Research and Innovation Supporting the European Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy: A Technology Perspective from Recent European Union Projects

Abstract

Many concepts and innovations aim to improve transport and mobility, while helping to decrease the externalities that transport imposes on society. Research and innovation monitoring tools are important to assess the current state of development so that research funding and policy making efforts can be aligned optimally. This paper presents a comprehensive approach which links technological developments in the transport sector in Europe to the objectives of the most recent policy developments, in particular, the 2020 European Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. It does so by identifying and evaluating technologies from European Union-funded projects between 2007 and 2020, by means of a technology taxonomy. Information is provided at an aggregated level on funding characteristics of both projects and the technologies, while at the same time, the level of maturity of researched technologies in the most recent projects is identified. This study can aid policy makers to support the future development of transport technologies as part of pertinent policy strategies and identify research gaps.

1. Introduction

In the European Union (EU), transport is a key economic sector with an estimated EUR 599 billion in gross value added (GVA) for the transport and storage services or 5.0% of total EU GVA in the EU-27 in 2018 [1]. It represents 19.5% of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [2] and is the only sector that has not seen a decrease in GHG emissions between 1990 and 2018 [3]. In 2019, transport represented 30.9% of final energy consumption [4].

Transport systems include physical and organizational elements and are in general intrinsically complex. These elements influence each other directly and/or indirectly, linearly or nonlinearly, and may have feedback cycles [5]. As Sussman [6] argues, the transport system can be considered as a complex, large-scale, interconnected, open, socio-technical system, including elements from the built environment and the social-political domains. In this sense, any change in a transport subsystem, even if predictable separately, can be difficult to predict or even be counterintuitive, when considering the interactions, especially with the users. This is easy to comprehend considering that the nature and extension of the relationships in the interrelated elements of such a system are usually not easily identifiable in terms of their directionality, magnitude, and time scales [7]. In addition, any organizational innovation including new mobility concepts that do not require hardware modifications can be also regarded as a new technology since they aim to use hardware in a different manner [8].

In parallel, the technological applications across the various transport systems have been increasing in numbers and level of complexity along with the overall technological development in related sectors (energy, information and communication technology, etc.). In fact, digital technologies, connectivity, and social media are transforming traditional concepts of mobility [9,10,11]. New mobility services and concepts are emerging, such as mobility as a service and cooperative, connected and automated mobility, and give rise to innovative mobility services [12,13,14]. Smartphone applications offer real-time analytics and data on traffic conditions [15]. Technology-driven eco-driving solutions can have a positive influence on fuel efficiency [16]. Smart parking solutions allow people to optimize time, and reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions [17]. New forms of freight delivery appear as viable alternatives, with drones nowadays proposed for the (last-mile) delivery of goods [18]. Crowdsourcing and sensors in cars can be used in the future for monitoring the condition of the transport network [19]. Hyperloop technologies have the potential to revolutionize long distance trips [20].

At the same time, decarbonising transport will require an increase in the production and use of biofuels in all transport sectors, especially in aviation [21,22] and waterborne transport [23,24,25], together with a further diffusion of electric (light) road vehicles [26], with the role of current and future policies being crucial. Regarding sustainable alternative fuels, the role of biofuels and advanced biofuels (produced from feedstocks) between 2040 and 2050 will be very relevant [27]. However, transport sectors are characterized by different levels of innovation capacity, something that has to be taken into account in policies targeting innovation [28]. Another aspect of the challenge is that public policy priorities in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic will need to adopt measures that stimulate innovation in transport technologies and services, supporting in particular active travel, public transport, railways, and aviation [29].

With this perspective, technological developments are fundamental in order for the transport sector to address current and future socio-economic challenges. These developments will be achieved through targeted research and innovation (R&I), which will lead to new quality standards in relation to the mobility of people and goods [30]. In particular, given the fundamental role of transport and its impact on the economy and quality of life, a need for the adoption of energy efficient innovations emerges, innovations that are inclusive of recent technological developments, together with a legislative framework that fosters both energy sustainability and economic growth [31].

From a policy perspective, in Europe, targeted policy actions over the last decade focus on the improvement of mobility and transport. Already in 2011, the European Commission’s (EC) White Paper [32] identifies 40 concrete initiatives to build a competitive transport system over the next decade, aiming to increase mobility, remove major barriers in key areas, drive growth and employment, and, to reduce Europe’s dependence on imported oil and cut carbon emissions in transport by 60% by 2050. An evaluation of the White Paper took place in 2020, aiming to examine all areas where it made policy proposals.

In May 2017, the EC adopted the Strategic Transport Research and Innovation Agenda (STRIA) as part of the ‘Europe on the Move’ package [33,34], which highlights main transport R&I areas and priorities for clean, connected and competitive mobility. Seven STRIA roadmaps have been developed covering various thematic areas, namely:

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Connected and automated transport (CAT);

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Transport electrification (ELT);

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Vehicle design and manufacturing (VDM);

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Low-emission alternative energy for transport (ALT);

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Network and traffic management systems (NTM);

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Smart mobility and services (SMO);

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Transport infrastructure (INF).

In May 2018, the EC published the third Mobility Package with the objective to allow citizens to benefit from safer traffic, less polluting vehicles, and more advanced technological solutions, while supporting the competitiveness of the EU industry [35].

The 2019 European Green Deal aims at a 90% reduction in emissions by 2050 [36]. Considering that transport currently accounts for a quarter of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions, and this figure continues to rise as demand grows, considerably increasing the uptake of clean vehicles and alternative fuels and moving to more sustainable transport in general, will help meet this objective.

The EU ‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy’ (SSMS) presented in December 2020 and the accompanying action plan of 82 initiatives aims at achieving a modern, green, and more resilient EU transport system [37].

In July 2021, the EC adopted legislative proposals aiming to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by 2050, including the intermediate target of an at least 55% net reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 [38]. All transport modes—road, rail, aviation, and waterborne—will have to contribute to this aim.

Going back to STRIA and its roadmaps, they set out common priorities to support and speed up the research, innovation, and deployment process leading to technology changes in transport. Their implementation is supported by the Transport Research and Innovation Monitoring and Information System (TRIMIS), an effective monitoring and information mechanism developed by the authors at the EC’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). TRIMIS, funded under the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016–2017 on Smart, Green, and Integrated transport [39] provides a holistic assessment of technology trends and transport R&I capacities, publishes information and data on transport R&I, and develops analytical tools on the European transport system.

Contrary to other transport policy-support tools, TRIMIS provides an integrated bidirectional monitoring and assessment of transport innovation approach [40], both backward looking using historical data, but also forward looking, through the development of an inventory on new and emerging technologies and trends in transport, complemented by the use of strategic foresight [41,42].

Building on the TRIMIS groundwork and analyses, this paper identifies and evaluates technologies in transport from European Union-funded projects. To this end, the TRIMIS technology taxonomy is used, which is built through a grounded theory approach, and comprises more than 850 technologies that fall under 45 technology themes. The top technologies in terms of funding in the period 2007–2020, are identified, belonging to the STRIA roadmaps on connected and automated transport, network and traffic management systems, and smart mobility and services. The technologies are then linked to the flagship ambitions of the 2020 European SSMS, which has set out an action plan for transport policy in Europe for the next four years. Focusing on the latest projects since 2014, a macro level technology maturity analysis is carried out, to identify those technologies that are at an early stage of research and those that can be pushed forward to demonstration and deployment. The principal merit of this study is linking technologies identified in a structured manner to transport policies, something that constitutes a rigorous and fair approach compared to the fragmented information usually provided in ad hoc technology analyses.

This study intends to help policy makers support the future development of transport technologies as part of relevant policy actions, while at the same time, helping researchers to forge collaborations and identify research gaps. The paper consists of the following parts: after the introduction, the next section discusses the materials and methods, including an overview of the methodology used in TRIMIS for transport R&I assessment and technology analysis. Following that, Section 3 provides some key metrics on EU transport R&I, including relevant identified technologies and their maturity phase. On this basis, Section 4 links the identified technologies to the EU “Sustainable and smart mobility strategy” ambitions and provides a discussion of the findings towards the development of these technologies. Section 5 provides the conclusions.

2. Materials and Methods

For this study, the TRIMIS database is used, which covers more than 8000 European or national transport-related R&I projects, including projects from Joint Undertakings and Joint Technology Initiative Programmes.

Figure 1 provides an overview of the TRIMIS transport R&I database structure [43]. It is characterized by four distinctive fields (A, B, C, D), with each field containing one or more different tables. The main part (field A) includes the project table, program table, technology table, and organization table. The projects in the database are labelled according to which STRIA roadmap their research is relevant to, with the possibility of being tagged with multiple roadmaps.

Figure 1. TRIMIS database structure (adapted from [43]).

The TRIMIS technology table derives from the TRIMIS project table. It focuses on technologies researched in European FPs, while, selected projects funded by member states (included in the TRIMIS project database) also are included in the analysis where relevant. The technologies are identified within technology themes through a grounded theory approach [44]. An iterative approach led to the development of a consistent taxonomy for transport technologies and technology themes. Figure 2 provides an overview of the methodology used for the technology assessment of the projects [45].

Figure 2. Technology assessment methodological steps (adapted from [45]).

• The results of a study that identified technologies within European transport research projects [46] were analysed. Based on this review, a standardized approach has been established on what constituted a distinct technology and how to label them.
• All project descriptions were assessed and flagged when a technology was mentioned or hinted.
• The full list of technologies was evaluated, and the labelling of similar technologies was aligned using also existing taxonomies as a basis.
• When the technology list was established, a number of overarching technology themes was defined. An extensive list of themes was created and consequently reduced to the minimum number of themes under which all technologies could still be logically placed.
• The funds associated with each technology were determined by linking them with the total project budget. If multiple technologies were researched in the project, the budget allocated to the technology of interest was determined by dividing the project budget by the number of associated technologies.
• A set of metrics was established to assess the identified technologies. These metrics are intended to indicate the potential for the technology to be taken forward to application through the level of support for its development. Three metrics are relevant to this study:
  • The total value of all projects that have researched the technology (i.e., the total investment, by both the EU and industry, in the development of the technology);
  • The number of projects that have researched the technology;
  • The number of organizations that have been involved in projects that have researched the technology.

Focusing on the metrics (point 6 above), the first two highlight the combined effort that has been put into researching the technology, while the third proxies the level of interest in the technology in industry and academia. Two points are worth highlighting:

• When identifying the (funding) value to use for a particular project for a particular technology, the total value for the project is divided by the number of technologies that the project has been identified as investigating in order to estimate the ‘funding per technology’. Thus, the calculated total funding for the technology should rationally represent the funding for the individual technology. This parameter gives an indication of the total effort that has been employed to bring the technology to its current status and also indicates the level of interest and expectation there is in the potential of the technology. The nature of the funding schemes for the research under which the technologies have been developed is of key relevance to the use of this parameter. In most cases, the EU funding scheme will only pay 40–50% of the costs incurred by industry and other large organisations. Thus, a high level of funding for a technology indicates sufficient interest by industry to have invested considerable own resources in its development.
• A high number of projects and the number of organisations involved indicate a high level of interest and capability in developing the technologies further.

Finally, all technologies are assessed for their development phase as allocated in TRIMIS—from low (research or validation) to high (demonstration or implementation). These development phases were built on a similar concept to that of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Technology Readiness Level (TRL) [47]. In TRIMIS, the number of development phases is limited to four, reflecting the uncertainty that would be entailed in attempting to be o very precise with the allocation of a TRL, considering also the limited information that is usually available for the status of the technologies being researched by a project. Table 1 shows the TRIMIS development phases and their relationship to the NASA TRL scale.

Table 1. TRLs and corresponding TRIMIS development phases (adapted from [48]).

TRL	Description	TRIMIS Development Phase
1	Basic principles observed	Research
2	Technology concept formulated
3	Experimental proof of concept	Validation
4	Technology validated in lab
5	Technology validated in relevant environment	Demonstration/prototyping/pilot production
6	Technology demonstrated in relevant environment
7	System prototype demonstration in operational environment
8	System complete and qualified	Implementation
9	Actual system proven in operational environment

3. Main Findings from the Project and Technology Analyses

In this study, the analysis focuses on the last two European Research Framework Programmes (FPs), the seventh FP (FP7) and the Horizon 2020 (H2020) FP. Figure 3 shows the project value evolution over the years globally and by roadmaps (in million EUR). The “Other” category refers to projects that are related to transport research and are overarching in relation to the STRIA roadmaps.

Figure 3. Project values (in million EUR) by starting year and STRIA roadmap.

As can be seen, over the years, the majority of research focuses on vehicle design and manufacturing. This trend peaked with the end of FP7 (2014). Since then, projects related to connected and automated transport, network and traffic management systems and smart mobility and services have experienced growing interest from policy makers and the industry.

For the current technology assessment, the TRIMIS database January 2021 is used. The technology database includes 867 technologies, under 45 overarching technology themes, researched in 2936 EU-funded projects from FP7 and H2020. The majority of the technologies is found in the vehicle design and manufacturing roadmap (370 technologies).

The analyses are limited to three STRIA roadmaps: smart mobility and services; cooperative, connected, and automated transport; and network and traffic management systems. These roadmaps are selected due to their close relevance to the objectives of the EU ‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy’ and because they focus on digital technologies, which received the most interest during the last FP. The number of technologies researched in these roadmaps is 194, within 829 projects. A total of 93 are linked to the network and traffic management systems roadmap, 69 to the connected and automated transport roadmap and 32 to the smart mobility and services roadmap.

Figure 4 shows the top 20 technologies identified in terms of value (total budget invested) for the three STRIA roadmaps (smart mobility and services, connected, and automated transport, network and traffic management systems). The figure is developed using the Interactive Tree Of Life online tool [49].

Figure 4. Top 20 technologies for the smart mobility and services (SMO), connected and automated transport (CAT), and network and traffic management systems (NTM) STRIA roadmaps. SMO-related technologies in yellow, CAT-related technologies in blue and NTM-related technologies in red. Abbreviations: ADAS: advanced driver assistance systems; CAV: connected and automated vehicles; ATM: air traffic management; ATFCM: air traffic flow and capacity management; ICT: information and communication technologies.

As can be observed from the figure, the majority of funding has been provided to aviation technologies (three out of the top five); that can be explained by the presence of projects from the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking. At the same time, the top three technologies in terms of number of projects that research them (information and communication technologies support for multimodality, multimodal border management, collaborative logistics ecosystem) focus on multimodal integration for people and freight mobility.

Figure 5 shows the development phases of the top 20 technologies. The analyses are limited to the most recent projects, supported by H2020. The left point indicates the share of projects in the research phase: the more to the right this point is, the larger the share of projects in the research phase. The right point indicates the average maturity level of a technology excluding projects in the research phase. Technologies closer to the left are those with a higher share of projects in the validation phase, while those closer to the right are mainly or exclusively in the implementation phase. If only one dot is shown, it means that all projects are in the research phase. Finally, the length of line shows the average level of maturity including all four development phases, with longer lines indicating higher maturity level.

Figure 5. Development phases of the top 20 technologies.

Some technologies clearly have many projects in the research phase. This is the case for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) platforms and connected and automated vehicles (CAV) controllers and sensor fusion; both of which, however, have a large number of projects in more mature development phases. Some other technologies (in particular the collaborative logistics ecosystem technologies) are researched by projects in more mature development phases. CAV controllers and sensor fusion technologies are researched only in the latest FP (H2020).

Some caution is necessary in interpreting the results, since they may reflect developments from a specific project that researches the technology from a certain perspective and not the technology as a whole. However, the aggregated outcome provides an indication on the overall development of the technology.

4. Technologies and the EU “Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy” Ambitions

The Annex to the EU Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy identifies an action plan of 82 actions under 10 overarching flagship ambitions (24). These are:

• Boosting uptake of zero-emission vehicles, renewable and low-carbon fuels and related infrastructure
• Creating zero-emission airports and ports
• Making interurban and urban mobility more sustainable and healthy
• Greening freight transport
• Pricing carbon and providing better incentives for users
• Making connected and automated multimodal mobility a reality
• Innovation, data and AI (artificial intelligence) for smart mobility
• Reinforcing the single market
• Making mobility fair and just for all
• Enhancing transport safety and security

Focusing on the three previously pointed out STRIA roadmaps, Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4 report the top 20 technologies identified, the description of the technologies, the projects that research them and the link to the principal flagship ambitions of the SSMS. Only the most recent projects (from H2020) are included, while, all the projects (266 in total) are reported in Appendix A and can be retrieved from the TRIMIS website [39].

Table 2. Connected and automated transport technologies, research projects and pertinent SSMS Flagships (FS).

Technology	Description	Projects	FS
Cockpit technologies	Technologies for aircraft cockpits to enhance efficiency, reduce pilot workload and reduce the potential for human errors.	ALC, ASCENT, AS-DISCO, BrainWorkloadReader, EFAICTS, E-PILOTS, GALAHD, HiLICo, HIPNOSIS, LPA GAM 2018	10
CAV controllers and sensor fusion	Development of systems for fusing data from a wide array of sensors.	L3Pilot, NewControl, PRYSTINE, TrustVehicle	6, 10
Road safety technologies	Range of technologies to reduce the prevalence of road traffic accidents, and the dangers to drivers, passengers, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.	4SBLOCK, Blinkers, COSAFE, ECOMARK, HyTunnel-CS, I-VALVE, MEDIATOR, PREVENT, ROADART, SafetyCube, SAFE-UP, SimuSafe, SOX2-Cloud, SSBUMP, Tangi0, WOOLF	10
ADAS platforms	Systems to support the development of algorithms for ADAS.	ADASANDME, AutoMate, BRAVE, CarNet, MAVEN, MeBeSafe, SMARTCARS, SMARTCARS 2, STS	6, 10
Autonomous vehicle technologies	Self-driving cars require a high number of sensors; with multiple LiDAR sensors, camera and radar sensors.	ALBORA, AutoPro, CELSO, CoEXist, Hailo-8, ICT4CART, INFRAMIX, interACT, Levitate, SAS	6

Table 3. Smart mobility and services technologies, research projects and pertinent SSMS Flagships (FS).

Technology	Description	Projects	FS
Communication networks	Communications networks (through dedicated infrastructure or 4G/5G networks) to support the development of ITS and C-ITS for improved traffic efficiency and safety and to support the implementation of new transport concepts.	5G-CARMEN, 5G-DRIVE, 5G-MOBIX, CREATE, IMOVE, MUV, SocialCar	10
Research for road safety	Monitoring of road traffic events and collection of traffic data to provide inputs to the development of traffic models to improve safety.	i-DREAMS, OSCCAR, PIONEERS, SENIORS, VIRTUAL	10
Eco-Drive app	Mobile phone-based app, which supports the vehicle driver to drive safely and economically, by monitoring parameters such as acceleration and braking.	Cloud Your Car UBI, ELVITEN, GlobalBLED	1
Mobility open platforms	An integrated open data mobility platform gathers information from all transportation modes and provides information to the user.	DIGNITY, FreeWheel, INDIMO, MW-R, SELECT for Cities, TRANSIT, Translate4Rail, TT	3

Table 4. Network and traffic management systems technologies, research projects and pertinent SSMS Flagships (FS).

Technology	Description	Projects	FS
Multimodal border management	Systems for efficiently managing border controls between countries that may need to deal with travellers using a multitude of transport modes.	AFRIGOS, BODEGA, CANGOPAL, Cargo Beacon, CB Container SpeedUp, C-BORD, CITADEL, City.Risks, CLEV, COLLOGISTICS, DAM Component, ETNA 2020, HiperTURB, iCROSS, IMPROVER, IntelServBus, KB plus, MDC, MESMERISE, MIDRAULICS, MIDRAULICS (2), MoTiV, NEC14, OTR, p-DRIVE, ReVibe, SCORE, SINSIN, SKILLFUL, TriboGlide, TWIMP, TWIMP 2, Wimper	6
ATM big data analytics	The integration of very large quantities of data from various sources to enhance the performance of air traffic management systems.	AISA, BEACON, BigData4ATM, COCTA, FIVER, FMPMet, ITACA, Modus, NOSTROMO, PJ05 Remote Tower, PJ09-W2 DNMS, PJ13-W2 ERICA, PJ14-W2 I-CNSS, PJ19-W2 CI, PJ20-W2 AMPLE, PJ24 NCM, PJ27 IOPVLD, PJ28 IAO, START, Track and Know	2
ICT support for multimodality	Information and Communication Technology systems, including smartphone “apps”, to assist passengers in integrating multi-modal transport options when planning travel, when travelling and/or changing between transport modes at intersections.	ALLEGRO, ATENA, ELEONE, EVA, FLAMINGO, Gait Biometrics 3, GlobILS, GOEASY, ICT 4 CART, INCLUSION, INTRANSYS 2, ISO-COLD, ITS OBSERVATORY, LowCostTracking, MASAI, METRO-HAUL, MiniMo-Logistics, MUGICLOUD, PRIVACY FLAG, PROTECT, PROXITRAK, RapeedTest, RESILENS, SHIELD, Shift2MaaS, SIADE SaaS, SISSDEN, SPRINT	6
ATFCM decision support tool	Software tool to reduce the workload of air traffic controllers, by providing guidance on decisions related to directing aircraft trajectories, to improve the efficiency of the system and increase safety.	APACHE, BEACON, Domino, ENVISION, EVOAtm, IMHOTEP, ISOBAR, MOTO, PARTAKE, PJ02-W2 AART, PJ10 PROSA, PJ14 EECNS, PJ17 SWIM-TI, PJ25 XSTREAM, SINOPTICA, TaCo	2
Collaborative logistics ecosystem	Urban fright logistics systems that exploit the power of collaborative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) to provide efficient collaboration between different transport systems (rail, long-distance road, trucks, local delivery vehicles) to deliver freight quicker, more cheaply and with reduced environmental impact.	AEOLIX, CAPTOR, CLUSTERS 2.0, COG-LO, COLDTRACK, CWT, ECOLUP, FOX, Mega-Inliner, My-TRAC, NIRWOOD, NOESIS, PrEDICTS, RAGTIME, SELIS, SENATOR, SENSE, shippiesbags, SUNRISE, SYNCHRO-NET, TAKEDOWN, TRANSAFELOAD, ULaaDS	4
ATM systems	Technologies to enhance the performance of the European air traffic management (ATM) system, through improved forecasting of network capacity and flexibility, integration of multiple national ATM systems and enhanced interfaces.	ADAPT, Airline Team NCM, Engage, FARO, GAUSS, Modus, PJ03b SAFE, PJ04 TAM, PJ07 OAUO, PJ08 AAM, PJ15 COSER, PJ16 CWP HMI, PJ19 CI, SafeClouds.eu, SAFELAND, TAPAS, X-TEAM D2D	2, 7
Trajectory Based Flight Operations	Implementation of 4D (three spatial dimensions plus time) management of aircraft flight profiles to improve efficiency (more direct routes), reduce delays (controlling the flight so that the aircraft arrives at the airport when a slot is available rather than being held at altitude) without compromising safety.	CADENZA, COTTON, DART, Dispatcher3, OptiFrame, PJ06 ToBeFREE, PJ07-W2 OAUO, PJ09 DCB, PJ18-W2 4D Skyways, PJ31 DIGITS, PNOWWA, SafeNcy, TERRA	2, 7
Future-proof airport	Design of airports with improved operations and monitoring of passenger movements to provide an enhanced passenger experience, improved security and greater efficiency, while having sufficient flexibility to accommodate changes in travel demand without adverse impacts on the operation.	AERFOR, AERFOR, Aerowash II, A-FOD, AIRMES, Airport IQ, AUDIO, CLAIRPORT, DEMETER, e-Airport, FLYSEC, IBiS, PJ01 EAD, PJ02 EARTH, PJ04-W2 TAM	2, 7
Drone traffic management system	Air traffic management systems that can accommodate both manned and unmanned aerial vehicles without compromising safety.	5D-AeroSafe, ADS Project, AIRPASS, AW-Drones, CLASS, COMP4DRONES, DACUS, DAPS, DREAMS, DroC2om, Drones4Safety, EXTREMDRON, ICARUS, IMPETUS, INAS, LABYRINTH, MoNIfly, PercEvite, PJ05-W2 DTT, PODIUM, SAFEDRONE, SECOPS, SURVEIRON	7
Intelligence and surveillance	Innovative approaches to gathering intelligence, such as the use of autonomous vehicles (e.g., drones) and surveillance systems.	GATEMAN, PJ18 4DTM, URClearED	7, 10
Air traffic operation optimisation	Use of ATM systems to manage European airspace in such a way as to reduce environmental impacts (noise, air quality and climate) through changes to aircraft altitudes and trajectories.	ACACIA, ATM4E, ClimOP, GREAT, PJ01-W2 EAD, PJ10-W2 PROSA	7

On the STRIA connected and automated transport roadmap, as can be observed, most technologies are related to the Flagship Areas 6 (making connected and automated multimodal mobility a reality) and 10 (enhancing transport safety and security). Four out of five technologies focus on road transport, while the fifth (on cockpit technologies for increased efficiency) on aviation. All the technologies are researched over a wide spectrum of development, considering also that basic research and validation for some of them were pivotal during the first phase of H2020.

On the STRIA Smart mobility and services roadmap, the technologies that received most funding focus on the SSMS flagship ambitions 1 (boosting uptake of zero-emission vehicles, renewable and low-carbon fuels and related infrastructure), 3 (making interurban and urban mobility more sustainable and healthy) and 10 (enhancing transport safety and security). All technologies focus on road and multimodal transport. Most of them started from basic research, with the “Communication network technologies” focusing on the fifth generation of cellular networks (5G) being a notable example, while others such as “Eco-drive app” advanced further with one project at a close to deployment phase.

Finally, as discussed previously, network and traffic management systems technologies seems to dominate the funding. Eleven technologies make it into the top 20, focusing on several flagship ambitions. With the exception of three technologies (“Multimodal border management”, “ICT support for multimodality”, and “Collaborative logistics ecosystem”) which concentrate on road and multimodal transport, all the other technologies focus on aviation. This was to be expected since much of the funding derives from the SESAR Joint Undertaking, which received an EU contribution of 585 M € under H2020 for the period 2016–2024 [50]. The high interest in using drones for freight (and passenger) transport in the past years explains the high number of projects related to this topic.

Some relevant outcomes and outlook from the analysis of links to the flagship ambitions of the EU SSMS is reported below:

• FS 6 (“Making connected and automated multimodal mobility a reality”) and FS 10 (“Enhancing transport safety and security”) include most of the connected and automated transport technologies such as cockpit technologies, CAV controllers and sensor fusion technologies, road safety technologies, and ADAS platforms. These technologies thrived in H2020 research at a lower development phase (research and validation) and it is expected that they will be researched in higher development phases in the Horizon Europe FP.
• FS 2 (“Creating zero-emission airports and ports”) and FS 7 (“Innovation, data and AI for smart mobility”) gather many network and traffic management systems technologies on air traffic management and operations optimisation. These technologies have been researched mainly on a low development phase, using also AI for traffic flow optimisation. As an outlook on FS 2, four projects that commenced in the fourth quarter of 2021 will focus on green airports and ports, as multimodal hubs in the post COVID-19 era [51]. Likewise, it is expected that projects focusing on drones will scale up, focusing for example on the further development and testing of drone last-mile solutions in the urban and sub-urban environment using automated drone fleet operations.
• Collaborative logistics ecosystem technologies can help achieve the ambitions of FS 4 “Greening freight transport”. Although this technology is researched at a low development phase (research), projects NOESIS [52] focusing on the use of big data, and SUNRISE, focusing on collaborative ways to address mobility challenges at the neighborhood level have achieved higher maturity towards deployment.
• The Eco-Drive app technologies can help towards the goal of “Boosting uptake of zero-emission vehicles, renewable & low-carbon fuels and related infrastructure” envisioned by FS 1. This technology is researched at low maturity, with the exception of the GlobalBLED project specific to the professional fleet market focusing on deployment.
• Finally, mobility open platform technologies can contribute towards “Making interurban and urban mobility more sustainable and healthy” of FS 3. All projects researching this technology are at a low development phase. These include user-centric projects such as DIGNITY and INDIMO focusing on digital mobility solutions, and TRANSIT, focusing on the evaluation of the impact of innovative intermodal transport solutions. These projects pave the way for the demonstration and implementation of the technology in the near future.

Beyond these high-level findings, the performed technology and maturity mapping provides a rapid indication of past and ongoing R&I development providing valuable insights on the progress of particular technologies.

5. Conclusions

This study provides a comprehensive assessment of technologies from European research projects relevant to the most recent EU ‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy’, making use of the technology-monitoring methodology developed by the authors for TRIMIS. The exercise of linking the technologies to the most recent policies provides useful information to policy makers in further specifying policy documents. It also helps them to specify future transport R&I needs, while at the same time, prioritising technology funding and avoiding funding overlapping. It can also contribute to the work of transport researchers who aim at gaining a better understanding on the evolution of transport technology. On a practical level, researchers can understand the historic evolution of a technology within the context of FPs, and identify areas for future development, something that can be helpful in preparing research proposals when applying for funding.

Principal findings focus on the technology maturity of the technologies: mapping the various technologies and their development phases allows a clear view on the technological developments that can support the SSMS and future policies. This is important since technologies and policies are part of a cyclic process, with the former contributing to the timely adoption of the latter.

Nevertheless, there are some limitations to this study. Most importantly, the technology assessment focuses on EU-funded projects, and consequently, not all conducted research is covered. In this sense, it would be valuable to complement the assessment with information on private R&D investments or data from intellectual property offices. Another limitation is that funds associated with each technology were determined by linking them with the total project budget. If multiple technologies were researched in the project, the budget allocated to the technology of interest was determined by dividing the project budget by the number of associated technologies. Despite the limitations, this approach is considered as appropriate and transparent in absence of specific technology-budget reports in EU funded R&I projects.

Finally, in this exercise focus is given to selected technologies, in particular those that received most funding. Extending the analyses to the entire technology database goes beyond the scope of this academic paper.