STREnGth_M – Stimulating road Transport Research in Europe and around the Globe for sustainable Mobility

STREnGth_M is ERTRAC’s Horizon Europe Coordination and Support Action (CSA) to help define future research priorities and roadmaps for road transport, and to strengthen collaboration and uptake of road-transport R&I outcomes across Europe and internationally (More). In this context, ALICE is connected to STREnGth_M as a partner and impact “multiplier”: as ALICE’s sister European Technology Platform for road transport, ERTRAC provides the mode-specific R&I direction, while ALICE brings the freight transport and logistics domain where many of the developed technologies (e.g., vehicle/energy/digital solutions) are industrialised, integrated into supply chains, and scaled for impact and value generation.

This ERTRAC-ALICE collaboration is especially concrete in cities. ERTRAC’s and ALICE joint Urban Mobility Working Group explicitly covers both passenger mobility and urban freight transport, while ALICE’s Urban Logistics Group focuses on research and innovation priorities for urban freight and logistics systems and stakeholders, this joint groups helps shaping mobility and logistics priorities in the urban domain. Building on this shared scope, ALICE also connects to STREnGth_M through the joint ERTRAC/ERRAC and ALICE Urban Mobility Working Group (Urban Mobility Working Group), which has been working together to update and deliver the Integrated Urban Mobility Roadmap (Link) a clear example of coordinated road/rail/logistics platform collaboration to accelerate innovation and deployment for urban mobility and urban logistics.

A similar connection exists for long-distance freight transport, where ERTRAC’s road-transport technology priorities meet ALICE’s system-level logistics innovation agendas. ERTRAC’s Long Distance Freight Transport Roadmap takes a “whole system” view of long-haul and regional road freight (vehicle, infrastructure and services) and explicitly points to the need for intermodal/co-modal solutions to combine the strengths of different modes. This is exactly where ALICE adds value: translating road-vehicle and infrastructure innovations into corridors, hubs and synchromodal supply-chain operations, and ensuring that long-distance freight decarbonisation and productivity gains are realised through logistics integration and deployment at scale. ALICE has highlighted that its activities to update the Long Distance Freight Transport Roadmap are being carried out in collaboration with ERTRAC and as part of the STREnGth_M project, for instance on topics such as Electrified Road Systems (ERS) as a pathway toward net-zero long-haul logistics.

Objectives

STRENGTH_M is designed to improve road transport research and innovation strategies by: 

  • Identifying emerging research needs and integrating them into strategic research agendas and roadmaps. 
  • Facilitating robust dialogue and knowledge exchange between European road transport research organisations and global partners. 
  • Assessing research, innovation, and cooperation capacities within EU Member States and beyond, with a particular focus on funding instruments and the potential of regional roadmaps. 

Global scope and innovation 

A key focus of STREnGth_M is to track and promote electric mobility across continents: 

  • Evaluating innovative electric vehicle (EV) solutions for markets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. 
  • Strengthening existing and establishing new partnerships between European and international programmes, improving support structures for international cooperation. 
  • Overcoming barriers to the deployment of research results at European and global level. 
  • Promoting educational and training initiatives to build capacity relevant to sustainable road transport. 

Engagement and dissemination 

The project will implement comprehensive dissemination strategies to: 

  • Engage a wide range of stakeholders, including policy makers, civil society and industry leaders. 
  • Support and organise European and international events related to road transport research. 
  • Promote the contribution of road transport to achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement. 
  • Creation of a “Multiplier Group” will further strengthen stakeholder engagement and ensure wide dissemination and uptake of research results. 

Sustainable impact

The STREnGth_M project intends to make an impact by promoting sustainable mobility globally. By aligning research and innovation with the urgent needs of both established and emerging markets, the project will support the transition to a more sustainable, low-emission transport sector worldwide. 

Why ALICE is part of the STREnGth_M project and what is its role? 

ALICE is an affiliated entity, linked to Gruber Logistics, in the project. ALICE helped to develop a comprehensive strategy for research, innovation and market deployment of logistics and supply chain management innovation in Europe, emphasizing that close collaboration between shippers and logistic service providers is needed to reach efficient logistics and supply chain operations. ALICE contributed to identifying future research needs in road transport, which were aggregated in the ERTRAC roadmaps, like the Long Distance Road Transport roadmap. 

 

Additional information

 

Website: https://www.ertrac.org/support-actions/strength_m/
Project Manager at ALICE:  Stefanie van Damme

Consortium members

The project consortium is led by AVL LIST GMBH, involving 23 partners from 10 European countries. 

ALICE members in the consortium: ERTICO, VOLVO, Gruber Logistics, Rupprecht, ELES 

Expanding the collaboration with the rest of project partners:


Related events

On 13th of February 2026, from 13:00 to 14:00 CET, ALICE, in cooperation with the Institute of Transport Economics (TØI), will host an online validation workshop to support the MODI project’s business-model work on the total cost of ownership (TCO) Read more
KEDGE Business School, supported by ALICE and the EU-funded projects DISCO, Shift2Zero and IKIGAI, invites you to a thought-provoking webinar. The webinar will explore how the Physical Internet (PI) framework can enhance the sustainability and efficiency of last-mile delivery. The Read more
The MACBETH project invites you to a high-impact stakeholder workshop focused on discussing the results of more than 60 interviews with key stakeholders across the logistics, vehicle manufacturer, energy, infrastructure and policy ecosystem. The aim was to understand current challenges, Read more


Related news

On 9 December 2025, ALICE and POLIS jointly organised the members-only webinar “From Movers to Enablers: the role of logistics in circular supply chains”. The session brought together logistics experts, researchers and city representatives to explore how logistics service providers can move beyond traditional transport roles and become key enablers of circular economy Read more
Intralogistics is becoming a strategic pillar of Europe’s logistics transformation. The session “Beyond Boundaries: Building Europe’s Smart and Collaborative Intralogistics Community” at the ALICE Logistics Innovation Summit 2025 explored how Europe can bridge the long-standing gap between transport logistics and intralogistics to build a truly synchronised and resilient Read more
The European Commission has officially launched a call for applications for the selection of members of the Commission Expert Group on European Union Research and Innovation for the Automotive Sector (EURIAS). The establishment of EURIAS follows the publication of the Industrial Action Plan for Read more


Related LinkedIn posts

All STREnGth_M Project related past events, news and documents 

 
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101096253. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.


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