CCAM-ERAS Spring 2025 highlights: Engaging Europe on CCAM’s Socio-Economic Transition

The CCAM-ERAS project team has been busy this spring, actively participating in major mobility conferences across Europe. From showcasing our work at EUCAD 2025 in Italy to engaging in discussions at the ITS European Congress in Spain and the UITP Global Summit in Germany, our team has been liaising with stakeholders, sharing insights, and championing the societal and economic aspects of the transition to Connected, Cooperative, and Automated Mobility (CCAM). Below we recap the highlights of these events and how they support CCAM-ERAS’s mission.

Showcasing Innovation at EUCAD 2025 (Ispra, Italy)

At the 5th European Conference on Connected and Automated Driving (EUCAD 2025) – held 13–15 May 2025 at JRC Ispra, Italy – CCAM-ERAS joined forces with our sister Horizon Europe project RESKILLING to host a joint exhibition stand. This high-profile event, organised by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, brought together leading CCAM initiatives, industry experts, and policymakers to discuss emerging technologies and policy frameworks in automated mobility. Our presence made a strong impression as project members engaged with a wide array of stakeholders from industry, research, and government to highlight CCAM-ERAS’s focus on the human and socio-economic dimensions of CCAM.

Who was there: The booth was staffed by key representatives of the CCAM-ERAS consortium – including Arnaud Burgess, Guido di Pasquale, Nicola Hare, Daniel Franco, Christos Gkartzonikas and Ragnhild Wahl – alongside Andrea Arcelli (our Project Officer from the European Commission) and Matina Loukea from the RESKILLING project. The team’s human-centered message on upskilling and workforce preparedness for the digital mobility era resonated strongly with visitors. This emphasis on societal and economic transition aligned perfectly with EUCAD’s theme of collaborative European innovation in CCAM, underscoring the importance of stakeholder engagement in driving acceptance and readiness for automated mobility.

Impact: By the end of EUCAD 2025, the CCAM-ERAS team had forged valuable new contacts and shared our project’s findings with a broad audience. These interactions not only raised awareness of our work but also enriched our understanding through dialogue with other cutting-edge CCAM projects. It was an excellent opportunity to ensure that the voice of socio-economic considerations – from training needs to policy implications – is heard alongside technical advances in the CCAM arena.

8th International Conference on Economics and Social Sciences (ICESS 2025) (Bucharest, Romania)

In early June, CCAM-ERAS strengthened its academic engagement at the 8th International Conference on Economics and Social Sciences (ICESS), hosted by the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. This prestigious conference – themed “Exploring Global Perspectives: The Future of Economics and Social Sciences” – provided an interdisciplinary forum for economists, social scientists, policymakers, and industry professionals. CCAM-ERAS contributed to the dialogue by presenting a paper titled “The Deployment Pathways for Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility.”

This presentation (given by Madalina Suta), based on an early draft of our project’s second deliverable (due in July 2025), introduced the CCAM-ERAS project’s modelling framework and outlined initial deployment scenarios along with their underlying assumptions. Sharing these insights at ICESS was academically significant and policy-relevant: it allowed the project team to showcase our socio-economic modelling approach to a global academic audience and to gather valuable feedback from experts in related fields. By discussing how CCAM deployment could unfold – and its potential impacts on jobs, skills, and regional development – we bridged the gap between research and policy, reinforcing CCAM-ERAS’s role in informing evidence-based strategies. The conference’s focus on economics and social sciences made it an ideal venue for CCAM-ERAS to highlight the importance of human-centric, socio-economic considerations in the future of automated mobility. This engagement not only raised the project’s profile in academic circles but also contributed to knowledge-sharing on how robust economic modelling can guide policymakers in ensuring a fair and inclusive transition to CCAM.

Insights from the ITS European Congress (Seville, Spain)

In late May, CCAM-ERAS participated in the 16th ITS European Congress in Seville (the premier Intelligent Transport Systems event in Europe, 19–21 May 2025). Our consortium member Martin Clarke (Panteia) represented the project at the ITS Nordic booth, thanks to support from partner ITS Norway. This congress was another prime venue for outreach, allowing us to connect with ITS professionals and gather insights on preparing Europe’s workforce and communities for CCAM.

Key activities in Seville: The team leveraged the event to advance our objectives in several ways:

• Stakeholder Outreach: We pitched the CCAM-ERAS project to key players in the ITS and mobility sector, expanding our stakeholder network and inviting new voices into our community.
• Skills for CCAM Transition: We collected valuable evidence and perspectives on the skills needed to prepare the current and future workforce for the transition to CCAM. This will inform our ongoing analysis of education and training requirements.

• Learning from Experts: We attended panel discussions and presentations on CCAM topics, gaining insights from industry and policy leaders. These sessions provided context on how other initiatives are tackling challenges like automation, safety, and user acceptance – information that complements our socio-economic focus.
• Knowledge Exchange: The Congress showcased many new mobility projects and pilots. We took the opportunity to learn from these real-world examples and followed up with project leads to understand broader socio-economic impacts their deployments are having on citizens and communities.
• Raising Awareness: Throughout the event, we actively promoted our project’s upcoming activities and encouraged interested professionals to join our stakeholder community. Building this community is crucial for creating a high awareness of CCAM’s effects on jobs and skills, which is central to CCAM-ERAS’s mission.

Overall, the Seville conference was an excellent opportunity to speak with stakeholders and decision-makers in transport technology. It reinforced the importance of international collaboration – particularly via networks like ITS Europe– in preparing for the changes CCAM will bring. The discussions and feedback gathered will feed into our project’s research on skill development and policy recommendations.

Engaging at the UITP Global Summit (Hamburg, Germany)

The CCAM-ERAS team had a strong presence at the UITP Global Public Transport Summit 2025 in Hamburg (15–18 June 2025), one of the world’s leading events for urban mobility. Five team members – Guido di Pasquale, Nicola Hare, Martin Clarke, Charlotte Byrne, and Daniel Franco – attended, ensuring that CCAM-ERAS contributed to key conversations about the future of public transport and automation. This summit placed a spotlight on how emerging technologies like autonomous vehicles will reshape public transportation, making it a perfect venue for our project to emphasise the workforce and societal readiness aspects of this transformation.

Highlights from Hamburg:

• Thought Leadership in Panels: Guido di Pasquale (PAVE Europe) took on a visible role by moderating two high-profile panel discussions with industry experts and transit authorities. The sessions – titled “A Changing Landscape for Jobs? Automated Mobility on a Large Scale” and “The Future of Public Transportation: Embracing Autonomous Mobility” – directly tackled themes of automation’s impact on employment and the future skills needed in the public transport sector. These discussions echoed CCAM-ERAS’s core questions about how jobs and roles will evolve as mobility becomes more automated. By guiding these conversations, Guido helped ensure the dialogue included how to manage the human transition alongside the technological one.
• CCAM-ERAS Skills Workshop: Partners from Panteia and Rupprecht Consult (both CCAM-ERAS consortium members) led a dedicated workshop on skills for automated mobility. This interactive session discussed the impact of CCAM on jobs, required skill sets, and educational needs. It was a constructive forum for stakeholders to share concerns and strategies, and it provided our team with qualitative input for our research.
• White Paper Launch: The summit also featured the launch of PAVE Europe’s new white paper, “The Future of Public Transportation – Embracing Autonomous Mobility.” This publication offers a comprehensive look at how autonomous vehicle technology will integrate into public transit and what that means for transit agencies, workers, and riders. The CCAM-ERAS team welcomed this timely insight, as it reinforces many of the socio-economic points we have been investigating. Aligning with thought leadership like PAVE’s white paper helps amplify our project’s message about preparing for CCAM’s transformative impact.

By participating in UITP Hamburg, CCAM-ERAS strengthened its ties with the public transport community and ensured that the project’s findings and objectives reach a global audience of transit stakeholders. It was inspiring to see how automation and workforce issues are being discussed at the highest levels and to contribute CCAM-ERAS perspectives to those conversations.

Consortium Meeting in Trondheim: Charting Next Steps

Amidst all these external engagements, the CCAM-ERAS consortium also took time to regroup internally. In early June, a productive two-day project consortium meeting was held in Trondheim, Norway, kindly hosted by our partners at SINTEF and ITS Norway. Now that the project has passed its one-year mark (CCAM-ERAS kicked off in mid-2024), this meeting was perfectly timed to reflect on progress and plan the road ahead.

Over the course of the meeting, the team reviewed key milestones achieved so far and assessed preliminary findings from our research on CCAM’s employment and socio-economic effects. This mid-project reflection allowed us to refine our approach for the next phases, ensuring we remain aligned with our mission to support a smooth socio-economic transition to CCAM across Europe. Just as importantly, gathering in person helped strengthen the collaborative spirit among consortium members. The open dialogue and knowledge sharing in Trondheim reaffirmed the value of our diverse partnership – spanning experts in economics, transport, technology, and training – in tackling the challenges and opportunities of CCAM.

Strengthening Community Ties and Advancing Our Mission

This whirlwind of spring activities has been invaluable for CCAM-ERAS. By engaging with the broader CCAM community at events like EUCAD, the ITS Congress, and the UITP Summit, we have been able to exchange ideas, learn from cutting-edge pilots and projects across Europe, and deepen our understanding of the wider impacts of the transition to automated mobility. Each event reinforced our project’s central mission: to ensure that the shift to CCAM is not just about technology, but also about people – their skills, jobs, and readiness for change.

Through these conferences and meetings, we’ve raised awareness of the socio-economic considerations of CCAM and built new relationships with stakeholders who share our commitment to a people-centric transition. These strengthened ties – whether with fellow Horizon projects like RESKILLING, industry leaders at ITS Europe, or public transport authorities at UITP – form a growing community of practice around CCAM-ERAS. Together, this community is better equipped to anticipate and address the challenges CCAM poses to employment and society, and to harness the opportunities it offers.

As we look ahead, the CCAM-ERAS team is energised by the momentum gained from these engagements. We will continue to build on the insights gathered and the networks formed, translating them into concrete research outputs and recommendations. The future of mobility is being shaped now, and CCAM-ERAS is proud to be contributing a vital perspective to that future – one that puts people and skills at the heart of innovation. We look forward to what’s next for CCAM-ERAS and to further collaborations on the road to cooperative, connected, and automated mobility for all!