Article 2 Tasks

The S2R Joint Undertaking shall carry out the following tasks:

1. (a)

   define, in the S2R Master Plan, the priority research and innovation activities, including large-scale demonstration activities, required to accelerate the penetration of integrated, interoperable and standardised technological innovations necessary to support the Single European Railway Area and to achieve operational excellence of the railway system, while increasing capacity and reliability and driving down costs of railway transport;

2. (b)

   mobilise public and private sector funds for financing the activities in each of the Innovation Programmes defined in the S2R Master Plan;

3. (c)

   translate the S2R Master Plan into detailed, result-oriented annual work plans, accompanied by detailed investment plans, that allow for continuity, synchronicity, and long-term investment, and ensure its effective and efficient implementation;

4. (d)

   ensure the supervision of activities related to the development of common products duly identified in the S2R Master Plan;

5. (e)

   financially support research and innovation indirect actions, mainly through grants to its members and to participants through the most appropriate measures, such as procurement or the award of grants following calls for proposals to achieve the programme objectives, in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013;

6. (f)

   organise the technical work of research, development, validation and study, to be carried out under its authority while avoiding fragmentation of such activities;

7. (g)

   ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of rail research and innovation activities and follow progress towards the achievement of the S2R Joint Undertaking objectives through adequate monitoring and evaluation processes;

8. (h)

   pool user requirements and propose interoperability standards to guide investment in research and innovation towards operational and marketable solutions;

9. (i)

   develop close cooperation and ensure coordination with related European, national and transnational research and innovation activities in the rail sector, in particular under previous Framework Programmes and Horizon 2020, thereby enabling the S2R Joint Undertaking to play a major role in rail-related research and innovation. It shall also manage all rail-focused research and innovation actions co-funded by the Union;

10. (j)

    establish and develop close and long-term cooperation between the Union, the rail manufacturing industry, the rail operating community and other rail private and public stakeholders required to develop pioneering innovations and ensure a strong market uptake of innovative solutions, including bodies representing customers (passengers and freight), as well as actors outside the traditional rail sector;

11. (k)

    liaise with a broad range of stakeholders including research organisations and universities and establish links with national and international research and innovation activities in the rail technical domain, in particular via the ERRAC Technology Platform, as well as with those in other domains, such as the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC), the Advisory Council for Aviation Research and Innovation in Europe (ACARE), the Waterborne European Technology Platform, the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP), the Future Manufacturing Technologies Platform (Manufuture), the Alliance for Logistics Innovation (ALICE), the Advanced Engineering Materials and Technologies Platform (EuMaT), and others;

12. (l)

    stimulate the involvement of SMEs in its activities, in line with the objectives of Horizon 2020;

13. (m)

    seek a geographically balanced involvement of members and partners in its activities;

14. (n)

    undertake information, communication and dissemination activities by applying mutatis mutandis the provisions of Article 22 of Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013, including making the detailed information on results from calls for proposals available and accessible on the single portal for participants as well as through other Horizon 2020 electronic means of dissemination managed by the Commission;

15. (o)

    any other task needed to achieve the objectives set out in Article 2 of this Regulation.