As the year draws to a close, it is the perfect moment to reflect on the significant progress achieved within the overarching ERTICO Moonshot initiative. Designed to gather insights from public-sector representatives worldwide, ERTICO Moonshot aims to understand their needs, challenges and priorities, fostering a knowledge ecosystem that drives more sustainable, inclusive and future-proof mobility solutions.
Public authorities play a critical role in the mobility landscape. They set regulations, shape planning policies, fund transport infrastructure and ensure that mobility systems deliver clear benefits to citizens. By better understanding their efforts and obstacles, ERTICO Moonshot offers valuable knowledge not only to cities, regions and nations. Industry organisations can also tap into the main trends to design solutions and business models that meet real public-sector needs. The initiative encompasses City Moonshot, which targets cities and regions, and the recently launched National Moonshot, focusing on national authorities, particularly the ITS Nationals.
Boosting ITS deployment: Highlights from the ERTICO Focus On event
During this year’s ERTICO Focus On, the Moonshot initiative took centre stage. Martina Ferrera Snider, ERTICO Innovation & Deployment Support Manager and member of the Moonshot team, delivered an insightful presentation on the initiative’s achievements and upcoming direction.
Martina underlined the transformative impact of City Moonshot, which has opened a consistent dialogue with cities and regions worldwide on pressing mobility topics such as data sharing, sustainability, Mobility as a Service (MaaS), citizen engagement, e-mobility and Urban Air Mobility (UAM). This ongoing collaboration delivers essential insights at a moment when cities face increasing responsibilities within the European transport network. A strong example of this relevance is the revised TEN-T policy, which reinforces the role of urban areas. 431 urban nodes are now part of the TEN-T network. 93 of these were among the 157 European cities interviewed in City Moonshot
By 2027, cities on the TEN-T network will be required to adopt a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) across their functional area and report through standardised Urban Mobility Indicators (UMI), covering key metrics such as emissions, congestion, modal share, safety and access to services. The insights City Moonshot gathers help guide this transition, offering cities and policymakers evidence-based trends and barriers.
City Moonshot is now approaching its goal of interviewing 300 cities and regions, with more than 250 completed. Its findings are available through the Phase I report and the Focus On report (about e-mobility and UAM trends), both reflecting global patterns, best practices and persistent gaps in mobility governance.
National Moonshot: Understanding governance to support smarter mobility
While City Moonshot has shed light on the priorities of local authorities, it has also revealed challenges that cities alone cannot resolve, such as unclear regulatory frameworks, fragmentation in responsibilities, and a lack of resources or data governance structures. To better understand these national-level conditions, the new National Moonshot was officially launched during the Focus On event.
The National Moonshot aims to map the transport and mobility governance frameworks across European Member States, identifying opportunities to strengthen coordination between national and local levels. This initiative will help clarify responsibilities, improve policy alignment and provide a stronger evidence base for European mobility policymaking.
Its interviews will focus on a set of jointly defined topics, including:
- Governance and institutional roles
- Data governance
- Policies and interoperability
- Digitalisation of mobility and network management
- ITS enablers
- National Urban Mobility Policy or Investment Programmes (NUMP)
These topics were developed in close collaboration with CEDR, the organisation of European national road administrations' directors. CEDR experts supported the development of the questionnaire, especially sections addressing data and digitalisation, and will actively participate in the interviews. This cooperation mirrors successful partnerships previously established with ITS America and ITS Canada during City Moonshot’s earlier phases.
In preparation for the launch, two pilot interviews were conducted at the ITS Congress in Seville with national authorities: the Dirección General de Tráfico - DGT (Spain) and the UK Department for Transport. These pilots helped refine the methodology and ensure that the questionnaire accurately reflects the needs of national stakeholders.
National public authorities willing to take part in this initiative are welcome to contact our team: Lidia Buenavida Peña, Martina Ferrera Snider and John Paddington.
ERTICO’s Collaboration with ITS Nationals
ERTICO is already directly linked to the ITS Nationals Network, which gathers national ITS associations across Europe. Formed to ensure that ITS knowledge circulates across national and regional levels, the network plays a strategic role in ensuring that innovations translate into real deployment.
Since last year, the ITS Nationals have been part of ERTICO’s Strategy Committee, further strengthening their involvement in shaping Europe’s intelligent mobility landscape. At the same time, Joost Vantomme, our CEO, represents ERTICO within the ITS Nationals co-ordination committee, continuing to ensure alignment between national priorities and ERTICO’s broader strategy.
This relationship now expands through the National Moonshot, which will help provide a clearer picture of national competencies.
Together, the City and National Moonshot initiatives exemplify ERTICO’s commitment to bridging knowledge gaps across local, regional, and national levels. By systematically gathering insights from public authorities and fostering collaboration with industry partners and ITS networks, ERTICO is helping to create a more informed, coordinated, and forward-looking mobility ecosystem. These efforts not only highlight emerging trends and best practices but also provide actionable evidence to guide policymaking, infrastructure investment, and technological deployment. As the Moonshot initiative continues to expand its reach, it strengthens the foundations for smarter, more sustainable, and citizen-focused mobility across Europe and beyond.