Digitalisation of the transport system: data sharing

Deadline: Apr 21, 2020  
CALL EXPIRED

A massive amount of data is already produced by the transport system and the trend is set to continue at an increasing pace. Optimal use of the available data is indispensable in order to advance towards an intelligent transport system that is efficient, reduces congestion, environmental impact and increases safety.

On the basic level, the challenge lies in ensuring that e.g. manufacturers, operators, or authorities can properly take advantage of the data produced for the improvement of their operations and services. Access to, reuse and storage of data is not only important for private companies active in the transport industry (business-to-business or B2B), but also for the public sector (business-to-government or B2G) for a more evidence-based decision making and a better public service delivery, such as transport safety or reduction of pollution from all transport modes or increased efficiency.

It is of key importance to develop a clear understanding of the areas where data exchange and digitalisation are required for improved system effectiveness. In these areas, data to be used in transport models need to be defined and harmonised.

On a more advanced level, in order to provide connectivity across the various components of the multimodal transport system, enable innovation and emergence of new business models, we need solutions for safe and secure collection, storage and sharing of transport data (both operational and research) across various actors and different transport modes.

Cloud based solutions could provide a high level of integration and accessibility of transportation data across the system and be used for variety of purposes, including research, development and innovation. However a number of challenges will have to be tackled before a successful wide scale implementation of cloud solutions for transport can take place, such as data privacy and security, standardisation and competitiveness issues, data interoperability and accessibility, governance, etc.

The proposals should cover all following aspects:

• Provide a comparative analysis of the transportation data regulation across all transport modes in the EU;
• Identify transport flows for which digitalised processes and transport data exchange will make most impact;
• Identify functional requirements and possible frameworks for data sharing across the transport system and with the public sector where appropriate – in particular through a federation of various cloud solutions (a Transport Cloud), taking into account the FAIR data principles as well as the private data sharing principles^[1], including B2G and B2B data sharing;
• Building on existing standards / specifications that have been adopted by the EU or nationally e.g. DCAT-AP, propose standards for transport data sharing (including formatting, metadata descriptions, etc.) that would strike an appropriate balance between sharing data and proprietary rights. Proposals should clearly define the field of data, for which a standard shall be considered;
• Analyse the relationships between private and public stakeholders (on local, regional, national, EU and global level) and their differing approaches to data sharing principles;
• Examine the role of data sharing culture in the future development of any data sharing cloud based solutions, analyse methods that foster trust in transport data networks;

Consider commercial and competitive risks of data sharing on an international scale as well as the potential for the EU to set global standards for data sharing;

• Identify main privacy and security issues associated to data sharing, including preventing data misuse;
• Identify appropriate governance structures and/or processes for the establishment of a possible Transport Cloud building as much as possible on the existing frameworks and initiatives.

Proposals should identify and build on the most relevant previously funded EU and national projects and reports such as Transforming Transport^[2], BigDataEurope^[3], NOESIS^[4], LeMO^[5], OPTIMUM^[6], SELIS^[7], AEOLIX^[8], oneTRANSPORT^[9], EfficienSea 2^[10] etc. A structured method of building up on the achievements of the selected projects should be proposed. Proposals should include an effective mix of private and public actors both from the transport and transport research domains.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 2 and 3 million would allow the specific challenge to be addressed appropriately.

The research will consolidate knowledge from the most important projects and initiatives implemented to date in the domain of transport data sharing. It will further build on that knowledge base by identifying new variables, requirements and standards necessary for a successful setting up data usage and sharing mechanisms in the transport sector (both passenger and freight).

Improved data sharing will help extract maximum value from the available transport big data, contribute to wider data sharing amongst the transport stakeholders, and lead to improved products and services. It will secure better understanding and opportunities for transport flow prediction and optimisation, which in turn will improve transport system effectiveness.

The outcomes of research will also lead to strengthening of the digital transport ecosystem by fostering the culture of trust and collaboration among the various stakeholders.

Socio-economic science and humanities

[1]https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/staff-working-document-guidance-sharing-private-sector-data-european-data-economy

[2]https://transformingtransport.eu

[3]https://www.big-data-europe.eu

[4]https://noesis-project.eu

[5]https://lemo-h2020.eu

[6]http://www.optimumproject.eu/

[7]https://www.selisproject.eu

[8]http://aeolix.eu

[9]https://onetransport.io

[10]https://efficiensea2.org