ENTRANCE Task Force to Accelerate Uptake of Sustainable Transport Solutions
One of ENTRANCE’s missions is to ensure there is a wide understanding and adoption of sustainable transport solutions across Europe. In light of this, ENTRANCE partners have strengthened connections with various projects in the sector to push common goals in reducing CO2 emissions and working towards sustainable mobility. This collaboration has led to the creation and launch of a dedicated Task Force on 15 December 2021, with the aim of accelerating the market uptake of innovative and sustainable transport solutions.
The Task Force strives to create awareness, mobilise resources, and establish cross-project, and cross-sectoral cooperation to maximise the impact of project activities across a broad range of stakeholders, from high-level policymakers to end users.
Addressing Key Challenges in the Transport Sector
The Task Force primarily focuses on tackling four main obstacles in the transportation industry:
- Demand-supply mismatches: Innovative suppliers may struggle to reach potential users/buyers, while potential users and buyers may not be aware of or able to find innovations they need.
- Financing challenges and high implementation risks: Implementing innovative solutions may require funding, even though they will likely deliver long-term economic benefits. Implementations may also involve risks, such as lack of political support or user acceptance.
- Inability to measure the impact of innovation: Without evidence-based impacts, decision-makers in both the public and private sectors may hesitate to implement innovative solutions.
- Limited technical knowledge and vision: Buyers and practitioners may lack the technical knowledge and foresight necessary to support the adoption of innovative, sustainable transport solutions.
Work Streams and Collaboration
The Task Force has established four work streams, led by respective consortium members, to address the identified obstacles:
- Matchmaking services between innovation suppliers and buyers (led by ENTRANCE)
- Finance and de-risking
- Best practice sharing (led by ENTRANCE)
- Capacity building and guidance development
Current members of the Task Force represent organisations from nine CSA H2020 projects, including ASSURED-UAM, BOOSTLOG, FastTrack, FUTURE-HORIZON, PLATINA3, RECIPROCITY, and LASTING. ENTRANCE, BOOSTLOG, RECIPROCITY, REMOBILISE, FastTrack, Future Horizon, ASSURED, Lasting & Platina3. The Task Force is now actively enforcing the following:
- raising awareness of project activities on advancing market uptakes of innovation in transport;
- mobilising resources from projects and other initiatives to address key obstacles, thus facilitating market uptake of innovations;
- creating cross-project, cross-sectoral cooperation through events and stakeholder engagement activities.
Harnessing Synergies for Sustainable Transport Solutions
ENTRANCE has identified various complementarities and synergies among Task Force members, leading to mutually beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders involved. Examples of successful collaborations include:
- FastTrack’s support for urban and peri-urban sustainable mobility solutions.
- Common training activities organised with the BOOSTLOG project.
- ENTRANCE’s involvement in the Advisory Board of the ASSURED UAM project.
By actively promoting interaction through the work streams and leading two of the four key initiatives, ENTRANCE is playing a crucial role in driving innovation and sustainable transport solutions in the European market. The Task Force will continue to foster strong collaborations, maximizing the impact of innovative transport projects and making significant strides in addressing the challenges faced by the sector.
