The IT2Rail Consortium had also decided to create an Advisory Board (AB) with the following main objectives:
- Give expert advice and recommendations to the Project partners;
- Help disseminate information about the Project development at the highest level amongst relevant stakeholders.
The Advisory Board composed of all relevant stakeholders, possibly including non-EU representatives, will be embedded within IT2Rail core structure to maintain access to ‘the pulse of the market’ and allow a pro-active attitude to e.g. other stakeholders’ conditions, technological developments and business models. The role of the AB is to offer strategic guidance in terms of Project monitoring and to ensure that the relevant areas of the European Commission and the other major stakeholders are kept informed and involved. Based on the main Project developments and Expert Groups’ reports/opinions, the AB will make recommendations on any possible shortcomings in certain areas of the Project compared to the Description of Work. In the first meeting the AB will identify in general terms the key topics to be monitored later on, such as: the constitution of the Expert Groups with the involvement of additional stakeholders, some modifications/recommendations concerning the Pilot proposal, some recommendations on the use of innovative solutions, legislation issues and technical harmonisation, strategic developments concerning both the Project work and other relevant stakeholders, etc. These proposals will be reflected in Deliverable D8.9 and will feed back into the Project to be taken into consideration by the relevant WP leader(s), who will then decide how the proposal can be addressed, taking into account the framework of the Project (budget, objectives, consortium expertise, time, etc.). The typical AB meeting will consist of: presentation of Project status, discussions on main Project activities, potential open questions for which external advice is needed. This group will be made up of the EC, UNIFE, THALES and UITP representatives, as well as a maximum of 8 other high-level members, and will meet three times throughout the lifetime of the Project.