What a year it has been for DISCO!

DISCO has officially entered its final year. As we close out 2025, we reflect on a year filled with fruitful collaborations, significant achievements, and memorable events. Let’s take a trip down memory lane!

What a year it has been for DISCO! 2025 has been nothing short of remarkable for the project. From shining at key industry events to building meaningful partnerships, it has been a year defined by progress, collaboration, and real-world impact. As DISCO enters its final year, it does so brighter than ever—building on strong achievements and looking ahead with confidence.

One of the standout collaboration highlights was DISCO’s presence at the URBANE Final Event and Urban Logistics Innovation Day, hosted by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area and co-organised by the POLIS Network, ALICE, INLECOM, and EIT Urban Mobility. Across two dynamic days of presentations, panels, and interactive sessions, key themes ranged from pilot insights and planning methodologies to innovation uptake, policy, and collaborative governance.

The event offered an excellent platform to celebrate URBANE’s successes and showcase DISCO’s work to a highly relevant audience. A key moment was the live demonstration of cross-project interoperability, where data from the DISCO Data Space (UFDS) flowed seamlessly into the URBANE user interface—highlighting how connected data spaces can enable smarter, more collaborative urban logistics solutions.

Another relevant and fruitful event for DISCO was the ALICE Logistics Innovation Summit. The project had an exhibition and stand and was part of a compelling session titled “Shared cities: Unlocking space for sustainable Urban Logistics”. This session explored how cities can unlock the hidden potential of underused urban spaces—from parking facilities to idle buildings—to create multifunctional hubs that support sustainable logistics and mobility. The discussion focused on how stakeholders’ collaboration and shared, adaptive use of urban space can accelerate decarbonisation, enhance resilience, and improve liveability—aligning with ALICE’s and POLIS’ shared vision for zero-emission urban logistics by 2030.

DISCO also took centre stage at the Annual POLIS Conference in November. Matias Oikari shared insights from the Helsinki Living Lab, while Katy Huaylla and Thato Motloung reflected on the application of agile management approaches in Living Labs, drawing from the experience of the Twinning Living Labs. They explored lessons learned, unexpected challenges, and how agile methodologies can be truly transformative—not only for urban logistics, but for delivering mobility measures in real-world environments.

The project made a strong impression at the International Congress on Transportation Research 2025 (ICTR 2025), with two presentations that sparked valuable discussion. Vasileios Giannoudis showcased results from the Thessaloniki Living Lab, highlighting the DISCOPROXI and DISCO ESTATE demonstrations on shared smart parcel lockers in public spaces. Dimos T. Touloumidis then presented the “Meta Model Suite”, highlighting DISCO’s work on supporting sustainable urban logistics planning through the Physical Internet paradigm, with a particular focus on the Physical Internet Readiness Assessment as a strategic planning tool.

Among the many events DISCO attended, the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona stood out as a special highlight. Javier Rivas Infante moderated an engaging session on innovative solutions for Physical Internet-led urban logistics and planning, featuring contributions from Project Coordinator Paola Astegiano and representatives from the Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, and Padua Living Labs. The session offered a unique opportunity to showcase the project, particularly the Twinning Living Labs, which were recognised with awards for their best measures following evaluation by DISCO’s ICBT experts.

Last but not least, the work of the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH) on DISCO was honoured with a Gold Award at the National Supply Chain & Logistics Awards in Athens. This prestigious recognition celebrated the development of the blockchain-powered e-signature for the WareM&O platform.


DISCO partners release a Joint Statement at the EPA Conference!

On 17 September 2025, POLIS, ALICE, and the European Parking Association (EPA) released a Joint Statement at the 21st EPA Conference in Brussels.

This declaration represents a significant milestone in the long-standing collaboration between the three organisations, who have worked together for several years to tackle the challenges and seize the opportunities of urban freight, curbside management, and sustainable transport.

The signing took place following Session 2.1, ‘Reshaping Urban Space Part 2 – Parking Policy & Management in the Context of Urban Logistics and SULPs’. The panel featured Karen Vancluysen (Secretary-General, POLIS), Fernando Liesa (Secretary-General, ALICE), and Laurence A. Bannerman (President Emeritus of the EPA and Secretary-General of AIPARK), with moderation by Paola Cossu of FIT Consulting.

The partnership between POLIS, ALICE, and the EPA has grown through joint workshops, surveys, and research projects, particularly under the Horizon Europe Programme. Each organisation contributes distinct but complementary expertise:

Together, this collaboration creates a Europe-wide platform that brings public authorities, parking managers, logistics operators, and innovators into a shared dialogue on the future of urban mobility.

The Joint Statement sets out key priorities for the future of urban logistics and space management:

The joint session at the EPA Conference 2025 not only showcased past collaboration but also signalled a step towards shaping future policy recommendations within the DISCO project framework. These recommendations, to be published in 2026, will provide guidance on integrated approaches to managing urban space and logistics.

Read the full Joint Statement HERE.

DISCO launches new e-course!

DISCO is launching an exciting new e-course—bringing fresh insights from the project. Titled Mastering Evaluation for Sustainable Urban Logistics Solutions: Insights from the DISCO Project, the course provides essential knowledge, practical tools, and real-world experience drawn from the DISCO Starring Living Labs. Available from 16 July 2025—do not miss out!

DISCO is launching a brand-new e-course this 16 July 2025: Mastering Evaluation for Sustainable Urban Logistics Solutions: Insights from the DISCO Project! It brings together key knowledge, practical tools, and real-world experience from the DISCO Starring Living Labs. Whether you are a practitioner, policymaker, or researcher, this course will equip you with the essential skills to evaluate sustainable urban logistics solutions effectively—and link them to broader policy goals such as Sustainable Urban Logistics Plans (SULPs) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through this course, you will:

Structured in three main units, the course takes participants on a guided journey through the core of urban logistics evaluation. It begins with an introduction to the DISCO framework and its overarching mission, followed by a practical breakdown of evaluation methodologies, tools, and the DISCO Dashboard. The final unit brings theory into practice, showcasing real-world lessons and strategies from the project’s Living Labs—highlighting cases like Thessaloniki. Throughout the course, learners will be guided by a team of experienced trainers, including:

The course is managed by Katy Huaylla (RC) and hosted on the Mobility Academy platform, ensuring a smooth and user-friendly learning experience. Available from 16 July 2025—do not miss the opportunity to sharpen your skills and help shape the future of sustainable urban logistics!

To access the course, click here!

DISCO shone bright at the Transport Logistics Munich 2025 event!

DISCO shone bright at the Transport Logistics Munich 2025 event last June! The project, present at the ALICE stand, showcased in detail three of its key innovations, sparking interesting discussions among participants.

DISCO was proud to participate in Transport Logistics Munich 2025, one of the most important events for the logistics sector worldwide. The exhibition provided an ideal opportunity for the project to spotlight three of DISCO’s innovations, all aimed at advancing data-driven and sustainable solutions for urban logistics. Presented at the ALICE stand, these innovations generated strong interest and underlined DISCO’s commitment to smarter, more collaborative logistics systems.

The first of these innovations was the Urban Freight Data Space (UFDS)—a groundbreaking ecosystem designed to facilitate secure, standardised, and collaborative data sharing between various stakeholders. UFDS promotes data sovereignty, meaning that all participants retain control over their own data while still gaining valuable shared insights. This platform enables better cooperation between city authorities, logistics providers, and retailers by offering a scalable framework for integrating both public and private datasets. The result is more efficient, coordinated, and future-ready urban freight operations, built on transparency, interoperability, and trust.

We also presented DISCO’s Urban Access Control integration tool, which brings city access regulations directly into transport planning systems. By embedding Urban Vehicle Access Regulations (UVARs) into route navigation tools, this solution helps logistics providers plan smarter, greener journeys that comply with local rules. It calculates sustainable alternatives, proposes optimised delivery routes in real time, and enhances navigation with relevant points of interest. The tool has already been successfully tested in Ghent, Belgium, and is now integrated within the UFDS ecosystem, reinforcing its practical value and potential for wider adoption.

Finally, we spotlighted the WareM&O platform, a digital marketplace for warehouse and storage space. This solution enables warehouse owners to list available capacity, while tenants can easily search, compare, and book the space they need. By integrating blockchain-based smart contracts and electronic signatures, the platform ensures secure, transparent transactions. It also offers real-time updates on space availability, thanks to tested API connections with Warehouse Management Systems and Building Management Systems. This dynamic integration enhances planning, fosters collaboration between multiple operators, and reduces administrative overhead.

DISCO’s Zaragoza Living Lab unveils Open Day highlights!

DISCO’s Living Lab in Zaragoza hosted a compelling Open Day on May 7, 2025! Organised by ALIA, Citylogin, FZV, and the City of Zaragoza, the event, which took place at Mobility City in Zaragoza, was a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge and learn more about the Living Lab’s efforts and its advances on urban logistics.

Demo Day was designed as a dynamic and interactive event to bring together key stakeholders from across the logistics and mobility ecosystem. It also served to reaffirm DISCO’s role as a European leader in creating scalable and replicable solutions in urban logistics. The Open Day gave strong visibility to the Zaragoza Living Lab, helping local stakeholders better understand how they could both contribute to and benefit from the project. Throughout the day, the emphasis was on collective intelligence, mutual learning, and transforming Zaragoza—and other European cities—into real-world laboratories for sustainable, data-driven logistics innovation.

The day began with welcoming remarks from key institutional figures, officially opening the event. This was followed by a fast-paced session in which ten start-ups from the Incubadora 4.0 programme each had five minutes to present their innovations in logistics and mobility. Afterwards, attendees had the opportunity to connect during a networking coffee break, an informal moment to share ideas, speak with start-up founders, and explore potential collaborations.

The programme continued with a showcase of ten forward-looking projects redefining logistics through technologies such as artificial intelligence, sustainable mobility solutions, and collaborative frameworks. During this session, Alejandro Herráez, Technical Director at ALIA, presented the DISCO project as a flagship Horizon Europe initiative. Aimed at reducing CO2 emissions across 13 European cities, the project is delivering 23 zero-emission, data-driven logistics solutions. Zaragoza’s Living Lab was spotlighted, with a focus on the creation of a microhub at the San Vicente de Paúl Market using electric and non-motorised delivery options. A predictive delivery optimisation model was also unveiled as one of the project’s standout innovations.

DISCO featured prominently throughout the event, not only as a co-organiser but also as a key case study in collaborative urban logistics. It was frequently referenced as a benchmark for digital, sustainable, and community-oriented logistics models. The implementation of Zaragoza’s Living Lab provided a clear example of how EU-funded innovations can be successfully applied in real urban contexts. The microhub, combined with data analytics and the use of clean transport modes, received strong interest from attendees. The project encouraged active dialogue between municipal leaders, logistics operators, start-ups, and technology providers, helping to strengthen a collaborative ecosystem aligned with the goals of the European Green Deal.

The day’s most interactive element was a co-creation session, bringing together professionals from logistics, mobility, and technology to collaboratively design innovative project ideas. Using a structured format inspired by design thinking, participants were grouped into thematic tables focused on strategic areas such as Industry 4.0 and intralogistics automation, urban mobility and last-mile innovation, sustainable logistics and energy efficiency, multimodal transport collaboration, and digital transformation and data governance. Each group was guided by a facilitator who helped manage the discussion and ensure clear outcomes. This collaborative effort resulted in over 20 action-oriented project ideas, many of which will feed into upcoming calls and future phases of the DISCO project.

Overall, the event marked a significant step in fostering community engagement and setting the stage for the next wave of innovation and collaboration, with several follow-up activities already planned for 2025–2026.

Event recap: Insights from Ghent!

On 25th April, the Ghent Living Lab held its final event to present its use case to the local community. Attendees included representatives from the logistics and tech sectors, as well as local and Flemish authorities. The audience connected with the Living Lab concept and the challenges and solutions it explored throughout the project.

The event featured two interactive panel discussions, incorporating valuable input from the audience. These discussions highlighted two key insights gained from our Living Lab experience.

  1. One of its main findings is that the Urban Access Controller (UAC), developed by Be-Mobile, is effective. Through route optimisation in Traffic Management Systems (TMS) – tested by Dropon – logistics providers were able to reduce the total distance travelled. On average, each analysed route revealed 11 potential risks, for which the UAC offered alternatives. These risks often relate to high-stress environments for drivers, such as school zones or narrow delivery windows, and illustrate the complexity of route planning in a dense urban environment like Ghent. During the event, there was particular interest in the value of the UAC during testing. The greatest benefit lies with TMS providers, who frequently receive customer requests for up-to-date information on Urban Access Rules. Access to real-time, local traffic data enables providers to adapt plans during both the preparation and delivery phases. The real strength of the UAC is its potential integration into broader traffic management systems.
  2. For the UAC to function effectively, cities must provide machine-readable data. The City of Ghent already had an Open Data Portal, but further datasets were collected – for example, school entry points. While Ghent has a strong tradition of data sharing, many other Flemish local authorities face challenges in this area. To address this, we developed a Proof of Value for a dataspace that aimed to connect the cities of Mechelen, Leuven, and Hasselt. None of these cities had machine-readable Urban Access Rules or mobility data available. As a result, the Living Lab partners had to transform this information into usable datasets. Our final event confirmed that this is a significant issue. Flemish local authorities urgently need expertise and investment to improve their data maturity. Standardising and presenting Urban Access Rules at a Flemish level would make it much easier to implement technological solutions. The dataspace technology demonstrated by imec shows great promise in upscaling and accelerating this process. In fact, the dataspace presentation received the most positive feedback from attendees – something also reflected in the questions asked. Even local businesses saw opportunities to integrate this technology into their own planning systems and partnerships.

Throughout the project, Ghent consistently heard the same message from other local authorities: they lack the time, budget, and expertise to create open, standardised datasets. This directly impacts technology companies. For example, one TMS provider had to hire an additional employee just to manually digitise mobility rules across Flanders to ensure their system functioned properly.

In practice, this means that when a local authority decides to introduce, say, a weight restriction on a street for safety reasons, they may put up a road sign but fail to digitise the rule. Tech developers working in urban logistics are then forced to track and adapt to every local policy change manually.

Ghent’s event and tests clearly showed strong support for collecting and standardising UARs at the Flemish level. Dataspace technology is the key to making this happen efficiently and at scale.

Finally, this Living Lab demonstrated that efficiency and sustainability in logistics can go hand in hand. Though these goals are often seen as conflicting, we found that by optimising planning and aligning it with local traffic conditions, routes became shorter – leading to lower emissions. Addressing urban logistics challenges in a way that creates win-win outcomes for both cities and logistics providers can generate real positive impact.

Check the video for Ghent’s Living Lab here: DISCO Ghent Living Lab

DISCO webinars spotlight innovations in data and performance measurement

The DISCO project recently hosted two insightful webinars showcasing how data-driven innovation is transforming urban logistics to support more sustainable, efficient cities across Europe.

From Theory to Practice: Demonstrating the Urban Freight Data Space
On 5 November 2024, the webinar “From Theory to Practice: Demonstration and Planned Development of the DISCO Urban Freight Data Space (UFDS)” explored the potential of data spaces to revolutionise urban freight systems. Focusing on key principles such as interoperability, data sovereignty, and secure collaboration, the session highlighted how data spaces lie at the heart of DISCO’s vision for modern logistics.

A live demonstration featured outputs from the DISCO Living Labs in Copenhagen, Ghent, and Thessaloniki, as well as a showcase of the Geodata Visualizer App, which enables real-time data analysis. Participants discovered how UFDS supports scalable, adaptable data ecosystems and dynamic urban space management. Looking ahead, future developments include enhanced security features, enriched datasets, and expanded collaboration through metadata brokers and vocabulary hubs. Rooted in a Physical Internet (PI) approach, the UFDS aims to help meet the EU’s 2030 climate targets by advancing cleaner, smarter logistics solutions.

Measuring Impact: The DISCO KPI Framework
Two weeks later, on 19 November 2024, the second webinar, “Key Performance Indicators Framework – The Experience of the DISCO Project”, delved into the crucial role of KPIs in evaluating and improving sustainable urban logistics.

Presentations by the Institute for Transport and Logistics (ITL), Lindholmen Science Park (LSP), and the Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT) provided a deep dive into the development and application of the KPI framework across the DISCO Living Labs. Key topics included aligning KPIs with sustainability objectives, selecting relevant indicators, and integrating logistics data with urban freight planning, as demonstrated by the Thessaloniki Living Lab. A live demonstration of the DISCO KPI dashboard illustrated its practical use in assessing logistics performance and supporting informed decision-making.

Both sessions reaffirmed DISCO’s commitment to building data-driven, future-ready urban mobility systems aligned with European sustainability goals!

Missed the webinars?
Recordings and materials from both sessions are available through the Mobility Academy:

DISCO met for its first 2025 General Assembly!

The first DISCO General Assembly of 2025 was held online over two productive days, on 26th and 27th March 2025. This virtual gathering brought together all project partners to reflect on recent achievements, share key updates, and align on the next steps for the project’s development.

A central highlight of the meeting was the progress made on the Meta Model Suite. This essential tool is now available, with its user interface design fully completed. Its launch marks a major milestone for the project and sets the stage for broader implementation across partner activities.

The spotlight also turned to the Starring Living Labs, as their implementation phase approaches its conclusion at the end of April 2025. Each lab provided an in-depth presentation of their work to date, showcasing innovative solutions, lessons learned, and the impact generated within their local contexts. Their insights are helping shape the foundation for the next phase of the project.

Attention is now gradually shifting towards the Twinning Living Labs, which are preparing to build on the experiences of their Starring counterparts. They, too, shared updates on their progress and outlined their upcoming plans, highlighting the growing momentum across the DISCO network.

In addition, key contributions were made by POLIS, ALICE, and Rupprecht Consult, who presented their efforts to build strong connections between DISCO and other relevant European projects. They also provided a recap of recent training sessions delivered as part of the knowledge-sharing and capacity-building activities.

Strategic links have been established with several prominent initiatives, including:
GREENLOG, deployEMDS, DECARBOMILE, ACUMEN, URBANE, SENATOR, and UNCHAIN. These collaborations are helping to expand the reach and impact of DISCO, while fostering synergies across the mobility and logistics innovation ecosystem.

Lastly, the DISCO Knowledge Platform continues to grow, offering a central hub for insights, resources, and updates from the project. The platform is publicly accessible here and serves as a valuable tool for stakeholders and the broader community.

As DISCO progresses through 2025, the General Assembly reaffirmed the commitment of all partners to collaboration, innovation, and achieving lasting impact in urban logistics and mobility.

DISCO partners met up in Cologne!

The DISCO consortium met up in Cologne for an exciting two-day event. The goal? Discussing progress and the steps forward!

The DISCO project consortium convened in Cologne, Germany, on October 16–17, 2024, for a partner meeting hosted by Rupprecht Consult. This two-day event gathered leading stakeholders in sustainable urban logistics to assess progress, share insights, and strategize the next phases of the DISCO initiative. Wolfgang Backhaus, warmly welcomed the DISCO partners and highlighted crucial points and linkages between DISCO, the EU Cities Mission, and NetZeroCities.

The Cologne meeting featured keynote presentations from members of the Impact Creation Board for Transformation (ICBT), notably Anne Goodchild of the Urban Freight Lab and Thomas Osdoba from NetZeroCities EU. Andreas Nettsträter, Open Logistics Foundation, and Marianne Ryghaug, SINTEF.

Their discussions emphasised the importance of open-source innovation and collaborative strategies in advancing urban logistics. ​

The meeting also facilitated knowledge exchange between Starring and Twinning Living Labs, aiming to scale DISCO’s innovative solutions to additional cities. This collaborative effort is central to DISCO’s mission of fostering sustainable and efficient urban logistics across Europe. ​On Day 1 we organised interactive breakout sessions in the afternoon on the progress of Starring Living Labs and one where project partners had the opportunity to engage with the ICBT experts. Day 2 continued with a focus on Twinning Living Labs, DISCO Data Space open software repository, follower sites, Key Exploitable Results validation (KERs).​

The discussions also included the DISCO Meta Model Suite (MMS), a key component of the DISCO project aimed at improving urban logistics. It is designed to address the challenges posed by increasing urbanization, e-commerce, and environmental concerns. The MMS promotes collaboration, interoperability, and resource sharing, aligning with the principles of the Physical Internet

A highlight of the event was the recognition of outstanding achievements by the DISCO Starring Living Labs teams. Awards were presented to Copenhagen, Ghent, Thessaloniki, and Helsinki for their exemplary contributions to sustainable urban logistics solutions. ​

DISCO shined bright at the Annual POLIS Conference 2024

DISCO made its presence known at the last Annual POLIS Conference 2024! The project took the stage and was also displayed at the exhibition area, introducing its innovations to multiple, diverse, and relevant stakeholders.

The DISCO project took stage at the 2024 POLIS Conference, held in Karlsruhe on 27-28 November 2024, Germany. As Europe’s flagship event on sustainable urban transport, the conference attracted over 1,000 mobility experts, city representatives, and technology innovators from across the continent.

DISCO partners delivered a dynamic presence, participating in an expert panel and engaging attendees through a vibrant project booth. The focus: demonstrating how cities can leverage data and digital platforms to plan, manage, and evaluate mobility systems that work for everyone.

Paola Cossu, CEO of FIT Consulting and Project coordinator, presented the DISCO project during the session “1F. Unlocking the last mile: Innovations in urban freight”, highlighting the potential of physical internet-led solutions to foster urban logistics and planning through data-driven and dynamic land use”. Domien Stubbe (VIL) presented the use cases being tested in the city of Ghent, Belgium.

DISCO shared the stage with other city representatives from Helsinki, Madrid, Karlsruhe to exchange about first-hand experiences of using DISCO’s tools to address diverse urban mobility needs and foster collaboration with other Horizon Europe projects focusing on urban freight and logistics (DECARBOMILE, UNCHAIN, URBANE) and policy-makers, reinforcing its role as a key player in the digital transformation of urban transport.

DISCO was also part of the exhibition area, with a booth shared with other EU-funded projects of project partner PNO.