The Last Mile Challenge: Innovating Urban Freight Deliveries
Urban logistics has faced unprecedented challenges, such as a surge in e-commerce and accelerated digital transformation. Several research and innovation EU-funded projects (DISCO, GREEN-LOG, UNCHAIN, URBANE) have the ambition to develop and demonstrate innovative solutions to achieve zero emission freight transport, along with several stakeholders like city authorities, universities, and logistics service providers. These experiences enable businesses and cities to test together innovative approaches, such as digital twins, physical Internet based solutions, zero emission vehicles to increase efficiency and reduce emissions from the transport sector. The session aims to share ongoing experiences and lessons learnt so far.
Presenters
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Paola Astegiano, FIT Consulting
Senior Project and Technical Manager, in FIT Consulting since May 2023. She is involved in project management activities and proposal writing activities related to EU funded projects related to transport and mobility. She is also involved in several national projects mainly focused on urban logistics. She has past experience as consultant involved in transport planning and modeling at urban, regional and national scales but also as research assistant at Ku Leuven (Belgium) focusing on transport modeling activities. |
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Joris Beckers, University of Antwerp
Joris Beckers is professor Economic Geography and Urban Logistics at the Department of Transport and Regional Economics at the University of Antwerp. His current research focuses on the design of sustainable (urban) economic and transport networks in the context of the on-demand economy. His work involves the development of quantitative spatial analysis for freight and retail planning, consumer analytics and business modeling. Dr. Beckers is a Ph.D. in Applied Economics and a MSc. in Geography. |
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Ioanna Fergadiotou, INLECOM
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Sergio Fernandez Balaguer, EMT Madrid
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Hans Schurmans, ALICE
Hans Schurmans is the logistics operations Director at Proximus Group, the major telecom provider in Belgium. He has extensive experience in operational execution in a multisite retail environment and led major innovation programs within the group. Circularity and sustainability are focus points as Hans considers these as drivers for supply chain innovation. Hans is also engaged in local and European initiatives to boost supply chain greenification and holds additional roles as Co-President Urban Logistics within ALICE (Alliance for Logistics Innovation and Collaboration in Europe), and Member of the EGUM (EU expert group on Urban Logistics). |
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Raffaele Vergnani, POLIS
Raffaele is Project Manager at POLIS and coordinator of its Urban Freight Working Group. He oversees thematically related projects and activities in the urban freight cluster. POLIS portfolio includes the DISCO, GREEN-LOG, MoloHubs, MOVE21, URBANE, UNCHAIN projects.
Raffaele has co-written and contributed to more than ten research studies commissioned by the European Commission and the European Parliament, and has taken part in international working groups focused on transport and tourism, such as the Alpine Convention.
He holds a master's degree in Geography and Spatial Planning from the University of Bologna. |
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