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.
STRENGTH_M is designed to improve road transport research and innovation strategies by:
A key focus of STREnGth_M is to track and promote electric mobility across continents:
The project will implement comprehensive dissemination strategies to:
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.
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.
Project duration: 1 February 2023 - 31 January 2026
