Research
OVERVIEW
UNIFE has a long, rich experience with European research and innovation (R&I), acting for decades as both an advocate for increased EU funding for rail research and as a coordinator and partner of dozens of projects dealing with different railway subsystems (e.g. rolling stock, infrastructure, signalling, energy, etc.). The association is active in the secretariat of the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC), the European Technology Platform dedicated to rail and a trusted partner of the European Commission. The UNIFE Research & Innovation Committee steers the association’s R&I activities.
Perhaps its most notable role in rail R&I to date, UNIFE was at the origin of the Shift2Rail rail research initiative (now Joint Undertaking (JU)) and strongly supported the implementation of its successor the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking.
Regarding rail R&I, UNIFE seeks to:
- Advocate for sufficient European funding for collaborative rail R&I:
- Advise members of all R&I opportunities at the European Level, providing all relevant information on Horizon Europe, Europe’s Rail and other EU R&I programmes (e.g. satellite, cybersecurity and digital programmes);
- Coordinate EU R&I projects of importance to the European Rail Industry;
- Facilitate discussion between stakeholders potentially interested in setting-up research consortia;
- Represent the rail industry within ERRAC and create dialogue opportunities for members, railway undertakings, infrastructure managers and academia;
- Prepare for the extension of the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking with the support of UNIFE members and the UNIFE Research & Innovation Committee. This successor programme should be the new rail research Public Private Partnership in the next EU Research Framework Programme known as FP10.
Additionally, UNIFE seeks to link European rail research projects and their outputs with the activities of the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), CEN/CENELEC and ISO. Our association is a “representative body” and a trusted partner of both CEN/CENELEC and ISO. This cooperation enables UNIFE to ensure that the results of relevant European rail research projects are used by the appropriate regulation and standardisation bodies.
