8:45 – 10:15 Technical session 1
Enhancing Adaptability and Resilience in Inland Waterway Transport through Digital Twin Technology – Pauline Bernat, Fereshteh Asgari and Alexandra Micu (submission number 26)
Designing Climate Resilience: A Policy Lab Approach to Climate Adaptation in Swedish Transport Systems – Gunnel Göransson, Jens Portinson Hylander and Alicia Smedberg (submission number 446)
Simulation framework to evaluate link criticality in multimodal freight transport networks using operational metrics – Sathvik Gadiraju, Srijith Balakrishnan, Lori Tavasszy, Jan Kiel and Merve Cebeci (submission number 589)
Transport Infrastructure in Germany: Review and evaluation of guidelines, regulations and design values regarding climate change and resilience – Dr. Jens Lehnen, Dr. Michael Eble, Carina Herrmann, Frauke von den Driesch and Marvin Stell (submission number 601)
Nature-Based Solutions for Resilient Transport Infrastructure: Introducing the Horizon Europe Nature-Demo Project – Shahriar Mohammadzadeh, Mosbeh R Kaloop, Maria de Farago Botella, George Papaioannou, Panagiotis Spyridis and Lars Symmank (submission number 609)
Cargo Bikes as a Resilient Transport Mode in Emergency Scenarios – Daniel Weiss and Johannes Gruber (submission number 1433)
The European Union is closely looking at its industry competitiveness as a key policy focus. For the mobility sector, this is particularly true in the context of the digital and green transitions. The “Competitiveness Compass” and the “Clean Industrial Deal” are key initiatives aimed at bolstering the EU’s industrial strength, addressing challenges like high energy costs, supply chain vulnerabilities, and the need for innovation. The aim of this session is to bring together leading figures from Europe’s transport industry to discuss the enabling conditions needed to support the sector’s transition – and that of its value chain – toward cleaner and smarter mobility.
The Industrial Round Table will examine how the European industry can establish a direction for progress leading up to 2030 and onward to 2050. The discussion should mainly focus on 3 questions: What is the status of Europe’s global leadership in the transport and mobility sector? How can research and innovation enhance the competitiveness of the sector? What are industry representatives’ expectations vis-à-vis the EU’s research and innovation activities for the sector in view of the next EU Framework Programme for R&I?
Speakers:
Carole Desnost, Director of Technologies, Innovation and Group Projets, SNCF
Dr. Gunnar Stiesch, Chief Technology Officer, Everllence
Jens Holtinger, Executive Vice President, Volvo Group’s Trucks Technology & Industrial Division
The session will explore the governance in transport R&I and the instruments that can boost the EU’s innovation capacities. It will look at the full innovation journey from fundamental research to market deployment and scale-up, analysing best practices of current instruments such as Horizon Europe and the Innovation Fund. It will discuss upcoming instruments in the next MFF with FP10 and the Competitiveness fund. It will also examine the current challenges faced by the EU alongside its innovation chains.
This session aims to find answers to the following questions: how can we address current challenges linked to transport R&I in the EU in both the short and long term? Which governance models are best to deliver on future of transport R&I? How can we tackle the gap between the fundamental research and deployment?
Keynote speaker:
Roland Jakab, Chief Executive Office, HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network
Panelists:
Dr. Maja Novakovic, Chair, Waterborne Technology Platform
Giorgio Travaini, Executive Director, Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking
Prof. Dr. Meike Jipp, Divisional Board Member for Energy and Transport, German Aerospace Centre (DLR)
Ms. Helene Niklasson, Chair, EUCAR
ALICE Theatre 15:00 – 15:30 presenation by the DECARMOBILE project (ALICE stand, Hall G – D14)
Astéria: a MBSE Framework for Railway Systems Design and Digital Continuity – Sana Debbech and Aristide Lesel (submission number 354)
Concepts for Sustainable Axial-Flux Motors – Gianluigi Tortorelli, Maurizio Guadagno, Veronica Sanots Arconada, Ander Galparsoro Maiz, Peter Sergeant and Hendrik Vansompel (submission number 776)
New Insights into the Investigation on Additive Manufacturing for its Application on Railway Wheels – Jon Hernandez-Martinez, Javier Santamaria, Jon Iñaki Arrizubieta, Nekane Correa and Ernesto G. Vadillo (submission number 877)
User Preferences for Electric Light Commercial Vehicle (e-LCV) Innovations in Urban Logistics – Janin Fauth, Koen Mommens and Heleen Buldeo Rai (submission number 965)
Hydrodynamics and multi-physics simulations towards systematic development of Digital Twin in shipping – Kostas Belibassakis, Anders Oster and Lokukaluge Prasad Perera (submission number 1166)
Sustainable Renewal and Maintenance Optimization of an Existing Railway Line Using AI and Digitalization Tools – Mateo Barbero, Cristina Dimundo, Falak Khalid, Adrian Krezlik, Araliya Mosleh, Cecilia Vale, Mohammadreza Mohammadi, Diogo Ribeiro, Francisco Andrade, João Ventura, Belmira Neto, Paulo Rosa Santos and A.H.S. Garmabaki (submission number 1628)
Special sessions
The Physical Internet (PI) offers a transformative vision for global logistics by enabling the seamless, efficient and sustainable use of transport, warehousing and supply chain resources through standardized and modular systems. This session addresses global, European and country-led Physical Internet research and innovation programmes, including a strong focus on multimodality and last-mile logistics. Building on experiences from Europe and other international initiatives, the session shows how PI is advancing from concept to implementation to address capacity constraints, enhance competitiveness and improve logistics efficiency. A central objective is to strengthen cooperation by aligning research, innovation and business models among different stakeholders. The session explores how coordinated collaboration is essential to scale PI from pilot projects to a resilient global logistics network, and why Europe must act decisively to remain a leading force.
In an international context marked by a global race for resources needed for the green transition, this session will focus on the competitiveness of European clean technologies. In a global context, it will explore the challenges that the EU faces to maintain its leadership in the development, manufacturing and deployment of these technologies. The session will look at the EU’s competitive strengths in comparison to other international players and highlight where European efforts should focus to maintain global competitive leadership in transport technologies, taking also into account the specific challenges faced by SMEs and start/scale-ups. The session will also look at best practices from other international players on clean tech competitiveness and whether they can be reproduced at EU level.
This session aims to find answers to the following questions: how can Europe regain or maintain leadership by focusing more on competitiveness? What is the added value of involving third countries into European research programs? How to maintain the European strategic autonomy, technology sovereignty and reduce dependencies from third countries?
Keynote speaker:
Glenn Schmidt, Vice President Global Sustainability, BMW Group
Panelists:
Alberto Maestrini, Chairman, SEA Europe and the VARD group
Magda Kopczyńska, Director-General for Mobility and Transport European Commission
Axel Krein, Executive Director, Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking
Doris Martetschläger, Supply Chain Operations Manager, IKEA supply AG
ALICE Theatre 10:00 – 13:30 (ALICE stand, Hall G – D14)
14:00-15:30 Technical session 3
Numerical investigation of freight train aerodynamics: towards greener freight transport in Europe – Luca Corniani, Paolo Schito, James Bell, Ariane Wettig, Joao Pombo and Stefano Bruni (submission number 980)
Spatial analysis of online shopping returns: application to the Madrid Region – Daniela Castaño-Herrera, Álvaro Aguilera-García, Juan Gomez and José Manuel Vassallo (submission number 1026)
ASTROIT: An agent-based and multimodal simulation predicting the effects of disruptions on transport networks and identifying effective and eco-friendly mitigation measures – Tobias Rinnert, Corinna Koepke, Kris Schroven and Alexander Stolz (submission number 1344)
Modelling Freight-Induced Congestion Dynamics: A Regional Macroscopic Approach with FC-MFD Applications – Muhammad Tabish Bilal and Davide Giglio (submission number 1512)
Strategic planning of classification yards in rail freight – Daniel Haalboom and Nikola Bešinović (submission number 1535)
Smart urban freight transport: assessing the opportunity offered by automated vehicles – Antonio Comi, Davide Shingo Usami, Sevket Oguz Kagan Capkin, Hamid Aghel and David Gruhonjić (submission number 1597)
16:00-17:30 Special session
Europe’s freight transport system is facing a “perfect storm”: the need for deep decarbonization combined with a growing exposure to disruptions. This session examines how resilience strategies and decarbonization pathways interact in practice, sometimes reinforcing each other and sometimes creating difficult tradeoffs. A particular focus is placed on multimodal freight networks. Rail, inland waterways and short sea shipping are essential for sustainable transport, yet the operational complexity of multimodal systems makes them more vulnerable to disruptions, often driving operators and shippers back to road transport and undermining climate ambitions. By addressing affordability, service reliability, modal shift and climate resilient operations together, the session aims to highlight practical ways to balance decarbonization goals with resilient, competitive and disruption ready European freight networks.
09:00-10:00 Plenary session 3
This session will address the challenges linked to the resilience of transport systems. Transport systems can be subject to perturbation and deterioration due to climate change shocks, longer-term climate stresses and other disruptive events. They can also experience digital-related incidents (e.g. cybersecurity). Preparing transport systems resilience and making sure that they can adapt to disruption is crucial to ensure continuity of transport services and safety of passengers. This session will aim to provide examples and initiatives highlighting innovative solutions to reduce negative impacts of disruptive events on transport systems.
The session aims to find answers to the following questions: how can we adapt our transportation infrastructure to the effects of climate change? What kind of adaptation strategies do we need to make the whole system resilient? What are the main barriers to achieve this? How multimodal transportation companies and shippers respond to transport disruptions?
Keynote speaker:
Prof. Alan McKinnon, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Logistics, Kuehne Logistics University
Panelists:
Margarida Marques, European Coordinator, European Coordinator of the TEN-T Rhine-Danube corridor
Uroš Salobir, MSc, Director of the Strategic Innovation Department, ELES, d.o.o.
Dr. Ivan Jimenez Aira, Executive President, Bilbao Port Authority
Dr. Claudia Elif Stutz, Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport of Germany, State-Secretary for Transport
10:30-12:00 Strategic sessions
The session will explore how multimodal mobility services, for both passengers and goods, could connect better suburban and rural areas to city centres and urban multimodal passenger or freight hubs. The discussion will highlight the related challenges – e.g. low demand density and fragmented freight volumes, insufficient infrastructure and digital integration, planning at functional area level – while assessing the latest innovative solutions – e.g. public transport complemented by flexible transport services, shared mobility services and mobility on demand, light electric vehicles to railway stations, technological solutions to reach isolated territories such as drones, ferries or low cost rail-based solutions as well as asset and ride sharing services, logistics micro-hubs and cooperative models. Practitioners, local authority representatives and experts will present use cases and current practices, to identify also priorities for future research and innovation deployment.
Moderator:
Isabelle Vandoorne (DG MOVE)
Rapporteur:
Wolfgang Backhaus (Rupprecht Consult)
Speakers:
Judit Sándor (Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking)
Andrea Lorenzini (MemEx)
Manolis Koutoulakis (Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy)
Ricardo Herranz (Nommon)
Delphine Grandsart (European Passengers’ Federation)
09:00-10:00 Plenary session 4
Digitalisation of the transport sector is key to improve the efficiency, safety and sustainability of our transport systems. This involves automating processes in transport and production, enhancing connectivity and leveraging data analytics for better decision-making. Digitalisation impacts various aspects of our transport systems, including transportation infrastructure, logistics, mobility and the role of people. It has the potential to lead to new business models, improved traffic management, increased efficiency in operations and reduced environmental impact. This session will focus on the use of AI in the broader system, automation, cybersecurity and data spaces. The session will also explore the disruptive potential of digital technologies such as quantum computing.
The session aims to find answer to the following questions: what are the next big advancements in transport digitalisation? How to address the fast-paced changes brought by digitalisation and make sure they best serve the EU’s transportation system? How to certify AI for mission-critical applications? How can digitalisation support mobility management and law enforcement and what are the barriers of cybersecurity? Which fundamentals will be transformed in the system in terms of use of infrastructure, resilience and competitiveness?
Panelist:
Paola Cossu, CEO at Fit Consulting & Member of the Board of Directors at ALICE, TRA Vision 2024 winner
Stephane Petti, PhD, Principal Advisor, European Innovation Council Fund
Rugilė Andziukevičiūtė-Buzė, Managing Director, Transport Innovation Association Lithuania
Andreas Boschen, Executive Director, SESAR Joint Undertaking
15:30 – 17:00 Technical session 7
Rail-Enabled Last Mile: Simulating Parcel Flows via Urban Metro Networks for Carbon-Smart Logistics – Zisis Maleas, Georgia Ayfantopoulou, Sofoklis Dais, Pavlos Giannakou and Katerina Batzou (submission number 102)
Empirical evaluation of a simple matchmaking algorithm for freight carriers – Lorant Tavasszy, Michiel De Bok, Mahnam Saeednia, Merve Cebeci, Tangzhe Chen and Ron Van Duin (submission number 282)
A Modern and Sustainable Rail-Enabled Urban Logistics System and its Economic Evaluation – Dominic Kwakye Ampong, Libor Švadlenka, Molková Tatiana and Libor Bauer (submission number 1049)
Information Flow Modelling for Automated Freight Port Operations: Insights from Two Case Studies in Europe – Arkadiusz Drabicki, Filippos Adamidis, Ramandeep Singh, Karen Van Brussel, Dirk Staelens, Marco Mazzarino and Constantinos Antoniou (submission number 1495)
GREEN-LOG Logistics as a Service Marketplace: A policy-aligned marketplace for Sustainable Last-Mile Operations – Babis Magoutas, Amalia Bozinaki, Ioannis Tsouros, Francesca D’Alessandro, Joris Beckers, Panos Georgakis, Athena Tsirimpa, Konstantinos Barbopoulos and Vivian Kiousi (submission number 1509)
Agent-Based Simulation for Meal Micro-Delivery Services: Modeling, Simulation, and Dispatch Strategy Evaluation – Serkan Ozdemir, Lampros Yfantis, Gonçalo Homem de Almeida Rodriguez Correia and Shadi Sharif Azadeh (submission number 1570)