TRA2008 · Transport Research Arena 2008

In order to promote recommendations of a number of strategic documents on road transport prepared by EC and a number of professional organisations, a series of TRA (Transport Re-search Arena) conferences was established. The second event will take place in Ljubljana, in April 2008, during the Slovenian presidency of the EU. The TRA mission is to enhance the alignment of road transport research at European and national levels, involving not only researchers, but also industry, policy-makers and end-users. The slogan of the conference remains Greener, safer and smarter road transport for Europe, with the main theme selected for the TRA2008: Creating an Innovative Road Transport for Europe. This proposal is addressing 2 objectives related to dissemination of results of road transport research and support for TRA2008. The first one is to enhance integration of the New Member States, Candidate and European Neighbourhood Policy Countries into the European road transport Research Area. These countries have not contributed much to the pre-sent European activity in the field. This CSA is providing tools to support the participation of delegates from these countries to actively contribute to TRA2008 and become more involved in European research projects and the application of their results. The second objective is to directly support TRA through activities that raise awareness of the event and to reinforce its profile as a major European and internationally important conference. This will be in accordance with the TRA mission, which is not to be another conference but rather to become the major joining event for all road transport stake-holders. Thus, the CSA will support ‘ambassadors’ to undertake awareness raising missions, to explain the opportunities and benefits for different stakeholders including public authorities, industry and researchers. The partners in the CSA are the three local organisers and the FEHRL, a European association in the area of road research.