Call: Big data in Transport: Research opportunities, challenges and limitations

Within this programme Horizon 2020 will provide funding for a resource efficient transport that respects the environment, aims at a better mobility, less congestion, more safety and security, supports a global leadership for the European transport industry and targets a socio-economic and behavioural research and forward looking activities for policy making.

Technological developments, particularly related to the extended and expanding use of ICT in the transport sector, allow the collection of unprecedented volumes of data across all modes and transport systems. This big data has generated a strong interest in the transport research community as well as in the relevant industries and among policy makers.

From freight transport and supply chain optimisation to evacuation modelling and crowd dynamics under extreme phenomena, and from short-term traffic forecasting to travel behavioural research and the use of social media for efficient transport operations, big data has created a wide spectrum of challenges and opportunities in the field of transport research. Indicative areas of research could, for example, cover travel behaviour (by incorporating in modelling processes heterogeneous sources of information), logistics and consumer preferences, network capacity planning and optimisation (e.g. in the case of toll roads), risk management, response to extreme weather events or other emergency situations. Disaggregated data analysis by users' groups (e.g. age, gender) will contribute to better focus specific needs and trends. At the same time, the collection and possible exploitation of big data pose a number of questions both in methodological terms as well as in legal, institutional and social ones, which need to be addressed. The main challenge is therefore to investigate the implications of the utilisation of big data in the transport field.

At least one legal entity established in an EU Member State or Horizon 2020 associated country. 

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between 0.5 and 1.5 million € each would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Funding rate: 100% 

Link to the National Contact Point Finder.