FERROVIE DELLO STATO ITALIANE SPA

Their core work

Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane is Italy's national railway group — one of the largest integrated transport operators in Europe, managing rail infrastructure, passenger services, and freight logistics. In H2020, they contribute as an end-user and operational testbed, bringing real-world railway infrastructure challenges (bridge and tunnel monitoring, track safety systems) and workforce management experience to research consortia. Their participation provides consortia with access to one of Europe's most complex railway networks for validating new monitoring technologies, cybersecurity tools, and automation strategies at industrial scale.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

FS's earliest H2020 engagement (2018) addressed cybersecurity simulation and training for critical infrastructure, reflecting the growing digital threat landscape facing railway operators. Their focus then shifted toward physical infrastructure monitoring (Assets4Rail, also 2018) and, by 2020, to the human dimension — workforce transformation and automation impacts in transport (WE-TRANSFORM). This progression mirrors the rail sector's broader journey: first securing digital systems, then instrumenting physical assets, and finally preparing the workforce for automation.

FS is moving from purely technical R&D toward the socio-technical challenges of transport automation — expect future interest in human-AI collaboration, digital skills, and just-transition topics in rail.

How they like to work

FS participates exclusively as a consortium partner, never as coordinator — consistent with large operators who contribute domain expertise and real-world validation environments rather than leading research agendas. With 69 unique partners across 23 countries from just 3 projects, they join large, broad consortia (averaging 23+ partners per project). This signals an organization comfortable in complex multi-national collaborations where their primary value is as an end-user and infrastructure provider.

Despite only 3 projects, FS has built connections with 69 distinct partners across 23 countries — a remarkably wide network achieved through participation in large Innovation Action consortia. Their geographic reach spans most of the EU, with no narrow regional clustering.

What sets them apart

As Italy's national railway operator, FS brings something most research organizations cannot: a massive, live railway network as a real-world testing ground for new technologies. Any consortium developing monitoring sensors, cybersecurity tools, or workforce solutions for rail can gain operational validation at genuine industrial scale through FS. Their cross-cutting participation in cybersecurity, structural monitoring, AND workforce topics makes them a rare partner who understands the full technology-infrastructure-people chain in transport.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Assets4Rail
  Largest FS contribution (EUR 253,750) targeting a critical industry need: monitoring ageing railway bridges, tunnels, and tracks with advanced sensor and data systems.
• WE-TRANSFORM
  Addresses the often-neglected human side of transport automation — workforce restructuring, skills adaptation, and participatory approaches to managing change across European railways.