With the third session held on 28 April 2026, the Drive2Transform Policy Forum 2026 series has come to a close. Across three online editions between February and April, the series brought together around 30 policymakers, industry representatives, business support organisations and project partners per session, drawn from the nine Central European regions covered by the project.
All three Forums were organised and moderated by the Regional Development Agency of the Pilsen Region (RDA Pilsen), with Filip Uhlík guiding each discussion, jointly with the project lead Cluster Mobility & Logistics / TechBase Regensburg. The policy work package is led by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (CCIS).
A full European spectrum of perspectives
The three Forums were designed to cover the entire European and Central European policy ecosystem – from supranational to local level, and from regulatory authorities to industry, regions and start-ups:
- Forum I – 26 February 2026 set the strategic frame, with an opening speech by Tobias Gotthardt, Vice Minister at the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, and a strategic analysis by Peter Knap (EY Consulting), including the call for a unified European “Clean Tech Transport Valley” focused on software, recycling and competitive energy.
- Forum II – 24 March 2026 addressed the EU policy layer, with Lorena Ionita and Giuseppe Marotta (DG GROW, European Commission) presenting current European initiatives, Rudolf Špoták (European Committee of the Regions) providing the regional perspective, complemented by a hands-on car-sharing case from the municipality of Touškov together with the People Car start-up, and by the Enterprise Europe Network on diversification support.
- Forum III – 28 April 2026 closed the series with industry-near perspectives: ŠKODA AUTO on the OEM and Czech regulatory view, Transformationsnetz Nordschwarzwald on regional SME transformation support in Germany, and SEVA – Slovak Electric Vehicle Association on electrification and the Central European battery value chain.
Direct input into the Policy Recommendation Paper
The contributions and discussions from all three sessions will feed directly into the Drive2Transform Policy Recommendation Paper, structured along four levels – local, regional, national and European. The Forum series confirmed strong stakeholder support for this four-level architecture, as well as three priority messages for the European-level chapter: stable but flexible CO₂ emissions regulation, fair competition combined with industrial resilience, and dedicated support for affordable EV segments and the European battery value chain.
The Policy Recommendation Paper will be published and disseminated transnationally in the coming months. The strong interest the format has attracted across stakeholders confirms the value of structured cross-regional dialogue on automotive transformation in Central Europe.