The EPN Consulting Newsletter - 069 - May 2016
Editorial
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Dear Colleague,

Last week I flew from Turin (TRN) to London Luton (LTN) with a £15.18 ticket, seat booking included. The journey lasted about 1h45'.

Once there I got on a coach to Central London with a pre-purchased £12 ticket (a bit less than the flight cost) and the journey lasted 2hrs (more than the flight) due to congestion caused by roadworks.

Next month I will attend an EC conference in Brussels and I have just bought a Ryanair ticket to Charleroi airport (CLR) for €12.74 (£9.93) seat booking included. I already know the coach ticket to Central Brussels will cost me €14 (£10.92), more than the flight ticket, for only 60-km journey.

Apart from peak periods (e.g. Christmas, Summer holidays, bank and national holidays) travelling by plane within Europe has become incredibly cheap, even cheaper than travelling by bus/coach. Paradoxically, travel times by these two modes become comparable when we refer to big cities that suffer from roads congestion for the majority of day time.

This suggests we should have clear in mind some reference parameters when assessing travel options: 1) scheduled travel times by plane v those by bus/coach, 2) potential flights delays that for short-haul journeys can represent an additional 30%-50% of travel time (unfortunately some airlines are known for being frequently late), 3) travel times to/from airports that in large cities can be equivalent to flying times. 4) Last but not least, security/passports controls in large and busy airports in some cases can consume up to 45'.

Some years ago the cost of flying was a problem, now it's the time spent for a complete A-to-B leg that matters.


EPN Consulting Ltd.
Founder, CEO


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EU
Horizon 2020 & other calls close to deadline


24 May 2016 - Deadline to submit proposals to the H2020-ECSEL-2016-2-IA-TWO-STAGE call (Key Applications and Essential Technologies - 1st Stage)

01 June 2016 - Deadline to submit proposals to the H2020-FTIPilot-01-2016 call (Fast Track to Innovation Pilot - 2nd cut-off date)
22 June 2016 - Deadline to submit proposals to the H2020-INFRADEV-02-2016 call (Preparatory Phase of ESFRI Projects)
22 June 2016 - Deadline to submit proposals to the H2020-INFRADEV-04-2016 call (European Open Science Cloud for Research)
14 July 2016 - Deadline to submit proposals to the EIT-KICS-2016 calls (European Institute of Innovation & Technology - Food and Manufacturing)
China's roadmap to self-driving cars  

22 Apr 2016 - In the race to develop self-driving cars, the United States and Europe lead in technology, but China is coming up fast in the outside lane with a regulatory structure that could put it ahead in the popular adoption of autonomous cars on its highways and city streets.

A draft roadmap for having highway-ready, self-driving cars within 3-5 years and autonomous vehicles for urban driving by 2025 could be unveiled as early as this year, said Li Keqiang, an automotive engineering professor at Tsinghua University who chairs the committee drafting the plan. The panel is backed by the powerful Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Bad drivers are a good indicator of a corrupt government (?)

23 Apr 2016 - Traffic accidents kill 1.25 million people per year and it's well-known that those deaths are disproportionately in low- and middle-income countries.

Over at CityMetric, writer James O'Malley has added an interesting wrinkle by showing a correlation between the number of traffic fatalities in a country and the corruptness of its government.

Read more
EU
New decrease in Roaming Charges before their end in June 2017

30 Apr 2016 - New rules on roaming and net neutrality entered into force. Calling, texting or surfing online from another Member States (roaming) will get cheaper.

When travelling in the EU, mobile devices users will only pay a small amount on top of their domestic prices: up to €0.05 per minute of call made, €0.02 per text message sent and €0.05 per MB of data (excl. VAT).

This will be a short transition period since as from 15 June 2017, Europeans will pay the same price whether they use their mobile devices at home or somewhere else in the EU.
 
Read more
Apple invests $1bn in Chinese Transportation Service

12 May 2016 - Apple has invested $1 billion (£0.69bn, €0.88bn) into Didi Chuxing, a major Chinese ride-hailing service. Among other things, the move is intended to help Apple better understand China, its second-largest market after the US.

"We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market", Apple CEO Tim Cook told Reuters.
"Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return for our invested capital over time as well".

Apple's own interest in the field of transportation has been limited so far, but the company is widely rumored to be building a car of its own. Currently, it develops the CarPlay infotainment system that links to drivers' iPhones.

 Read more
The UK's first fully integrated iMaaS programme

12 May 2016 - It is a regional integration project for Oxfordshire and regards:

- Collaborative, real-world deployment of the Zipabout IMaaS Data Collection and Communication platform
- 2-year consortium-led R&D project involving every transport operator and stakeholder in Oxfordshire
- Records and maps every transport input - every user journey, every influence, every disruption, every person
- UK first for combining disparate datasets (open and closed) and fully personalised communication
- Development of a suite of tools, both standalone (e.g. co-branded app) and integrated services for stakeholders
- Full Business Intelligence and Analytics platform designed for the needs of the stakeholders

Read more
EPN Consulting Limited

EPN Consulting News  




On 11 and 12 May 2016 in London EPN Consulting attended The Business Show 2016 Spring event with a wealth of exhibition stands and tens of interesting workshops and conferences.

It was an excellent opportunity to learn the nuts and bolts of several areas such as marketing, finance, crowdfunding and other source of funding for SMEs, tax efficiency, etc.

It was also a good chance to learn how to invest in and/or export to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai, UAE in general. Useful tips were provided on how to do business in those areas that are pretty different from the UK and Europe as well as the USA.

EPN Consulting took the chance of meeting companies willing to do business and follow-up emails are just being received.

The event was held at the huge venue of ExCel London.
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Upcoming Professional Events in Europe


23-25 May 2016 - Madrid (ES) - CIV+ITS+TRA - 
23-26 May 2016 - Madrid (ES) - ENE+ICT+INN - 

24-25 May 2016 - London (UK) - BIZ+LEG+TRA - UK PORTS CONFERENCE 2016 
25 May 2016 - Istanbul (TR) - BIZ+FIN - Financial Times TURKEY SUMMIT 2016
25-26 May 2016 - Brussels (BE) - ICT - GeoIoT World 2016 - Where Gelocation powers IoT Innovation
25-27 May 2016 - Paris (FR) - ICT - CONNECTED CONFERENCE
29 May - 02 June 2016 - Milan (IT) - TRA - WCRR 2016 - 11th World Congress on Railway Research

30 May - 03 June 2016 - Europe - EUP - EU GREEN WEEK 2016 - Investing for a Greener Future 
30 May - 05 June 2016 - Europe - EUP+INN - EU MAKER WEEK 2016
31 May - 01 June 2016 - Barcelona (ES) - ICT - DECT WORLD 2016 
31 May - 02 June 2016 - Belgrade (SRB) - ICT - INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) WEEK 2016 
31 May - 02 June 2016 - Stuttgart (DE) - ICT+TRA - AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE TEST & DEVELOPMENT Symposium 2016

Go to the Events Section
The Website of the Month:
EMAS - Eco-Management and Audit Scheme 

The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is a management instrument developed by the European Commission for companies and other organisations to evaluate, report, and improve their environmental performance.

It leads to enhanced performance, credibility and transparency of registered organisations. In August 2014, more than 4,000 organisations and approximately 7,500 sites were EMAS registered. For up to date information on the total number of EMAS registered organisations and sites, please visit the statistics section of the website.

EMAS is open to every type of organisation eager to improve its environmental performance. It spans all economic and service sectors and is applicable worldwide.
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Based in London. Engaged with Europe.
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