Despite the increasing competition, the European rail supply industry still holds world leadership on themarket for rail products thanks to its investments in R these include raw materials, intermediate products and finished productsfrom overseas. The COVID-19 and the following crisis ("permacrisis") and the related supplydisruptions⎯despite their difference in duration and reasons⎯have taught that the more you rely on GlobalValue Chains for your supplies, the more vulnerable you are. And in too many cases, the supply of keycomponents and raw materials is not only very far from Europe but also concentrated in a few places, whichboosts vulnerability. Not only: the greater frequency and severity of climate hazards is teaching that climatechange is one more source of disruptions, interrupting production, raising costs and prices, and hurtingcorporate resilience. Also, supply vulnerability increases proportionally with the increasing demand forAdvanced Technologies and Advanced Materials necessary to deliver (also) rail innovations.Europe’s actual capacity to produce for the market the innovations its industries and Academia are developingwithin the 'Europe's Rail R&I programme' is therefore challenged in the project "LEADER 2030", from whichthis research stems. This risk, however, is not only confined within Europe but is global.The Paper proposed by this international team offers food for thought to the audience of the WCRR 2025 andconsiderations about the design and resilient sourcing for rail innovations.Keywords: Critical Supplies, Innovation, Autonomy, Resilience, Value Chain
Bocci et al. (Thu,) studied this question.