EIRAC II · EIRAC 2008-2010

On May 3rd, 2005, more than 50 CEOs and Managing Directors from large Intermodal businesses launched the European Intermodal Research Advisory Council (EIRAC). EIRAC determined that a Strategic Intermodal Research Agenda 2020 (SIRA) for Intermodal Transport and its Implementation Plan (IP) were needed, being the instruments to direct European and national resources to targeted research. The SIRA has been published on December 14th, 2005, whilst the IP has been published on December 12th, 2006. EIRAC has been very successful in its first two years of activitiesm being acknowledged by the European Commission as a major source of expertise and a reliable entity to deal with. The value of the EIRAC SIRA and IP has been recognised by different Directorates General of the European Commission, and it is considered as a primary source of valuable input to the workprogrammes of FP7. The EIRAC work will be continued in the next years, aiming at the following objectives: (1) Stimulate the main public stakeholders and market players in the Intermodal and Logistics domain to invest into research; (2)Strengthen the potential of research results to be endorsed and used by the market; (3) Provide the assessment of these results, both before and after the execution of research, including the financial conditions needed to ensure the full exploitation of the innovation; (4) Ensure that its work is communicated in a professional way to the non-EIRAC members or International Parties, so that they also can benefit from the work; (5) Foster the participation of industrial SMEs in innovating and changing their mindset; (6) Stimulate the implementation of indications contained in the Implementation Plan into national programmes of research, including the identification of needs for breakthrough technologies; (7) Enhance the opportunities to participate to or observe EIRAC work; (8) Stimulate the creation of Intermodal Advisory Councils or Technology Platforms at national level