After publication of the TIARA project final reports, the project partners from the CEDR Call 2022 Data projects of DROIDS, PRESORT and TIARA jointly presented the key project outcomes to CEDR member NRA representatives at the final programme conference on 14–15 October 2025 in Birmingham, UK.
The aim of the CEDR transnational research programme 2022 on Data was to provide the NRAs with confidence in approaching the era of digitalisation, where collecting, managing, and sharing data belonging to road users, NRAs, and third-party providers will be vital. Three projects were undertaken; Digital Road Operator Information and Data Strategy (DROIDS), Improving the use of Third-Party Data by NRAs (PRESORT), and Trusted Integrity and Authenticity for Road Applications (TIARA).
In common with previous CEDR research programmes, the project partners and the representatives from NRAs, who are members of CEDR, met for a final programme conference. This year, the conference took place in Birmingham, UK, alongside the Highways UK show.
The first day programme was hybrid (online/in-person), including introductory talks from Naida Muirhead, CEDR Programme Manager, and Steve Phillips, CEDR Secretary General, followed by an initial snapshot of the key outcomes from each project. Questions were raised online, particularly relating to NRAs’ future responsibilities in ensuring data infrastructure security. The programme then switched on in-person only, for deep dive into each project through workshop-style discussions.
The deep dive into PRESORT was presented by Scott Stephenson from AECOM, UK, the project coordinator, assisted by Tomi Laine from Traficon, Finland, and Shubham Soni, from Haskoning, Netherlands. The key project outcome was a guidance for NRAs procuring and using third-party data.
The deep dive into TIARA was presented by Alan Walker from Syselek, UK, the project coordinator, assisted by Pete Lockhart from AESIN, UK, Ilkka Kotilainen from Traficon, Finland, and Sven Maerivoet from TML, Belgium. Each presenter highlighted NRAs’ future responsibilities in data, and the skills, which NRAs will need to build up. Sven also gave the audience an introduction to the language of anonymisation, pseudonymisation, de-identification, and re-identification.
The deep dive into DROIDS was presented by Ilkka Kotilainen from Traficon, Finland, the project coordinator, assisted by Petter Kvalvik from IFE, Norway. The key project outcomes were data sharing and usage frameworks. The DROIDS project also took on the task to pull together the recommended actions from all three projects.
Risto Kulmala from Traficon, Finland, acting as conference rapporteur, summarised the two days with an overview of the discussions. He finished on an important message, reminding all participants of the relevance of the topic.. “Data is knowledge, and knowledge is power!”
A report of the final programme conference will be delivered to CEDR in the coming weeks.
More information about the CEDR transnational research programme 2022 projects on Data is available at https://www.cedr.eu/call-2022
