Abstract

Cities can increase economic growth and participate in global economic flows by acting as hubs or gateways to regional corridors, that are supported by three dimensions of connectivity: physical (infrastructure) connectivity, digital connectivity, and economic integration. Integrating these dimensions increases economic output and generates more high-quality jobs. Connectivity integration also helps a city accumulate knowledge and has positive spillover effects for the broader economy. Chongqing stands out for its well-developed infrastructure and digital connectivity, but it has yet to leverage these assets to promote regional economic integration. This report recommends: leverage existing transport infrastructure and supplement it with better integration between land, air, and water transport to build a major logistics hub; strengthen cooperation with Chengdu, Sichuan, and other regional partners to promote regional economic integration; and improve digital infrastructure with faster internet connection speeds and promote the wider adoption of digitization of services.

Abstract

The sustainability of the logistics sector is challenged by its energy consumption, pressures on GHG emissions, globalisation, increased competition and consumer behaviour changes. In order to address these challenges, logistics actors have started to implement environmentally friendly collaborative strategies addressing supply chain integration, multimodal transport, consolidation of deliveries and reverse logistics. The implementation of such strategies frequently asserts the need for proactive and reactive coordination based on information sharing between collaborating actors, to optimally match supply and demand for logistics resources. However, adoption of advanced collaborative ICT solutions by the logistics sector is hindered by the number of transport management solutions, which yields a fragmented story, where actors have to contend with multiple tools, relationships, and fragmented views of their logistics business which are difficult, or impossible, to unify into one perspective. Further challenges relate to long established practices, multifaceted regulatory requirements and lack of trust. Also, until now, developments have been driven by the business interests of different stakeholders’ groups, including shippers, freight forwarders, ports and terminals, different mode carriers, and multiple alliances. This creates overlapping or incompatible technology solutions, with a limited potential to contribute to a Pan-European sustainable logistics landscape."br" This paper explores several factors that influence the behaviour of transport and logistics companies in Europe and proposes an innovative “shared intelligence” approach, technology platform and collaborative solution for Pan-European logistics collaboration that is sensitive to supply chain sustainability challenges, yet supportive of existing tooling, systems and augmenting established logistics practices.

Abstract

The Mobility4EU project created a vision for a user-centric and cross-modal European transport system in 2030 and an action plan to implement that vision. We used a combination of creative and analytical methods to come from problem identification to the action plan applying a user-centric methodology that included stakeholders in each step of the process. The Action Plan details measures that address technical topics but especially refer to societal aspects and issues for multi-stakeholder interaction, as e.g. policy, user acceptance, standardization, collaboration and the integration of the user perspective into the R&D&I process. The Action Plan adds to the other similar initiatives by providing recommendations on mainstreaming of universal design and user-centric design processes, synergies and collaboration potential between modes and the combination of transport of passengers and freight building on the quadruple helix model of collaboration between academia, users, industry and policy makers.