13 December 2018
On 13 December, ALICE (the Alliance for Logistics Innovation through Collaboration in Europe) held its plenary meeting in Brussels. The event gathered over 120 members of the platform, as well as European policy-makers and researchers.
The European Commission’s representatives, Mr Herald Ruijters, Director for Investment, Innovative and Sustainable Transport at DG Transport & Mobility, and Mr Jean Francois Aguinaga, Head of Unit for Surface Transports DG Research & Innovation, recognised the good work and values of ALICE. They shared the evolution of the relevant EU policies and programs, in particular the Horizon Europe programme and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) through which the funding for multimodal transport solutions will be more than doubled.
In addition, they called on all the stakeholders to utilise better communication with each other in order to find smart and innovative solutions to numerous challenges that the transport and logistics sector is facing, including the ongoing revolution of technology, the need to decarbonise and to fully exploit the opportunities of data analytics.
Furthermore, the ALICE position paper on Horizon Europe – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation – was presented and discussed. ALICE will start external consultation and support gathering based on this version, which will also be used for the discussion with the European Commission’s services and the Member States’ representatives.
The status and the next steps of the ALICE Roadmap paving way towards zero-emissions logistics by 2050 were also discussed, followed by the presentation of the ALICE Roadmap entitled “Towards the Physical Internet 2030.”
A new version of the Roadmap will be made available in March-April 2019 and tabled for discussions with the members. The Roadmap will evolve, and a dedicated workshop will be organised at the 6th International Physical Internet Conference, which will take place on 9-11 July 2019 in London, the UK.