ICE: Interface for cycling expertise

I-CE in short

- I-CE Interface for cycling expertise is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization, a foundation created in 1996. Based in the Netherlands, I-CE has been founded to answer the ever-growing international demand for cycle policy expertise.
- I-CE operates as an interface between the demand for cycling expertise from cities all over the world and the Dutch cycling culture: highly professionalized cycle planners and designers and cycle practice and experience at all levels of society. I-CE has specialized in cycling mobility in developing countries (see Locomotives).
- I-CE aims at the promotion of cycle-inclusive¹ sustainable integrated urban and transport planning, through transfer and development of cycling expertise.
- I-CE is an expertise centre for training, technical assistance and research. In developing countries the foundation implements specific pluri-annual programs and projects with subsidies and other contributions.

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Objectives

- Development of possibilities and rights to move by bicycle and have access to other forms of low-cost mobility².
- Promotion of integrated urban, transport and planning in favour of cycle mobility (cycle-inclusive planning¹) and a sustainable environment.
- Capacity-building and know-how development on a local level for the improvement of low-cost and cycle mobility and the planning and design of cycle-inclusive policies and facilities in an urban environment, particularly in (but not limited to) developing countries.
- Bringing together of professional resources, data, know-how and best practice (i.e. bicycle expertise) in the field of bicycle transport for project implementation and transfer of expertise.
- Mobilizing of social and political support in order to reach the above goals, particularly in developing countries.

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The importance of cycling

I-CE is convinced any infrastructure investments in an urban context should be based on sustainable development³ principles.
The bicycle has high potential to contribute to the solution of urban mobility problems at low cost and to protection of the environment and a better quality of life. However, to be fully efficient and reach these goals, cycling has to be integrated in overall urban, traffic and transport planning (cycle-inclusive planning¹).
Each transport mode has its strength and weakness. The task for traffic planners is to meet the transportation needs of individuals and society in such a way that the positive characteristics of each mode can contribute to social, economic and environmental well-being, without putting the future of the planet in jeopardy.

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Partners, networks, alliances

I-CE operates with partners, through networks and strategic alliances:

• I-CE's main partners are cities and Civil Society Organizations (CSO's):
  - As such, I-CE supports 30 to 50 partner cities in Africa, Latin America and Asia through the Bicycle Partnership Program (BPP) in their ambition towards cycle-inclusive urban and transport planning.
  - Between 2007 and 2010, I-CE will fund 10-25 CSO projects per year in the Bicycle Partnership Program (bpp), civil society organizations being an essential element in any city process to get cycle-inclusive planning and policies on the move.
• I-CE operates through networks for the implementation of its missions, programs and projects and exchange of know-how and practice. Therefore, three different kinds of networks have been initiated by I-CE:
  On the Dutch side:
  - Cycling NL (cycling.nl) is a network of Dutch cycle experts who are willing to make their expertise and experience available to I-CE for international cooperation on a non-profit basis. This cycling related expertise is found with local governments (municipalities, provinces), specialized traffic consultancy firms, experts working on a freelance basis and volunteers. Members of Cycling.nl, also open to students, regularly meet (4-6 times a year) in order to exchange experience and create a common basis from which to operate, mainly in the framework of the Bicycle Partnership Program-BPP.
  International networks:
  - The Locomotives Network of Civil Society Organizations in developing countries, initiated by I-CE to support their effort towards self-reliance in 2010; this network resulted from the Low Cost Mobility Initiatives Support Program (Locomotives) led by I-CE from 2003 to 2006.
  - The Cycling Academic Network (CAN), a collaborative agreement in the framework of the Bicycle Partnership Program (BPP) created by I-CE in order to promote research on cycle-inclusive planning and into the significance of cycling in various contexts. Signed in 2007, CAN operates between Dutch universities and scientific centres and partners of Indian, South-African and Brazilian based universities.
• I-CE also enters into strategic alliances with international organizations, based on:
  - a programmatic collaboration on sustainable mobility,
  - a match-funding approach,
  - an effort to increase the scope for dissemination of information and know-how.
  An example of a strategic alliance, is that of SUMA: Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia coordinated by the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (SUMA).

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Products

I-CE provides both to developing countries, as well as on the European market:
- technical assistance for policy and project formulation, planning, engineering and design,
- capacity-building through interactive training on cycle-inclusive policies and facilities, sustainable mobility,
- transfer of know-how, practice and experience, enabling access to source knowledge and exchange of information,
- research into cycling issues to further knowledge and understanding,
- publication and dissemination of cycle- and cycling-related studies, brochures and books.

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Funding

Financially, I-CE operates on order and develops programs with subsidies and other contributions.
I-CE's most important activity, the implementation of the Bicycle Partnership Program, is mainly financed through subsidies from the Dutch Ministry of Cooperative Development which are completed by:
- Co-financing and match-funding with other institutions and partners to finance these programs (for example with the municipality of Gaborone in Botswana);
- Sponsoring (Dutch consultancies);
- In-kind contributions (by experts, municipality directors, banks (micro-credits),...);
- Fund-raising campaigns by other social organizations amongst the Dutch public.

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