Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking and the region of the Basque Country signed a MoU to identify common priorities and potential synergies between the funding instruments that are available at the European Union, national and regional levels to move rail research & innovation forward and crucially promote market deployment.
“We are a small region but with a large technological and industrial development, with a clear innovative approach and a consolidated railway sector. Our aim is to strengthen innovation in the railway sector and the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding enables a new and significant boost to its development in the Basque Country,” said Regional Minister of Economic Development and Infrastructure of the Basque Government, Arantxa Tapia Otaegi.
The cooperation agreement will maximise the opportunity for collaboration in rail research & innovation during the ongoing programming period under Horizon 2020, as well as in the new programming period that is expected to start on 1 January 2021 under Horizon Europe.
Shift2Rail believes that rail can become the backbone of the future sustainable carbon-neutral mobility and transport system and working together with regions such as the Basque Country, where there is a key innovative hub, will make a significant contribution to achieving this.
“This Memorandum of Understanding is very important to us because it is a key opportunity to collaborate on concretely changing the way mobility and transport is run in Europe. We count on the collaboration with the Basque Country to enhance the leverage effect of the research & innovation we do in Europe. We want to move R&I results to a level where they make a positive impact on the way people are moving and connecting, and the regional and European economy is developing’’, Carlo Borghini, Executive Director of Shift2Rail, said.
In 2019, Shift2Rail signed a similar MoU with the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic.
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