On 25 January ERTICO kicked-off a new European project focusing on the emerging needs of the freight and logistics sectors together with a consortium led by ERTICO Partner VTT – Technical Research Centre of Finland. The STORM project will start by screening existing trends and challenges of the freight and logistics sectors to identify needs and knowledge gaps. In parallel to this, new sources of data enabled by the digitalisation will be assessed. Later, new methods and tools for analysis of the structural changes, as well as for processing big data for the needs of freight and logistics will be elaborated. As a result of the project, recommendations for future business, research and policies will be provided, as well as a toolbox of open access materials.
Within the project, ERTICO will bring its knowledge in freight, with proven records for strong expertise and experience in driving innovation collaboration between best-in-class global and local players in various transport domains.
ERTICO has set four Roadmap programmes towards 2030. The digitalisation of freight transport and logistics operations is part of the Roadmap on “Transport & Logistics” while the reduction of the environmental impact of the road transport is a key pillar of that on “Clean Mobility”. STORM will contribute to both boosting knowledge transfer and innovation between Research organisations and Policy makers, while providing new business opportunities for the Industry players.
“ERTICO will support the project’s knowledge gaps analysis by engaging public and private stakeholders in the areas of transport and logistics and clean mobility, such as vehicle manufacturers, service providers, suppliers, traffic and transport industry, mobile network operators, research institutions, public authorities, end users’ associations. At least two workshops bringing together all these actors will be organised to exchange views, knowledge and practical experience in order to identify gaps and prioritise work on specific research questions and indicators identified within the STORM project” – explained Carmela Canonico, Manager for Innovation and Deployment at ERTICO, who will oversee ERTICO work and contribution in the project.
In addition to ERTICO and VTT, the project will count on the extensive knowledge and experience of three research centres; Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), the Fraunhofer Institute of Systems and Innovation Research (Germany), and the Technical University in Prague (Czech Republic).
“I am happy to see that despite the difficult times in the middle of global pandemic, science, business and stakeholders with great excitement and hope for the future, join efforts to shape together the green future of such important sectors of a country’s economy as freight and logistics transport.” Says Dr Yancho Todorov, VTT, STORM project coordinator.
The project will also count on the support of external stakeholders in providing insights to their ongoing developments and cross-collaboration links. Among them, Zaragoza Logistics Center (Spain), Camideos (Germany), ABB eMobility Digital Venture (Netherlands), ATOS (Spain), Transport & Environment society (Belgium), Ford Otosan (Turkey), CLEPA – European Association of Automotive Suppliers (Belgium), and ITS-Finland.
