Brussels, Belgium – The SIMBA project will organise two Priority Workshops in autumn 2006. The workshops will bring together key European road transport stakeholders with their counterparts in India and Brazil to discuss research priorities and cooperation possibilities in the field of ITS, automotive and infrastructure development.

Supported by the European Commission and coordinated by ERTICO, SIMBA aims to create an international road transport cooperation network between Europe and China, India, Brazil and South Africa.

The Brasil workshop will take place in São Paulo on 30-31 October 2006 at the Milenium Centro de Convenções. On the first day, a general session will assess Brazilian and EU state of the art in the fields of ITS, automotive and infrastructure development. On the second day, breakout sessions will discuss developments and cooperation possibilities in these three fields in greater depth. Delegates will also have the opportunity to participate in a technical visit.

The India Priority Workshop will be organised on 9-10 November 2006 in New Delhi in cooperation with SIMBA’s India National Coordinator, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). There will be a presentation by the Core Group of Automotive Research (CAR), a joint public, academic and private platform which has established a technological roadmap 2007-2012 for automotive research and development in India. The presentation will give an overview of the research priorities in India, and the outcome of the event will be the creation of a roadmap describing how the EU and India can cooperate in joint research on a short, medium and long-term basis. The event will be held at the Le Meridien New Delhi and the draft agenda will be available shortly.

For more information about the Brazil event or to register, please visit the Brazil event page or contact Project and Development Manager Mariana Andrade. For more information about the India event or to register, please visit the India event page or contact Project Coordinator Priti Prajapati.