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.
