Future Cycling Innovations: What Should They Look Like?

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11 Dec, 2012

The principle design of the bicycle hasn’t changed in a while and all it needs to cycle is a fair part of the road space. Should that remain the same?

Between 2007 – 2013, the EU spent about € 5 bn on transport research and innovation. This autumn, it published a Communication which starts the discussion on how the transport research money should be invested during the next financial perspective 2014 - 2020. The European Parliament will give its opinion next year. Reducing oil dependence, improving the environment, cutting green-house gases, reducing accidents are among the key challenges.

As we do know, cycling is part of the solution to address all these issues. So we need to ensure that innovation in cycling is at the core of this discussion too. How can the (electric) bicycle as a product be improved? What infrastructure in the widest sense do we need? How will the future of bike sharing and intermodal solutions look like? What technical devices does it need to make cycling safer? How to prevent bike theft? What about transporting goods and offering services by bicycle? Which ICT applications should users and transport systems have? How to systematically include cycling infrastructure in cost-benefit analyses? …

Share with us your thoughts, research, concept studies, and we will try to make it part of the future EU transport innovation policy.

About the Author

Fabian Küster is a Senior Policy Officer at the European Cyclists’ Federation and is regularly following EU developments and legislation.
He has previously worked in Brussels for a German Member of European Parliament and the German Embassy. He has wealth of experience in and around the EU institutions, and is an expert in the EU policy field of bicycles