SRM - SOCIETA RETI E MOBILITA SRL

Their core work

SRM (Società Reti e Mobilità) is a Bologna-based private consultancy specializing in transport research and urban mobility, with a focus on user-centered methods and the social dimensions of how people move through cities. Their H2020 work covers two distinct but connected areas: collecting and analyzing behavioral data on cycling and walking (TRACE), and designing inclusive transport solutions for populations at risk of mobility exclusion (TRIPS). They contribute participatory design expertise, user studies, and policy-facing recommendations to research consortia — skills that bridge engineering-heavy transport projects and the actual needs of diverse users. Their outputs are methodologies, design guidelines, and policy recommendations rather than physical products or software platforms.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (TRACE, 2015-2018), SRM's work centered on the technical and behavioral side of active mobility — tracking cycling and walking patterns, with no recorded keywords suggesting a data-collection and monitoring orientation. By their second project (TRIPS, 2020-2023), the focus had shifted markedly toward social equity and participatory design: co-design processes, user studies, assistive technologies, and meeting the mobility needs of people at risk of exclusion. This is a meaningful pivot from quantitative mobility data toward human-centered design and social inclusion policy — a direction that aligns with where EU transport research funding is flowing in the 2021-2027 period.

SRM is moving deeper into participatory design and mobility equity — if this trajectory continues, future projects will likely sit at the intersection of social inclusion, accessible transport, and urban policy rather than pure data collection.

How they like to work

SRM has participated in both H2020 projects as a consortium partner, never as coordinator — a consistent pattern that reflects their role as a specialist contributor rather than a project leader. Despite only two projects, they have connected with 24 unique partners across 13 countries, which suggests they join mid-to-large consortia where they deliver a specific methodological or user research function that the lead organizations cannot provide themselves. Working with them means gaining participatory design and social research capacity, not operational project management.

SRM has engaged with 24 unique consortium partners across 13 countries through just two projects, indicating broad European exposure relative to their scale — consistent with participation in genuinely pan-European RIA consortia. No geographic concentration is apparent beyond their Italian base.

What sets them apart

SRM sits at an unusual intersection in the transport research space: they combine urban mobility expertise with co-design methodology and social inclusion research — a combination that pure engineering firms or data companies rarely offer. Based in Bologna, a city with a strong cycling culture and progressive urban mobility policy tradition, they bring credible local context alongside European research experience. For consortia building around transport equity, accessible mobility, or participatory planning, SRM fills a profile that most transport technology partners cannot.

Highlights from their portfolio

• TRIPS
  Directly addresses mobility exclusion for vulnerable populations using co-design and assistive technologies — a socially impactful topic central to current EU transport equity priorities.
• TRACE
  Largest single grant received (€157,362) and SRM's earliest H2020 entry, establishing their track record in active mobility data collection across a multi-year research project.