1. REC Romania Wioletta Szymańska 17 November 2011
EC Funding Programmes* for transport and mobility projects and options for financing EPOMM membership
REC Romania
Wioletta Szymańska
17 November 2011
*EU financing part based on the presentation of Karen Vancluysen, Polis

2. EU funding: types of financed activities
Research
Technological development
Demonstration/trials/pilots
Studies
Expert input
Knowledge building
Dissemination
Market validation & deployment
Other

3. Types of EC programmes Intelligent Energy Europe – STEER (IEE)
ICT Policy Support Programme
LIFE+
FP 7 RTD Transport call
FP 7 ICT call

4. Intelligent Energy for Europe – STEER
Supporting initiatives relating to all energy aspects of transport and diversification of fuels
Promoting renewable fuels and energy efficiency in transport
Supporting the preparation and application of legislative measures
What IEE will fund:
‘Soft’ projects for capacity building, spreading of know-how, exchanges of experience, policy input, awareness raising, education and training.
What IEE will not fund:
"Hard" projects: hardware investments, demonstration projects, and technical research & development projects
Funding: 75 % of eligible costs
Examples: EPOMM Plus,

5. ICT Policy Support Programme
2007 – 2013
Stimulating innovation and competitiveness through the wider uptake and best use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by citizens, governments and businesses
Including policy support for DG Information Society‟s „Intelligent Car‟ initiative
50% funded
Key stakeholders like public authorities, electricity utilities, automotive industry and suppliers, users, infrastructure providers, car sharing operators, regional and city transport providers
Example:

6. LIFE + – LIFE+ Information & Communication Three components:
– LIFE+ Nature & Biodiversity
– LIFE+ Environment Policy & Governance
a) contribute to the implementation of Community environmental policy development of innovative policy approaches, technologies, methods and instruments,
b) knowledge base as regards environment policy and legislation
c) environmental monitoring
– LIFE+ Information & Communication
No transnational consortium required, only one applicant possible!
Decentralised submission on MS level
Funding: 50 %, usually at least 1 m€ of funding
Example:

7. 7th Framework Programme 2007-2013
Cooperation: help Europe gain leadership in key areas of science and technology
Ideas: foster competition and excellence in frontier of fundamental research
People: fellowships for research training
Capacities: ensure scientific and technological capacity building
Cooperation programme
– Subdivided into 10 themes, among which transport, energy, environment, information and communication technologies
Funding: – 50-75% for research
– 50% for demonstration
– 100 % for management and dissemination
– 100 % for coordination and support actions (overhead of 7 %)

8. FP 7 RTD Transport call Published in July 2011
Closing on 1 December 2011
Activity „Ensuring sustainable urban mobility‟ open
Priority topics for this call:
– Accessibility of transport systems
– Design and operation of interchanges
– Take-up of transport innovation in urban and regional transport
– Automated electric vehicles
– Efficient bus systems in the urban environment
Example:

9. FP 7 ICT call 8 Publication date to be confirmed
Challenge 6: „ICT for a low-carbon economy‟
Objective ICT „Cooperative Systems for energy efficient and sustainable mobility‟
a) Cooperative Systems for low-carbon multi-modal mobility covering cooperative applications and services for energy efficiency and ecofriendly mobility based on the harmonised European Communications Architecture and bidirectional vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), road-to-vehicle (R2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication technologies
b) European Wide Service Platform (EWSP) for cooperative system enabled services, aiming at providing to the drivers and other users a large variety of energy efficiency, mobility, comfort and safety related services.
Example:

10. Why participate in EU projects?
Cooperate with other cities and regions
Adopt the successes of others as well as learn from their mistakes
Establish a link between your local policy and the European agenda
Put your city/region on the European map
Engage local stakeholders in a new way
Influence European policies
Address global challenges by being part of an international partnership and project
Bring in additional funding for local measures – to support MM initiatives and co-finance EPOMM membership and related activities

11. EPOMM membership
EPOMM Plus goal is to extend the number of EPOMM members including Romania
EPOMM membership benefits
Membership obligations
€ / year membership fee
The representing ministry has a seat on the EPOMM board and has to take part in 2-3 board meetings per year.
The representing ministry should nominate an organisation or a person to represent the National Focal Point of the country
How to get Romania as an EPOMM member and find options to finance the membership fee?

12. EPOMM financing options for Romania
Option 1: Fee is fully covered by one of the ministries Option 2: Fee is covered by the group of cities actively involved in the MM measures Option 3: Covering EPOMM related costs via EU funding within the EU project

13. Option 1 – financing by ministry(ies)
One of the ministries responsible for MM issues covers the membership fee and becomes a full EPOMM member and can fully benefit it
Alternative option – a group of ministries covers the fee and work together on MM in the inter-ministerial Working Group
Advantage: quick, may be long-term
Disadvanages/obstacles: MM is not a priority, budgetary shortcomings, hard to get a political commitment

14. Option 2 – group of cities
Membership fee and/or national network costs met by group of cities and national ministry joins EPOMM. Ministry & cities work together in Project Group on MM issues. 
Advantage: immediate, flexible, less financially heavy-cost can be split between several cities.
Disadvantage: complicated, ideally only short-term solution.
Could be supplemented by EU funding via EU project (or alternative, e.g. Nordic Council, EBRD) for transnational actions with other similar groups from other countries
Possibility of linking it with other EU initiatives such as Covenant of Mayors, Energy Cities etc.

15. Option 3 – (co-)financing via EU project
Only some related costs could be covered within the EU project such as workdays for the National Focal Points, some events, short term financing
Advantages: possibility to engage with other international partners, exchange of experience, possibility to link EPOMM activities with related other projects, getting experience in EU funding
Disadvantages: short term (2-3 years), only complementary source of financing, a membership fee cannot be covered directly, lack of absorption capacity of EU funding

16. Discussion
How we could secure funding of the EPOMM membership for Romania?
Are the proposed options viable?
Is there any other possibility to get financial support for a membership fee?
What are the obstacles?
Conclusions?

17. Thank you for your attention! Contact: WSzymanska@rec.org