Advancing Open Science in transport research: the BE OPEN project draws to a close

Open Science is a new approach to practice science: it increases openness, integrity and reproducibility of research. It aims at making scientific process and results more transparent and accessible to everyone.

The rapid growth of digital technologies and new collaborative tools have become enablers of Open Science, allowing to speed up the process of adopting open habits and facilitating the sharing of large volumes of information, study materials and data.

Europe has the culture and ability to share research activities across national boundaries, which along with its remarkable research and knowledge base, put it in a leading position in the world to promote and expedite the new Open Science way of working.

To support the implementation of Open Science in the transport domain, the EU-project BE OPEN was launched in January 2019. Coordinated by Greek research institute CERTH, the project included 17 partners from across Europe. In BE OPEN UITP’s role was key in ensuring that the public transport and practitioners’ perspective was well integrated in the project and its deliverables.

Over two years, BE OPEN achieved three major results. Alongside establishing a common understanding of Open Science in transport research, it also engaged key transport stakeholders and created a framework with legal specifications for Code of Conduct on Open Science and KPIs for evaluating transport research that uses Open Science.

Finally, BE OPEN built a solid knowledge base on how to implement Open Science approaches and proposed a roadmap to promote Open Science in transport research.

In addition to these three results, the project set up the TOPOS Forum and Observatory: an online platform to share and discuss research knowledge, data, publications, software and other information relevant to transport and mobility research. Companies, universities and research centers can use it to access a vast number of research outputs and share knowledge and their scientific work. This part of the platform is also open to citizens who are interested in learning more about transport research.

Find out more about the BE OPEN project in the official press release and its final video!

To develop the integrated sustainable mobility systems of the future, our sector must continually invest in research and innovation projects that center on improving customer journeys.

To enhance the sharing of knowledge in the public transport ecosystem and attract innovators and researchers with new sets of skills, UITP has earlier this year launched the Research in Mobility Committee. Comprised of universities, transport authorities, operators and industry players, the Committee aims to exchange knowledge on future developments in the public transport sector and strengthen links between research and practice and support UITP initiatives with academic expertise.

Any member of UITP can become a member of the Research in Mobility Committee. More info here.