Technical framework for attractive railway services - S2R-CFM-IP4-01-2017

Date de clôture : 30 mars 2017  
APPEL À PROJET CLÔTURÉ

Specific Challenge: 

The topic addresses the completion of one of the key research and innovation areas of IP4, as described in S2R Master Plan, namely the Technical framework which is composed of the interoperability framework and the business analytics framework. 

The interoperability framework will provide seamless connectivity to enable the deployment of the full IP4 ecosystem using open semantic web standards and technologies. As IP4 evolves and the transport ecosystem is extended with new services, modes, operators, providers and functionalities, the interoperability framework should be correspondingly extended to facilitate interoperability among business applications and the creation of added value services for achieving a seamless multimodal door-to-door experience. 

The specific challenge consists in coordinating the incorporation of new ontologies and resolvers corresponding to the various eco-system extensions, and to coordinate their intelligent interaction for efficient integration in successive ITD releases. 

A similar challenge applies to the extension of the business analytics framework, which should address an increased variety and complexity of data in order to support business decision-making for operators, with a potential application for customers where operational information can be anonymously aggregated across modes. The specific challenge will be to develop an open, shared and universal toolkit, which can profit the entire industry. 

An additional challenge will be to explore clear and sustainable governance for the deployment of the technical framework taking into account the recommendations of the project stemming from the topic S2R-OC-IP4-01-2016. The European Union Agency for Railways (EUAR), which oversees the implementation of the TAP TSI, will be involved as necessary. 

Scope: 

Proposals should address the following elements, in line with the S2R MAAP: 

With regard to the interoperability framework (TD4.1) the work should include: 

 Integration of current and new ontologies (specified in the complementary projects) and development of appropriate resolvers based upon semantic web technologies. 

 Extension and improvement of the mechanisms for new service providers to join the eco-system via the publication of their annotated services in the Service Registry. 

 Provision of intelligent data access capabilities to locate, access, infer, map, translate, convert, fuse and link data assets distributed anywhere, extending the number of modes and of standards which can be addressed. 

With respect to business analytics (TD4.6), the proposals should address the following aspects: 

 Provision of business analytic capabilities via the interoperability framework in connection with the activities of the IP4 transport ecosystem. 

 Integration of gradually new data sources and improved techniques to achieve better accuracy, prediction capabilities and near real time analysis. 

The project aims at the development of an open, shared and universal toolkit software toolkit which is expected to reach at least TRL6 by the end of the project timeframe. In addition, guidelines fostering the market uptake of the technical framework should be provided. 

The implementation of this action requires close collaboration with IT2Rail project (‘lighthouse’ project resulting from H2020 call MG2.2-2014)34. 

The action that is expected to be funded under this topic will be complementary to the actions that are expected to be funded under the following topics: 

 S2R-OC-IP4-01-2017: Smart technologies for trip tracking and improved travel companion, in order to achieve consistency and ensure integrated system level delivery of IP4 concepts. 

 S2R-CFM-IP4-02-2017: IP4 overall integration and demonstration 

The action stemming from this topic will also be complementary to actions carried out within the following topics: 

 S2R-CFM-IP4-01-2015 – Shopping, booking and ticketing of multimodal travel solutions, 

 S2R-CFM-IP4-02-2015: Travel companion and tracking services, 

As specified in section 2.3.1 of S2R AWP for 2017, in order to facilitate the contribution to the achievement of S2R objectives, the options regarding 'complementary grants' of the S2R Model Grant Agreement and the provisions therein, including with regard to additional access rights to background and results for the purposes of the complementary grant(s), will be enabled in the corresponding S2R Grant Agreements. 

The S2R JU will only fund one proposal under this topic. 

Expected Impacts: 

Actions will consolidate the IT backbone supporting IP4 developments, and will prepare a larger scale deployment of new, innovative technologies. The expected impacts which are expected to be quantified in the answer to the call, can be listed as follow: 

a. Transform the European transportation ecosystem into a global services and data market place. 

b. Steer free from technological barriers, enabling an easy emergence of new actors and business models. 

c. Contribute to a more attractive rail system and a better experience for customers. 

d. Promote the development of transport services, applications, devices and systems by reducing the overhead and financial associated costs. 

e. Decreasing the time-to-market of advanced customer experience applications. 

f. Contribute to lower the costs of operations. 

Specific metrics and methods to measure and achieve impacts should be included in the proposals, with the objective to achieve by the end of the S2R Programme the quantitative and qualitative targets defined in the S2R MAAP related to TD4.1 and TD4.6 in line with the relative planning and budget. 

Type of Action: Innovation Actions