Sinfonica Project

The evaluations of the proposals for the first round of calls of the new Horizon Europe Framework Programme for the seven-year period 2021-2027 have just been published. Among the projects funded under the first call of Cluster 5 of Horizon Europe (Cluster titled “Climate, Energy and Mobility) there is the SINFONICA project. SINFONICA is coordinated by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and includes in its consortium the Inter- University Consortium for Optimization and Operations Research (ICOOR – Interuniversity Consortium for Optimization and Operations Research) and the Reggio Emilia based company RE:LAB, a research laboratory recognized by the “Rete Alta Tecnologia” of the Emilia- Romagna Region. This result confirms the tradition that for years has distinguished the research and development activities of the Regional stakeholders. The partnership counts a total of 14 partners from 7 European countries (including the UK) and can count on the prestigious participation of ERTICO – ITS Europe: a public-private organization representing more than 120 leading actors in the field of transport and mobility (including, in fact, also ICOOR and RE:LAB).

The SINFONICA project is closely linked to the sector of mobility and to the field of Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM), a field that includes all aspects of Research & Development related to the mobility of the future: connected, shared and autonomous. Recent years have already shown that the transport sector (and, in particular, road transport) is undergoing profound changes and the research promises to achieve objectives that, in the recent past, were unthinkable (drastic reduction in emissions, optimization of traffic flows, reduction of the percentage of road deaths, etc.). However, to achieve these goals, it is necessary that the innovative solutions of this new paradigm of mobility be as inclusive, resilient, sustainable, accessible, and reliable as possible. For this reason, the SINFONICA project aims to design and develop new strategies as well as functional and efficient tools to
enable the actors involved in this “revolution” (manufacturing companies, public administrations, service providers, trade associations, etc.) to collect and fully understand the needs, expectations, concerns, and ambitions related to autonomous, connected, and shared mobility.

Through its specific approach, the project will develop innovative research methodologies thanks to the involvement of a wide audience of road users, with a particular focus on “vulnerable” users: people with disabilities, children, the elderly, but also users living in peripheral and rural areas, the unemployed and people in the lowest income brackets.
Fundamental, from this point of view, will be the contribution, in the project activities, of subjects from a multitude of heterogeneous territorial realities: this will be possible thanks to the varied origin of the partners of the consortium, which will oversee the different project phases in their respective countries. Another distinctive feature of the project will be the multidisciplinary composition of the partnership, which includes not only actors from the automotive sector but also experts in the humanities and social sciences.
This will ensure that the approach adopted during the development phases always meets the criteria of social inclusion and innovation, characteristics that distinguish the SINFONICA project and that allowed the consortium to obtain funding from the European Union. In addition to research methodologies, as mentioned, the project also includes the implementation of a concrete tool to support the development and dissemination of innovative CCAM solutions. It will be created a database where all the data collected throughout the project will be stored (the c.d. Knowledge Map explorer system), which will be accessible thank to a dedicated web interface, which will have the purpose of providing data, “targeted” recommendations, guidelines, and suggestions, based on the profile of the user consulting the tool.
This system, therefore, will allow to convey the necessary information to the stakeholders of the automotive supply chain involved in the research and development of CCAM solutions, with the promise of facilitating an efficient and inclusive transition to new and better forms of mobility.

This system, therefore, will allow to convey the necessary information to the stakeholders of the automotive supply chain involved in the research and development of CCAM solutions, with the promise of facilitating an efficient and inclusive transition to new and better forms of mobility.