7th R&D Framework Programme/Horizon 2020

We need this permanent activity to support all the European as well as some of the interested non-European members to get involved in the projects called for and funded by the European Commission as part of the 7 year Horizon 2020 programme - starting 1 January 2014. The Horizon 2020 Programme consists of a number of different research & funding programs such as "Transport", "Safety & Security", "Information & Communication Society", "Materials" and others - many of which are relevant to rail transport - with a total budget of 7.7 Billion Euros available for funding. Approximately 400 Million Euros of this budget have been added to private money to set up a Joint Undertaking/PPP initiative specifically for rail research called "Shift2Rail" which now has a total budget of nearly 1 Billion Euros. The P000062 project budget is used to support the coordination of the members towards setting the research priorities - based on the "Challenge 2050" and "Rail Technical Strategy Europe" UIC documents, to support the members in the participation in the annual Calls and the preparation of the proposals for the projects. Also to support the UIC Research & Innovation Coordination Group (RCIG) and its tasks, one of them is the coordination of the input towards ERRAC - the European Rail Research Advisory Council to the European Commission, bringing forward the UIC members research priorities and funding needs and influencing the programming of the Calls and their content of the European Commissions H2020 and Shift2Rail. Many members wish to see the same sort support as the UNIFE offers to their members in preparation of new EU funded projects. The added value is that the UIC members can influence the programming of the content of the EC s call and funding and can participate in the EC funded project much easier and are being well informed and support during this whole process and H2020 programme. Participating in EU funded rail research projects means a huge value for money