News

Welcome back, SAFER community!

We hope you have had a really nice summer, had some time to recharge your batteries, and are now ready for an autumn filled with road safety, new ideas and, most importantly, lots of collaboration.

At the SAFER office, we are definitely up and running and very ready for everything ahead. Our most important task this autumn is actually quite simple: to help good ideas become reality. Do you have a question you want to gather people around? A project idea that needs the right partners? A consortium that needs to be built? A call you want to go for? Or results that need to reach more people? Come to us. We are ready with our full facilitation toolbox: matchmaking, workshops, consortium building, project development, support with funding and applications, knowledge sharing and, of course, access to the whole SAFER community. This is exactly how SAFER should work. You come with the need, and together we make things start moving.

From idea to project
An important engine for this is our SAFER Idea Exploration Program, where we want to catch as many promising ideas as possible. The autumn call is open and the application deadline is 8 October. If you have an idea that needs to be tested, developed or get some new perspectives before it can grow into something bigger, start talking to us already now. We also want to bring more projects into the SAFER partner portfolio. A project does not need to be funded by SAFER to benefit from the community. Connect your project to SAFER and use the platform throughout the journey, to find competence, bring in other perspectives, create dialogue, test ideas and spread results. At the same time, the rest of the community gets the opportunity to follow, learn and build further on the knowledge.

Our working groups, where a lot starts
Our working groups continue to be some of the most important places for idea development and knowledge exchange within SAFER. They are working really well, but there is room for more people. Want to be part of an existing group? Give us a shout! And are you missing a group for a question that you think we should gather people around? Even better. Come to us and we will help bring the right people together and get things started.

A packed event autumn
And speaking of meeting each other. Have you seen our event calendar for the autumn? It is packed, to say the least. Already on 27 August, our popular Thursday lunch seminars are back. Every Thursday you have the opportunity to come up to SAFER, fill up with some new knowledge, meet others in the community and discuss current road safety topics. And we dare to say that this autumn's seminar programme looks sharper than ever. And, of course, there is lunch. And not just any lunch. We have a new catering supplier and, after some very serious quality control by the SAFER office, we can confirm that it is really yummy. 😊 So, Thursday lunch: knowledge, new perspectives, SAFER colleagues and good food. Quite hard to beat, actually. And for those of you who cannot be there in person, we will of course continue to be a hybrid meeting place. Almost all our seminars and activities can be joined online, with just a few exceptions. We want the knowledge and discussions to be available to the whole community, no matter where you happen to be. And the Thursday seminars are only one part of everything happening. Keep an eye on the event calendar, because there is much more coming this autumn.

Now we are joining forces for safer cycling
One more thing we really want to push a little extra this autumn is Kraftsamling Cykelhjälm, an initiative for increased bicycle helmet use. Lead by NTF and supported by Trafikverket and SAFER. More cycling is an important part of the transition towards a sustainable transport system. We both want and need more people to choose the bicycle. But then we also need to make sure that they can do it safely. The development of cycling injuries is worrying, while even more people are expected to start cycling in the future. We cannot wait for the problems and then try to solve them. We need to be one step ahead. And most importantly, we need to do it together. The kick-off takes place 8 September at SAFER, and if your organisation or company has not signed up yet: hurry up and do it! We want you there. The more perspectives and actors we have around the table, the better chance we have to actually make change happen together. 

Two big meeting places this autumn
In October, it is finally time for DDI 2026, the tenth International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention. On 20 to 22 October, we will gather international researchers, industry and authorities here at Lindholmen in Gothenburg. And of course, the tenth conference deserves some extra guldkant, so we will make sure it is both really sharp when it comes to knowledge and properly festive. The program is ready and registration is open. Register by 1 September for the early bird price.

Then we finish the year with Sveriges Trafiksäkerhetsdagar, the national meeting place for road safety, on 1 to 2 December. We are both proud and happy that SAFER has once again been trusted to help create and drive the development of this initiative together with Trafikverket and SKR. And we need it. The road safety challenges that remain are complex. No organisation, discipline or sector can solve them alone. And when resources are becoming more limited, our ability to prioritise, join forces and actually do things together becomes even more important. Trafiksäkerhetsdagarna should be a place where we do not only talk about the challenges, but actually take the next steps together. This year's theme is Vision Zero 30 years: a modern compass for increased road safety. It feels very much right in time.

The SAFER community continues to grow
And we want to become more. During the autumn, we hope to welcome new partners to SAFER, and this is an important direction for us going forward. SAFER has a strong base in academia, industry and the public sector, but the complex road safety challenges mean that we constantly need to broaden the perspectives around the table. We want to bring even more of society and the real world into SAFER. Cities, municipalities, societal actors and other organisations close to the environments where the transition actually happens need to be part of defining the questions, developing the knowledge and finding the solutions. And of course, doing this together with research, industry and authorities. It is when the different perspectives meet that things get really interesting. So stay tuned, new partners are on their way in, and please help us spread the word. Do you know an organisation, city, municipality or other actor that should be part of the SAFER community? Connect us! The SAFER platform is open to everyone who wants to take part, contribute and work together for a safer transport system.

The next step for SAFER
Another important question for us this autumn is the conditions for future road safety research and innovation. We see reduced resources in several places, while the need for new knowledge and collaboration is definitely not getting smaller. Together, we need to become better at finding funding, creating strong initiatives and showing the difference that road safety research actually makes. At the same time, we continue the work to develop SAFER for the next step, with the ambition to grow, create even more value for our partners and contribute even stronger on a national level.

An important part of this will be our autumn strategy days with our new Steering Group and our working group leaders. Two intensive days in Munkedal are waiting for us. Before then, we really encourage you to talk to your representatives in SAFER, members in the Steering Committee, your working group leaders and your contacts at the SAFER operational team. What works really well? What can we do better? What do you need more of from SAFER? And what should we be doing that we are not doing today? SAFER should develop based on our partners' needs, so take the opportunity to have your say.

Our venue at Kuggen is READY!
Finally, we have now properly moved into our new premises. Everything might not be completely top-notch and perfectly finished in every little corner yet, but we are up and running, and the premises are made for exactly what we want SAFER to be: a place where people meet and things happen. So use them! Have your project meeting here, gather a consortium, run a workshop, or just come by for a coffee and talk about a half-baked idea. Half-baked ideas are often the most fun ones. The SAFER community is your community. The SAFER office is your resource. And this autumn is for getting things moving.

A very warm welcome back. 

Kind regards,

The Operational team: Magnus, Malin, Ines and Sophia