In November local authority representatives from across Europe visited Coventry (UK) to look at the ways in which the city has become a testbed for innovation in transport. In a week when the city has been in the news with investment in the Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Market visitors arrived to discuss the changes needed in their regions to develop and foster innovation in transport in their regions.
Brought here by the INNOTRANS Project which looks at best practice in transport innovation across Europe the team came specifically to examine projects carried out by Coventry City Council of the past five years. There was a lot of interest in the testing of Autonomous vehicles, especially the trials carried through the UK Autodrive project. Shared space traffic calming and the work of the National Transport Design Centre at Coventry University were examined closely. The trip was closed with a visit to the area’s world leading automotive test facility at Horiba MIRA in Nuneaton.
Afterwards firm interest was shown in a number of projects and meetings are being arranged to look more closely at transfer.
INNOTRANS is a project designed to look for best practice in supporting transport Innovation in Europe. The partners are Coventry University Enterprises (UK), Regione Abruzzo (IT), The City of Prague (CZ), South East Regional Development Association (RO) and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR). It is funded by Interreg Europe and is running from January 2017 to December 2021.
Coventry University Enterprises
CUE is a wholly owned subsidiary of Coventry University Group. It is the organisation the Group uses to run much of its commercial, income-generating and business-partnership work. This includes the award winning Technology Park and Conference Centre. CUE Business Solutions provides Business Support Programmes in Coventry, Warwickshire and across many parts of the West and East Midlands.
