The European Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers, ACEM, hosted on 24 September its 11th annual conference in Brussels. The event attracted more than 130 attendees representing businesses, EU policy-makers, national administrations and stakeholders.
Keynote addresses were given by Stephan Schaller, ACEM President and BMW Motorrad President, and by Nikolaus von Peter, member of the Cabinet of the European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc.
The discussions addressed a wide range of topics including the mainstreaming of motorcycling into relevant EU policies, as well as its inclusion in national, regional and local transport plans.
The importance of balanced and well-designed European legislation for the sector was also underlined.
Panellists included Antonio Perlot, ACEM Secretary General; Jacob Bangsgaard, Director of FIA Region I; Karen Vancluysen, POLIS Executive Director; Barbara Bonvissuto (European Commission DG GROW), Cristina Marolda (European Commission DG MOVE) and Wim van de Camp (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur on the type-approval regulation for mopeds, motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles and the White Paper on Transport Policy).
As part of the conference, a forward-looking session on electromobility brought together policymakers, industry and researchers.
This workshop included presentations on projects funded under the Horizon 2020 research programme and the European Green Vehicles Initiative Public Private Partnership. Panellists of this session included the coordinators of the following projects on L-category vehicles: RESOLVE (Mario Santucci – Piaggio), WEEVIL (Jon Madariaga – IK4-Tekniker), EU-LIVE (Werner Rom – Virtual Vehicle Research Centre) and ESPRIT (Valéry Cervantes – CEA).
ACEM manufacturers displayed some of their vehicles at the event. The selection included, products designed for a wide range of purposes (e.g. individual mobility, leisure, small logistics) and with different powertrains (i.e. internal combustion-, electrically and hydrogen- propelled vehicles).
Quotes from ACEM President and ACEM Secretary General
Commenting on the recent market situation of the sector ACEM President Stephan Schaller said “between 2013 and 2014 registrations of powered-two and three-wheelers increased by 2%. The first months of 2015 show the same trend. We might start seeing light at the end of the tunnel, but a supportity regulatory framework that fosters investment, jobs and growth is necessary”.
Commenting on the relaunch of the Cars 2020 process he said “ACEM has been part of the previous process and wish to continue taking part in this important forum”.
ACEM Secretary General Antonio Perlot said “Today’s discussions shows that European funded research can play a positive role in supporting industry’s innovation efforts. We look forward to continue cooperating with our partners in the EU institutions in this area”.
Photos (more are available on our Flickr page…)
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Documents available to download
Keynote speeches
ACEM President. BMW President Stephan Schaller: keynote speech (mp3), presentation (ppt).
Nikolaus von Peter. Member of the Cabinet of the European Commissioner for Mobility and Transport, Violeta Bulc: keynote speech (mp3).
1st session. The place of L-category vehicles in the EU. Panel discussion (mp3)
2nd session. Unlocking the innovation potential for L-category vehicles: electromobility.
Antonio Perlot: Unlocking the innovation potential for L-category vehicles (ppt), presentation (mp3)
Patrick. Mercier-Handisyde: Horizon 2020 and EGVI (ppt), presentation (mp3)
Mario Santucci – Piaggio: RESOLVE project (pdf), presentation (mp3)
ESPRIT (Valéry Cervantes – CEA): ESPRIT project (pptx), presentation (mp3)
Jon Madariaga – IK4-Tekniker: WEEVIL project (pptx), presentation (mp3)
Werner ROM – Virtual Vehicle Research Centre: EU-LIVE project (pptx), presentation (mp3)
