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)
A method to evaluate the logistics performance in automated waterborne transport and logistics cases – Cyril Alias, Anastasiya Azarko, Vladislav Maraš, Antonio Invito, Angeliki Stouraiti, Jonas Zum Felde, Vasileios C. Podimatas and Harilaos N. Psaraftis (submission number 45)
Accelerating data-driven systemic transition in urban logistics at four Living Labs: lessons from the DISCO Project – Florian Herrmann, Andrei Turlea, Lorenzo Cello, Paola Astegiano and Paola Cossu (submission number 151)
U-ELCOME: U-space services for safe and efficient drone operations in Europe – Giovanni Riccardi, Rodrigo Benedit Pascual and Patricia Hervías Vallejo (submission number 243)
Strategic Challenges, Opportunities and Enablers of Efficient Regional Collaborative Logistics – Riccardo Maratini, Giuseppe Luppino, Luca Simone, Lorenzo Cello, Fahad Anwar, Ines Pentek and Tomislav Letnik (submission number 784)
Collaborative Innovation for Intelligent, Zero-Emission and Intermodal Freight Transport & Logistics – Elisabete Arsenio, João Tiago Aparicio, Gabriel Dias and Marluci Menezes (submission number 1445)
A Roadmap for the Transition to Automation in Rail Freight Shunting Yards – Cristiana Piccioni, Riccardo Licciardello, Cristiano Marinacci, Miad Farokhsiar and Stefano Ricci (submission number 1510)
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
10:30-12:00 Strategic sessions
The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and related air pollution places zero-emission mobility at the center of urban mobility policies. This session explores strategies to decarbonise urban mobility through technology, integrated planning and behavioral change. It highlights that the transition goes beyond new tech, it requires transforming the mobility ecosystem to improve air quality, reduce noise and congestion, and ensure equitable access. Key themes include the role of electrified public transport (on rail, waterborne and road), integration of new and shared mobility services, and promoting multimodality to shift behavior and boost efficiency. The session also examines urban freight solutions, mobility hubs, and EV infrastructure challenges, emphasizing grid integration and spatial planning. Drawing on research and case studies, it presents pathways and trade-offs for achieving zero-emission transport.
Moderator:
Patrick Mercier-Handisyde (DG RTD)
Rapporteur:
Carmela Canonico (UITP)
Speakers:
Ádám Bodor (BKK)
Marc Rozendal (EIT Urban Mobility)
Katie Black (Transdev)
Johan Leveque (La Poste)
Manfred Seitz (Danube Commission)
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
16:00-17:30 Technical session 6
Age-Specific Accessibility Profiles for Last-Mile Delivery: A Mixed-Methods Case Study of Leipzig’s Urban Outskirts – Viola Süß, André Ludwig, Benjamin Gaunitz and Bogdan Franczyk (submission number 221)
Barriers and Facilitators of Multistakeholder Collaboration in Urban Living Labs: A Case Study of DECARBOMILE – Isabella Hauswald, Amalia Giannakopoulou, Katharina Beck, Jutta Wolf, Heike Flämig, Fabian Fermazin and Isabel Froes (submission number 544)
Evaluating Micro-Fulfillment Centers for Sustainable Urban Last-Mile Delivery: A Case Study of Budapest, Hungary – Sanggyun Kang, Minji Kim and Krisztián Bóna (submission number 661)
Complementarity for Consolidation: Unlocking efficiency for smarter city logistics – Carlos Granada, Joris Beckers and Thierry Vanelslander (submission number 701)
Selection of the best locations for micro-consolidation centers for a city logistics pilot in Budapest – Kinga Lőcsei-Tóth, Gergő Vass, Dávid Lajos Sárdi, Krisztián Bóna, Aletta Büki, Tamás Strang, Zalán Tiborc Uglik and Bálint Herbert (submission number 1045)
A Dynamic Pricing Framework for Last-Mile Logistics: Design, Implementation, and Pilot in Belgium – Ioannis Tsouros and Athena Tsirimpa (submission number 1225)
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)
Special session
The rapid growth of e-commerce presents both challenges and opportunities for Europe’s transition toward climate-neutral, resource-efficient urban logistics. This session brings together researchers, industry leaders, and city stakeholders to explore sustainable e-commerce logistics and circular solutions. Topics include optimised return flows, reuse and repair models, zero-waste packaging, modular delivery systems, digital tools for managing returns, and improved recycling pathways. Participants will examine policy, behavioural, and technological strategies to decarbonise the e-commerce value chain, operationalise sustainability commitments, and foster collaboration through public–private partnerships, aiming to reduce emissions, waste, and inefficiencies at scale.