab, the ERF will regularly organise other similar events, fostering the dialogue and interaction between professionals, academics and researchers.

25 October 2018 | Brussels, Belgium

The next generation of mobility will involve, among others, new players from the energy and telecommunication sector. An efficient inter – sectoral cooperation will bring several benefits to traditional stakeholders, road managers and users in terms of safety, sustainability and efficiency.

The ERF Lab is intended to be the first of a series of events to give the floor to representatives from the ecosystem around roads to present their visions on future mobility trends and possible impacts on the road infrastructure sector.

This event will take place at Espace Monte Paschi (Avenue d’Auderghem 22-28 1040 Brussels) from 14:00 to 17:30.

The programme will feature a series of interesting speakers such as:
• Jacobo Díaz Pineda (AEC- Spanish Road Association)
• Xavier Tackoen (Espaces Mobilité)
• Rik Nuyttens (3M)
• Pedro Miguel Rosado Barradas (European Commission)

The complete programme will be available soon.

The ERF Lab will be followed by a cocktail reception to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the European Union Road Federation.

14 September 2017 | Brussels, Belgium

Chaired by MEP Ismael Ertug, the Driving Future Platform is dedicated to better understanding the complex legal and technical issues related to the advent of autonomous cars.

On 5 September, the Driving Future Platform held a panel debate on ‘Autonomous Driving and Digital Analogue Infrastructure. The purpose of the event was for experts to debate the implications autonomous vehicles will have on road infrastructure, both from a digital and physical perspective.

ERF President Rik Nuyttens was invited to give the perspective of the road infrastructure sector from an industry viewpoint. Given that the short to medium term will be characterised by the presence of mixed traffic conditions where conventional and automonous vehicles will co-exist, it is important to understand how infrastructure solutions such as marking and sign can be adapted to serve both the driver and the vehicle. In this sense, ERF is working with other partners under the auspice of the CEN TC 226 Ad-hoc working group to understand how Lane Keeping Assist and Intelligent Speed Adaptation systems can function optimally with the infrastructure, while continuing to serve the visual needs of drivers.

14 October 2015 | Moscow, Russia

On 13 October, ERF and AVTODOR (Russian Highways) organised a half day seminar whose aim was to exchange knowhow on new technologies and explore the appropriate legal frameworks that could enable a greater uptake of innovative solutions in the road sector.

This technical conference was held within the context of the DOROGA Expo which represents the main annual event for the road infrastructure industry in Russia, gathering more than 5000 participants. The event was officially opened by the Minister of Transport Maksim Sokolov together with AVTODOR Chairman Sergei Kelbakh.

In the words of Christophe Nicodème, Director General of the European Union Road Federation, “sharing European knowledge and experiences with AVTODOR experts represent an opportunity to discuss innovative solutions, ensure road infrastructure safety management and deploy smart solutions to improve mobility for citizens in both regions”.

The second edition of the ERF-AVTODOR joint seminar was split into two strategic sessions. The first session was dedicated to the topic of ‘Boosting innovation in road construction and management’ and featured speakers from the EU and the Russian Federation.  Given that billions of euros are spent every year on road construction maintenance, public procurement can be powerful tool that can help authorities choose the most cost-effective solutions, provide better incentives for company innovation and, most importantly, provide the best-value for money to taxpayers in terms of road safety.

In this sense, the new Directive 2014/24 at European level definitely represents a step forward given that it seeks to move away from the cheapest price model and encourage authorities to consider other elements such a lifecycle and environmental externalities.  For this to become a reality, however, a stronger cooperation between public authorities and industry is needed in order to arrive at a common framework of how the provision of the new Directive should apply to the road sector.  In addition to exploring the role of public procurement as a vector for innovation, the session also touched upon other topics such as integrative ITS systems for motorways and how new technologies can enable road data collection, auditing at high speed.

The second session, held under the title ‘Adapting road elements to future challenges’, featured a series of presentations by ERF members who showcased innovative developments for road infrastructure elements.  In the field of passive safety, the session touched upon the new enhanced role that numerical simulations will have in predicting road safety equipment behaviour, the importance of emergency openings on motorways in case of accidents and how innovative end-terminals can play a double function by also acting as a crash cushion.  With respect to active safety, the session featured two presentations on best practice with respect to traffic signs and road safety as well as how new technologies can optimise retro-reflectivity under difficult traffic conditions.

The dedicated joint-seminar, which was attended by around 150 road experts from public administration and industry, was jointly moderated by Igor Urmanov, Member of the Board of State Company Russian Highways, Christophe Nicodème, Director General of the European Union Road Federation  and Nikolay Bystrov, Director General of Avtodor – Engineering with a plea to continue the promising technical cooperation in the coming years.

Find the Agenda of the Seminar here.

First Session: Boosting innovation in road construction and management

1. Public Procurement in Russia: Promotion of innovative solutions – Alexander Sokolov (RU) (EN) | Avtodor 

2. Application of the innovative technologies in construction of roads – Nikolay Bystrov (RU) | Avtodor – Engineering

3. Public Procurement in Europe. New legal framework boosting innovation – Christophe Nicodème (EN) | ERF

4. Laboratory Design and Quality Control to develop Road Expertise and to extend Pavement Life – Jean-Claude Roffé (EN) (RU) | ERF / ICR France

5. Road data collection and auditing at high speed – Luc-Amaury George (EN) | VECTRA

6. Integrative ITS Systems in Motorways – Katya Kusmina (RU) | SWARCO Russia

Second Session:  Boosting innovation in road construction and management

1. The use of numerical simulation to predict roadside safety equipment behavior – Joseph Marra (EN)    | GDTech
2. Optimized retro-reflectivity performance for traffic signs with constant brightness under difficult traffic conditions – Jürgen Ewald (EN)   | ORAFOL
3. Novel technologies for Traffic Sign production and Best Practices related to Road Safety – Boris Nekrasov (EN) (RU)  | 3M Russia
4. Solutions for emergency openings on highways – Liliane Krafczyk (EN) Solutions for emergency openings on highways – Liliane Krafczyk (EN)  | V&R
5. Crashworthy end terminal able to work like a crash cushion according to EN 1317 – Luigi Grassia (EN)   | AMS

14 September 2015 | Moscow, Russia

The European Union Road Federation is pleased to announce the second edition of the joint ERF/Russian Highways (AVTODOR) seminar on the 13 October in Russia. This year’s seminar, “Innovative technologies for high-speed roads” will take place in Moscow within the framework of the DOROGA International Exhibition Forum.

DOROGA represents the main event of the road sector in Russia for companies to unveil latest products and technologies, assess market trends and develop business partnerships in the region. The event will welcome participants from Russia’s regions and will count on an international presence from 14 countries.

The Joint Seminar will be divided in two sessions: the first session will provide participants with a general background to improve road infrastructure through innovation,  while the second will describe how new technologies can maximize performance of road elements.

ERF and AVTODOR aim at continuing the successful experience of last year promoting a dialogue between European and Russian experts to facilitate exchange of knowledge, good practices sharing and identification of future challenges for both regions.

You can find the agenda of the event here: AGENDA

More on the DOROGA Exhibition.

For further information and/or to express interest for this event, please contact Mr. Jose Diez.

28 May 2015 | Tunis, Tunisia

Around 60 delegates from 10 countries (Algeria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Egypt, Jordan, France, Italy, Morocco, Tunisia and Slovak Republic) met in Tunis during the “All day long Think Tank” organized by MEDUSA.

Focused on the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) market, the event addressed the advantages of Satellite Navigation, and particularly of EGNOS and Galileo. ITS concern the integration of information and communication technologies to create new applications and services for transport and mobility. ITS apply to all transport modes and are oriented to both passenger and freight transport. Satellite Navigation plays an important role in ITS.

MEDUSA “All day long Think Tank” was opened by a keynote speech from a representative of the Ministry of Transport of Tunisia, who reaffirmed the country’s interest in the development of ITS and in the cooperation with Europe in relation to the exploitation of the services offered by the European GNSS in the various transport domains. The Euromed and European panellists gave a wide overview of the existing and emerging applications in their countries, such as tracking & tracing of the transport of dangerous goods and special regulated fleets of vehicles, emergency call, road tolling, urban traffic management, control of service fleets, freight transit monitoring. They presented the existing technologies and value-added services that can be delivered already through EGNOS today, and that will become more robust thanks to Galileo and in the perspective of multiple constellations. It was recognized that the European GNSS, EGNOS and Galileo, can provide benefits not only to European countries and that, though primarily conceived for the aviation needs, EGNOS has interesting perspectives of utilization in ITS, and particularly in those applications requiring accurate and reliable positioning.

The participants from different sectors (policy-makers, users, technology and commercial players, experts) shared their experiences and lessons learnt. They also had the opportunity for networking, establishing relationships, tightening cooperation on GNSS and ITS.

Organized in combination with the Elgazala Innovation Days 2015, an international exhibition on information and communication technologies, the “All day long Think Tank” is one of the technical assistance actions undertaken by MEDUSA and in the frame of the programme of GEMCO (Galileo EuroMed Cooperation Office), the regional cooperation structure in Tunis set-up and operated by MEDUSA.

The proceedings and photos of the event are available here.

MEDUSA – MEDiterranean follow-Up for EGNOS Adoption 

Coordinated by Telespazio, the MEDUSA project belongs to the Euromed GNSS programme, part of the Euromed Transport framework. MEDUSA aids the Euromed countries towards the operational introduction and the exploitation of the European GNSS (EGNOS/Galileo) in various applications, mainly in the transport sectors. MEDUSA runs a programme of technical assistance actions, aimed at capacity building, development of enablers and regional cooperation on EGNOS/