Friday, October 17th, 2025
On 16 October 2025, Fernando Liesa, Secretary General of ALICE, delivered a keynote speech and took part in a high-level logistics roundtable at the fifth edition of Smart Green Mobility, held at the Baluarte Conference Centre in Pamplona. The event, organised by NAITEC in collaboration with the Government of Navarre, brought together over 200 professionals from across Europe to explore the future of electric, smart, and connected mobility systems.
NAITEC, a member of ALICE, developed an agenda that reflected the strategic role of innovation in driving sustainable mobility. As the European Technology Platform on Logistics, ALICE was invited to share its vision for transforming transport and logistics systems to align with decarbonisation, automation, connectivity, digitalisation, and resilience goals.
In his session, titled “From challenge to opportunity: anticipating the great transformation of transport and logistics”, Mr Liesa addressed the current state of freight transport in Europe. He focused on the structural shifts facing the sector, ranging from economic pressures such as rising cost pressures and capacity challenges, and decarbonisation targets to digital integration and resilience. He explained how ALICE supports the logistics sector, industry, policymakers, and research organisations in shaping its future through collaborative innovation and the implementation of key enabling technologies.
“The European logistics sector is at a crossroad of several deep transformations linked to the need of renewable energy provision to transport systems, the opportunities brought forward by digitalisation, AI and automation and the challenges related to workforce shortage.” said Mr Liesa. “Rather than viewing decarbonisation and digitalisation as constraints, we must embrace them as strategic opportunities. By building on concepts such as the Physical Internet and leveraging EU-funded innovation programmes, we can achieve climate neutrality and sustainability in a way that enhances competitiveness and resilience too.”
Fernando Liesa emphasised the importance of aligning innovation with EU policies and funding mechanisms, particularly through Horizon Europe and the upcoming multiannual financial framework 2028-2035. He also presented ALICE’s Roadmaps To Physical Internet and Towards Zero Logistics Emissions 2050, which provide structured guidance on how to achieve net zero emissions in freight transport by 2050. He provided examples of the development and uptake of the Physical Internet through EU-funded projects such as ZEFES, MODI, IKIGAI, URBANE and DISCO.
In the logistics roundtable that followed, Fernando Liesa joined Miguel Suárez (ANET), Alejandro Herráez (ALIA), and Eduardo Lasa (MLC ITS Euskadi), with moderation by Professor Francisco Javier Faulin (Public University of Navarre). The session underscored the importance of regional innovation ecosystems and logistics clusters in scaling sustainable solutions. This is an approach ALICE actively supports through its Thematic Groups and ALICE Logistics Clusters Group.
NAITEC’s Smart Green Mobility event continues to grow as a prominent platform for cross-sector dialogue and innovation dissemination, proving that impactful change often emerges from regions where business, research, and government collaborate closely.
