EUCAR - European Council for Automotive R&D

“Collaboration across industry sectors and between large and small companies to support a strong market for fossil-free transport. We need to inject speed, simplicity and focus in the European Research and Innovation system. We need to act now! “ Highlighted Helene Niklasson, VP, Innovation Ecosystems and Partnerships and Head of CampX at Volvo Group at the EUCAR 30-anniversary event, Innovating with Impact Conference, in the panel discussion on Successful Innovation. https://lnkd.in/dFAcrWQB

EUCAR's 30ᵗʰ anniversary event, 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 highlighted the automotive industry’s critical challenges, from climate change and emissions reduction to global competition and rapid tech evolution. 🌎🚘 Our 𝗩𝗣 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆, Georg List, joined an esteemed panel on Successful Innovation alongside: • Antti Vasara President and CEO at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd • Lutz Eckstein President of VDI e.V. Head of IKA at RWTH Aachen University • Helene Niklasson VP of Innovation Ecosystems and Partnerships, Head of CampX at Volvo Group They discussed how green and digital transformations drive innovation and ways to accelerate user-centered solutions for societal benefit. Drawing from his experience as both Chair of the Business Innovation and Research Working Group at Business Europe and VP of Corporate Strategy at AVL, Georg List shared 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝟭. 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝟮. 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝟯. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝟰. 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 A big thank you to EUCAR - European Council for Automotive R&D and all the participants for the engaging discussions and valuable exchanges. 🙌 #reimaginingmotion #collaboration #sustainability © Fred Guerdin

EUCAR organised for the 30-anniversary event, Innovating with Impact Conference, a panel discussion on Societal and Economic Impact. The panellists focused on addressing societal challenges and achieving a positive impact on society, which is only possible when results from innovation reach users and society. The panel was opened by Paweł Świeboda, Senior Visiting Fellow at the European Policy Centre, Senior Advisor at FIPRA Public Affairs International, and a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on the Economic and Societal Impact of Research and Innovation. He emphasised that „Innovation, particularly in the mobility and automotive sectors, is not just about advancing technology but also about creating jobs and sustaining economic growth. Ultimately, innovation must serve people, improving their employment and quality of life.“ Pawel was joined in the panel by Raluca Marian, Director, EU Advocacy & General Delegate at IRU and Jean-Francois Salessy, VP, Vehicle Synthesis & Upstream Technologies at Renault Group. https://lnkd.in/d-Vad39r

EUCAR organised for the 30-anniversary event, Innovating with Impact Conference, a panel discussion on Driving Change. The panellists focused on digitalisation and a competitive European industry as drivers of change. How is resilience regarding production, critical value-chains, energy and material demand towards a more circular economy addressed? The panel was opened by Sabine E. Herlitschka, CEO of Infineon Technologies Austria AG, and it focused on the future of European competitiveness. She addressed the main challenges of the automotive industry i.e. competitiveness, decarbonisation, strategic autonomy and security, governance and coordinated approach: “Let‘s not forget our European strength, in collaboration, with coordinated European R&I investments, cooperation and partnerships; and let‘s be bold and think big in terms of making significant, coordinated European Flagship initiatives!“ She was joined in the panel by Peter Dr. Lehnert, VP, Advanced Technologies and Digital Car Innovations, BMW Group research and Marco Massara, EMEA Automotive Business Development Manager, Automotive Industry Business Unit, Amazon Web Services.

EUCAR organised for the 30-anniversary event, Innovating with Impact Conference, a panel discussion on Successful Innovation. The panellists focused on the green and digital transformation in society as an innovation driver and how to accelerate user-oriented innovation to bring benefits to users and society. The panel was opened by Antti Vasara, President & CEO at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, focusing on competitiveness through research, technology and innovation. He called for action to strengthen pan-European collaborations for global leadership with robust and stable R&I investments, maximising the added value for Europe: „We need to increase our ambition as EU for Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in strategic sectors rather than reducing it, further aligning R&I with the broader policy goals!“ He was joined in the panel by Lutz Eckstein, President of VDI, Head of IKA at RWTH Aachen University; Georg List, Corporate Strategy at AVL List GmbH, Chair WG R&I at Business Europe; Helene Niklasson VP, Innovation Ecosystems and Partnerships and Head of CampX at Volvo Group. https://lnkd.in/dSaM2aQQ

EUCAR’s 30 Years Innovating with Impact Conference This year's conference underscored the automotive industry’s critical challenges, such as climate change, reducing emissions, global competition, and rapidly evolving technologies namely digitalisation and electrification. Magda Kopczyńska, Director-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission, gave the keynote in the opening session, acknowledging the achievements of automotive R&I over the past years. In her outlook towards the future, she highlighted the need to rethink and adapt our approach to innovation, aiming for safer, greener, and smarter mobility solutions that strengthen the competitiveness of the EU automotive industry. Next was Sigrid de Vries, Director-General, European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), presenting the current state of automotive manufacturing. In her speech, she highlighted that the enabling conditions for the green transformation are not established fast enough. She ends with a call to action: “Let’s get Europe back into gear with a robust industrial strategy that will make Europe a world leader in vehicle production, including small EVs”. The programme continued with three panels and two technical sessions, led by prominent speakers giving their viewpoints and involving the audience with questions and answers. We publish the speaker’s highlights in our “Innovating with Impact “web news series on eucar.be . Riccardo Romanini, EUCAR Chair 2024, Director, Vehicle Compliance, Iveco Group, closed the conference by highlighting EUCAR’s commitment to collaboration: “We will work with our European partners to create a future where road transport is sustainable, safe, clean and efficient for all “. https://lnkd.in/dw-rU9sx

We celebrated EUCAR’s 30th anniversary with an enchanting evening reception at Autoworld in Brussels. The gathering featured Marco Liccardo, Chief Technology and Digital Officer of Iveco Group, as keynote speaker, who shared his insights and vision. He identified that traditional R&I processes no longer work, as they are too slow and not agile enough. Research and innovation are needed to strengthen European resilience regarding technologies, materials, and value chains. “To be successful, Europe must come together like never before.“ Furthermore, we highlighted the journey we’ve shared and memorable moments from previous events. Guests were treated to a captivating cello performance by Matthias Marggraff, adding to the evening’s atmosphere. Thank you to everyone who joined us in this remarkable celebration! https://lnkd.in/duUcPH9q

We’re eagerly counting down the days until the EUCAR 30th anniversary event, just one week away. Check out our conference booklet (link in the comments), which includes the event’s programme and our esteemed speakers and panellists from the European Commission, European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), VTT Technical Research Centre, AVL List GmbH, Volvo Group, Infineon Technologies Austria AG, BMW Group, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Eindhoven University of Technology, Volkswagen Group, Renault Group, European Policy Centre, IRU and Iveco Group. We are delighted to meet our invitees at this special event with many highlights, such as the exhibition with vehicle demonstrators from EUCAR members, projects in the Strategic Areas of Sustainability and Digitalisation. Let’s celebrate 30 years of innovating with impact.

By addressing the whole life cycle of the vehicles, we aim to achieve global reductions in the environmental impact of road transport, therefore moving from a product to system perspective. To achieve a future common LCA understanding and methodology, we define allocations and boundary conditions while considering the scarcity of resources. As a first step, we focus on the LCA for propulsion systems and then extend it to the whole vehicle. 🎯 We assess the environmental impact of road transport and its energy carriers.

The EUCAR Project Book contains an overview of our priority areas' current research and innovation projects. We address the twin transition by defining three strategic areas: Sustainable Mobility, Digitalisation of Road Transport and Commercial Vehicles. The EUCAR project book now includes new projects like FEDERATE and H2Accelerate TRUCKS . Have a look on our website. https://lnkd.in/d3EuAQ5j