News

Dear all SAFER-partners,
 
First, we want to thank you all for an incredibly positive year of collaboration in traffic safety research! Almost during the whole year, we have collaborated online, using digital tools, and we think this has worked out very well; projects have been created, we have moved forward with various matters, we have influenced upcoming funding opportunities and shared knowledge with each other as well as presented and discussed research results. A lot has happened at SAFER during the year, you will be able to read more in our annual report that will be published in March, but we would like to share some highlights with you:

First, our project portfolio! This is the foundation of our successful collaboration; the projects are the base for our centre of excellence and the portfolio supports SAFER to continue to be attractive to our partners, and also to other research groups around the world. A big thanks to all of you who contribute to our own SAFER projects and not least in our associated projects, these are also very important for us in the knowledge building process.

The SAFER pre-study program! This investment has really been a true success. The program was launched in connection with the start of the current stage, and the program has developed even better than we could anticipate. It is valuable for our joint research and project portfolio to have funding to help us getting started in new areas, explore, think in new ways, try our new groups of partners with the aim of even better utilizing the multidisciplinary arena to design excellent larger projects. In 2021, seven new pre-studies have started and we would like to inspire you to continue submitting ideas!

During the year we have also celebrated 15 years of borderless research to save lives in traffic by joining forces with the Swedish automotive industry, academia and societal actors. Thousands of researchers have been active in the research and competence center over the years and during the period close to 400 projects have been carried out, over 1000 publications have been published and 64 doctors have been examined in SAFER's unique collaboration environment. Several prestigious award-winning prizes have also been granted to SAFER and its researchers over the years.

We are also pleased with the great commitment to start creating our joint future research agenda for SAFER's next stage, which starts in January 2024. In September, we organized a workshop in which nearly 100 participants generated as many as 500 ideas. When we sum up the input, we see that there are several new areas we need to jointly address in order to achieve our common vision, including a greater focus on for example new vehicles and forms of mobility, infrastructure, safety culture, traffic safety footprints and also an even greater focus on road user behaviour. We also see that much of what we do today will generates high value and is desired to continue into the next stage. We are very much looking forward to a continued dialogue with all of you in the co-creation of our common long-term research agenda!

It is also encouraging to see that Agenda 2030 and the recommendations from the UN conference in Stockholm last year are now being embraced and used in the society. The 17 sustainable development goals are indivisible, and this essence makes us well positioned for the future; the broad range of competences available in our network is a good start for us to be able to contribute to our common societal challenges. Thank you for collaborating with us!

Finally, we would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Now, enjoy the Christmas holiday with its opportunities for relaxation and fun activities. We look forward to meeting you in 2022 to make yet another inspiring year of traffic safety research in close collaboration.

Kindest regards,
SAFER Management Team