EC intends to launch a new action to promote the take up of CIVITAS experiences and results
The demonstrations and evaluation activities undertaken within the CIVITAS initiative are producing a wealth of experiences that are relevant for politicians, technicians and the scientific world. Early 2006 the first group of CIVITAS demonstration projects is coming to an end.
The objective of the possible new action is to ensure that the available experiences are exploited up to a maximum level; that a continued knowledge transfer from the CIVITAS I cities will take place; that additional dissemination means are implemented; and that the wider impacts of CIVITAS are assessed. It is expected that one single contract will offer an umbrella for the implementation of a number of short term and targeted activities that, among others, might include: Knowledge transfer, identification, description and active promotion of CIVITAS best practices; Maintaining the networks for information exchange established between the CIVITAS demonstration cities, and enlarging them with committed ‘newcomers’; Establishing interactive partnerships between CIVITAS demonstration cities and cities that are candidates for receiving funding in the framework of EU Regional Policy; Assessing the contribution of the CIVITAS project results to EU policy and the development of policy recommendations; Undertaking a scientific validation of the CIVITAS project results, including some post-project monitoring; Ensuring dissemination of CIVITAS results to the scientific world and to Member States programmes; Setting up, maintaining and exploiting an electronic library of the educational material developed by the different CIVITAS projects.Discussions inside the Commission and with the FP6 Programme Committees are currently underway. The action will probably be implemented as a Specific Support Action included in the Call FP6-2005-TREN-4. This call will tentatively be launched in June 2005 and closed in December 2005. The selected project will need to build upon the results of the CIVITAS I and CIVITAS II demonstration projects and the activities undertaken by the METEOR and GUARD projects. Dissemination activities will also need to be coordinated with a future general urban transport dissemination project that was part of the Call FP6-2004-TREN-3.
