The Scandria Alliance members OPEN ENLoCC and LIMOWA presented their research projects at the Transport Research Arena 2026 in Budapest.
The Transport Research Arena (TRA) Conference is Europe’s largest event dedicated to transport and mobility research, initiated by the European Commission, and brings together academia, industry, policymakers, and civil society from across Europe and beyond to shape the future of transport research.
The OPEN ENLoCC team, represented by Marco Alvi and Giorgia Facchini, promoted the results of the TRANSCEND and MED COLOURS projects at the ALICE-ETP exhibition space and during a pitch presentation.
OPEN ENLoCC also contributed to the discussion on the future of Europe’s logistics and freight transport through a presentation dedicated to Regional Collaborative Logistics (RCL). During the conference, Riccardo Maratini presented the paper “Strategic Challenges, Opportunities and Enablers of Efficient Regional Collaborative Logistics”, co-authored with representatives from ITL – Institute for Transport and Logistics and the University of Maribor. The presentation explored how logistics systems can become more efficient, resilient, and sustainable through stronger collaboration among regional stakeholders, highlighting the strategic importance of the regional dimension as the “middle layer” between urban logistics systems and long-distance transport corridors.
Finally, OPEN ENLoCC jointly organised a site visit with the MAHART Container Centre (MCC), one of the transferability demonstrators of the TRANSCEND project. The visit, which saw the participation of network’s members and other partners, offered an opportunity to gain deeper insight into the local logistics ecosystem. The Budapest fluvial port represents one of the largest and most modern port and distribution centres for commodities in Europe, strategically located at the crossroads of several TEN-T corridors.
LIMOWA was represented at the Transport Research Arena 2026 by Janne Lausvaara, Transport Industry Adviser at LIMOWA. His presence supported direct engagement with international stakeholders and helped position Finnish logistics expertise in a major European innovation forum.
The event created a valuable platform for networking, knowledge exchange, and collaboration between regions, sectors, and logistics clusters. It also provides a platform to present LIMOWA projects in progress and to initiate future collaboration.
For both, LIMOWA and OPEN ENLoCC, the Transport Research Arena 2026 has been highly valuable because it facilitates the exchange with similar cluster organisations, supports the sharing of best practices, and opens opportunities for joint projects and cross-border cooperation. It also strengthens cooperation between different logistics areas and helps translate regional expertise into broader European development initiatives.
The European Network of Logistics Competence Centres (OPEN ENLoCC) is a non-profit association (ASBL) based in Brussels. It was founded to foster regional collaborative logistics, bringing together competence centres, clusters, research institutions, public authorities, and industry stakeholders across Europe.
It’s mission is to promote cooperation between public and private actors, support innovation in logistics at the regional level, provide knowledge and services to our members and contribute to the dialogue with the European Commission and international platforms.
LIMOWA is a Finnish logistics cluster and network association that develops and supports intelligent logistics solutions, strengthens the competitiveness of Finnish companies, and promotes cooperation across industry, research, and public bodies. Its work focuses on transportation, intralogistics, e-commerce, and logistics centers, with a strong emphasis on business-oriented development and export support. LIMOWA is also part of international networks like ALICE, UIRR and Scandria Alliance, where global supply chain improvement visions align with national aims.
