I-C-EU · Impact of Transport Infrastructure on International Competitiveness of Europe

The transition process between the Lisbon Agenda and the Europe 2000 strategy plans happens exactly in the time when Europe is undergoing its hardest economic crisis since its formation. The objective of getting out of the crisis together with the urgent need to remains performance in the context of fiercer world economic competition especially against the new emerging economies has made Europe’s competitiveness and economic performance fundamental issues.White Paper 2011 has summarized the main objective of European transport strategy which is to help establish a system that underpins European economic progress, enhances competitiveness and offers high quality mobility services while using resources more efficiently.In this sense, it is essential then first to clarify the relationship between the transport sector, economic growth and competitiveness and second, to elaborate a working framework so that transport policy intervention can effectively improve European economic growth and competitiveness.The I-C-EU will be a project that clarifies the relationship between transport infrastructure investment and its wider economic impacts, namely competitiveness and economic growth in particular. This clarification will be made possible by exploring the state-of-the-art of the theoretical methodology of the assessment tools, analysing current and future situation of Europe while taking into account European strategy on growth and competitiveness. Using this triad of concept will allow I-C-EU to provide recommendations to the European Commission on making political intervention in order to enhance competitiveness of Europe.The I-C-EU Project has set a strategy based on six Work Packages to achieve all the above objectives. The consortium of six academic and research institutes led by Transport & Mobility Leuven (Belgium) has elaborated a detailed working plan for a period of 24 months with a total budget of € 889547 and a total staff’s effort of 97 person-months.""