The EPN Consulting Newsletter - 075 - November 2016
Editorial
Dear Colleague,

Winter time is approaching and in some parts of the EU snow already covered mountains, roads and cities. Despite many rules/directives published by the EU on driving safely and on safety devices on cars, it is hard to find regulations on driving on European snowed roads.

Are snow chains equivalent to snow tyres? are snow tyres mandatory from 15th Oct, 1st Nov or 15th Nov? how long snow tyres must equip cars: until March, April or May?
There is not an official EU website describing this specific set of rules and if someone would like to find some reliable information, they have to read national Automobile Clubs or car rent companies websites.

Actually there are a couple of EU websites - Your Europe, Road Safety and Going Abroad but it is complicated to find detailed information on this topic concerning a specific EU country otherwise they provide contact details of national Ministries of Transport which is not properly the most user-friendly way of providing ready-to-use information to the public.

As a matter of fact, the situation is not easy in general: when I searched for winter/snow tyres in England it was definitely not easy to find them (they are not mandatory) and as I had to drive to Northern Italy, which means going up to the Alps, made me worried quite a lot.

When you arrive to Italy, though, you will be confused by the extreme variety of rules every city/town has the freedom to impose on the duration of winter car equipment.
Around Turin, for instance, you could find that one should have winter tyres mounted (or snow chains on board, information not included in the "Going Abroad" website by the way) from 15 Oct to 15 Apr for some kms and from 01 Nov to 31 March after driving a few kms farther on the same national road.
Of course, not following the specific rules would put you at risk of being fined. But how is it possible to know them before entering specific areas?

This situation does not help enhance road safety and something more concrete and consistent should be set up, coordinated and clearly disseminated by the EU.


EPN Consulting Ltd.
Founder, CEO


You receive this newsletter because you have been in touch directly or indirectly with EPN Consulting and/or its Founder & CEO. Please be assured that all your data stored in our systems will never be given away / sold / disclosed as EPN Consulting enforces a strict privacy policy.
EU
Horizon 2020 & other calls close to deadline

10 Jan 2017  -  Deadline to submit proposals to the H2020-JTI-IMI2-2016-09-TWO-STAGE calls  (Innovative Medicines Initiative - Stage 2)

19 Jan 2017 - Deadline to submit proposals to a few H2020 calls for proposals
More deadlines of the H2020 2017 calls, published a few weeks ago, will be soon available on our website.
What a lack of eye contact says about you...according to science...  

31 Oct 2016 -  What you do with your clothes, hair, accessories, posture, gestures-it all conveys deep, rich meaning.

But your eyes send messages, too, and failure to maintain good eye contact with your conversation partner can jeopardise your ability to get ideas out and build personal or business relationships. Cues from the eyes are often very subtle, but here's how you could come across if you don't make an effort to control your gaze and related behaviours...

Tim Berners-Lee warns of danger of chaos in Unprotected Public Data

01 Nov 2016 -  Hackers could use open data such as the information that powers Transport apps to create chaos, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, has said.

"If you disrupted traffic data for example, to tell everybody that all the roads south of the river are closed, so everybody would go north of the river, that would gridlock you [and] disable the city", he said.

Prof Sir Nigel Shadbolt, a co-founder, with Berners-Lee, of the Open Data Institute (ODI), described this as "the Italian Job scenario" and "the ultimate hack".  The pair, who have both advised the British government, are leading campaigners for publicly accessible data.

Berners-Lee points out as an example that reliable, detailed transport information "really makes London better".

Read more
Bulc defends plan to overhaul Road Toll rules

10 Nov 2016 -  "Charging is a hot topic. It needs to be fair, it needs to be transparent and it needs to allow equal playing fields", Bulc said.

The Slovenian Commissioner spoke at a conference held by consumer organisation Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), which is lobbying for the European Commission to call off its plans to change road toll rules. National governments should be free to make their own road toll rules, FIA argues.

Many drivers in EU countries pay a lot for road tolls but don't see that money reinvested into improving the quality of roads or building new road infrastructure, FIA argues.

Vehicle charges from 27 member states make up €286.3bn (£246.2bn), but only €178.4bn (153.4bn) was used to build road infrastructure, according to a new study commissioned by the organisation. Car drivers paid 71% of those fees (Cyprus did not provide data for the study).

Read more
Google commits to massive new London HQ

15 Nov 2016 -  Google has confirmed plans to build a new headquarters in London and create 3,000 jobs, in a move that will be seen as a vote of confidence in Britain's prospects after Brexit.

The project, which involves building a vast headquarters next to Google's existing base in King's Cross, Central London, was thrown into doubt by the EU referendum and disagreement about its design. But Google's Chief Executive, Sundar Pichai, said that while the firm has reservations about Brexit, it will not be dissuaded from building an office capable of housing 7,000 staff.

Pichai's public approval dispels any lingering doubts about a plan, first tabled three years ago, that is slated to create 3,000 new jobs by 2020. But he did warn that the government's expected crackdown on immigration after the vote to leave the EU runs counter to Google's ideals.

Read more 
EPN Consulting Limited

EPN Consulting News  




Last 02 Nov 2016 in Manchester  EPN Consulting attended the first day of INNOVATE2016 organised by the Department for International Trade (DIT) and Innovate UK; this leading event showcased the UK's world-beating innovations and offered excellent seminars on a variety of business-oriented topics.

The following week EPN Consulting attended two events:

- on the 08 Nov in London The Telegraph Festival of Business 2016 dedicated to "Navigating Business Through Brexit" where it was offered a fresh and insightful perspective on navigating business after the Brexit referendum as well as wider market developments

- on  the 09 Nov in London the event on How to make the most of trade fairs abroad organised by Enterprise Europe Network and  the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).
people_at_conference.jpg
Upcoming Professional Events in Europe

22 Nov 2016 - Milton Keynes (UK) -  ITS+TRA -  DRIVERLESS TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE
22-24 Nov 2016 - Bratislava (SK) -  ENE+ITS+TRA -  SMART CITY 360' International Summit
23 Nov 2016 - London (UK) -  ITS+TRA -  RTPI 2016 - Real-Time Passenger Information
23 Nov 2016 - London (UK) -  ITS+TRA -  SMART TICKETING & PAYMENTS 2016 
23 Nov 2016 - Milton Keynes (UK) -  TRA -  MODELLING TOMORROW'S WORLD
24-25 Nov 2016 - Salzburg (AT) -  ENE -  RENEXPO INTERHYDRO - European Hydropower Trade Fair and Conference
29 Nov 2016 - Bruxelles (BE) -  EUP+ICT -  THINK DIGITAL - Shaping the Digital Future of Europe
30 Nov 2016 - Loughborough (UK) -  ITS+TRA -  THE MIDLANDS INTELLIGENT MOBILITY Conference 2016
30 Nov 2016 - Rotterdam (NL) -  ENV+EUP+TRA -  EUROPEAN BIKE SHARING CONFERENCE
30 Nov 2016 - Brussels (BE) -  ENE+INN -  MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH DAY
The Website of the Month:
EAFO - European Alternative Fuels Observatory  

EAFO is an European Commission funded initiative which provides open and free information, amongst others to support Member States with the implementation of EU Directive 2014/94 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure. Targeted alternative fuels are Electricity, Hydrogen and Natural Gas [both liquefied (LNG) and compressed (CNG)].

The geographical scope consists of all EU Member States + EFTA members + Turkey (33 countries in total, "Europe" in EAFO definition).

The Observatory will integrate relevant data, information, news items, newsletters and other publications. The EAFO focusses on national level data and information but will also cover specific regions and cities based on data availability.

The EPN Consulting Galaxy

The EPN Consulting Website 
The EPN Consulting Professional Services 
The EPN Consulting Network 
The EPN Consulting Newsletter 
The EPN Consulting Paper
The EPN Consulting Sponsorship Scheme  
EPN Consulting
Based in London. Engaged with Europe.
STAY CONNECTED: