FIER BV

Their core work

FIER BV is a Dutch automotive supply chain consultancy — its alternative trading names (FIER AUTOMOTIVE, SUPPLY CHAIN CONSULTANTS 4AUTOMOTIVE) make this explicit. The company advises automotive manufacturers and suppliers on supply chain design, efficiency, and the industry transition toward electrification and lower emissions. In EU research consortia, they contribute the industry-practitioner perspective: translating research outputs into workable supply chain and deployment scenarios. Their H2020 involvement spans both urban electric mobility integration and portable innovation networks targeting emissions reduction in transport.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

FIER entered H2020 only in 2020, very late in the programme, so there is no multi-year arc to trace within this dataset. Their early-period keywords — e-mobility, demonstration, innovation, international cooperation — show an immediate focus on the clean transport transition rather than any gradual shift. The absence of keywords in the recent-period data reflects sparse tagging rather than a change in direction. What the timeline does confirm is that FIER positioned itself squarely in the electrification and emissions agenda from the moment it entered EU-funded research.

FIER appears to be deepening its foothold in clean transport R&D consortia, moving from urban e-mobility (SOLUTIONSplus) toward broader automotive efficiency and emissions work (PIONEERS), suggesting a strategy of expanding the consultancy's value proposition across the full clean-transport transition.

How they like to work

FIER has never coordinated an H2020 project — it joins exclusively as a participant or third party, which is consistent with a boutique consultancy that adds specific industry knowledge rather than leading large research programmes. Both projects it joined are very large consortia (SOLUTIONSplus and PIONEERS each involve dozens of partners), so FIER operates comfortably in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. Its dual role in PIONEERS — both participant and third party — suggests it may also act as a subcontractor or secondment resource within the same project structure.

FIER has built exposure to 106 unique consortium partners across 29 countries through just two projects, reflecting the scale of the large Innovation Action consortia it has joined. There is no discernible geographic concentration — the partner spread is European and international, consistent with SOLUTIONSplus's explicit international cooperation mandate.

What sets them apart

FIER's distinctiveness lies in being a very small Dutch consultancy (SME, single-founder scale implied by the Harm Weken name variant) that has successfully entered large, competitive EU transport consortia as an industry-side practitioner. Where most consortium partners are universities or large OEMs, FIER represents the supply chain advisory layer — a rare and specific perspective. For consortium builders who need an industry voice on automotive supply chain realities without the overhead of a large Tier-1 supplier, FIER fills a gap that few Dutch SMEs occupy.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SOLUTIONSplus
  FIER's largest project by funding (EUR 355,945) and the clearest demonstration of its e-mobility expertise, targeting integrated urban electric transport solutions aligned with Paris Agreement commitments across multiple international city pilots.
• PIONEERS
  Unusual in that FIER holds both a participant and a third-party role within the same project, suggesting a flexible contractual structure and the ability to contribute expertise through more than one organisational channel.