TNO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek TNO) is one of the major contract research organisations in Europe. With a staff of approximately 3500 and an annual turnover of 580 million Euros, TNO is carrying out research in order to achieve impact on the following seven themes: Healthy Living, Industrial Innovation, Urbanisation, Energy, and Defence, Safety and Security.
TNO functions as an intermediary between basic research organisations and industry. By translating scientific knowledge into practical applications, TNO contributes to the innovation capacity of businesses and government. TNO is involved in many international projects (about 30% of the market turnover), including EU-funded collaborations.
In the theme Urbanisation applied research is carried out for related to solutions for liveable and competitive cities. This is done together with collaboration partners, governments and industry. Collectively we are applying our knowledge to improve the physical environment and make it sustainable. Our focus is on solutions in the fields of mobility, infrastructure and buildings, spatial planning and the environment. TNO Urbanisation works on four strategic roadmaps:
- Smart Cities.
- Mobility and Logistics.
- Environment & Sustainability.
- Buildings and Infrastructures.
In the research group of Smart Mobility the main activities are focused on the next generation traffic simulation models that focus on an hybrid approach between data and modelling in order to support decision makers on all levels to improve their decision making.
Besides these activities TNO has two other major assets which are very useful for the project. TNO was one of the founding fathers of the public private partnerships DITCM (Dutch Integrated Test site for Cooperative Mobility) where (inter)national architecture and standards are developed in the triple helix (public, private and knowledge stakeholders). DITCM will play a major role in the deployment of cooperative systems within the Netherlands. Furthermore TNO was a founding member of the DAVI initiative where TNO together with TU Delft, Connekt/ITS Netherlands and the RDW works towards bringing automated vehicles on Dutch roads are focused to be brought to the next level. The ultimate goal of DAVI is to realise type approval of vehicles of automated vehicles.
