NOTICIAS

The Provincial Councillor of Alava, Ramiro González, the Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Maider Etxebarria and the director of the Mobility LAB Vitoria-Gasteiz Foundation, Iñigo Bilbao, today inaugurated the conference ‘Innovation Lab: Experimentation Spaces. Mapping out the future of mobility and logistics‘, which took place at the Europa Conference Centre with the aim of presenting and publicising the logic of the eight experimentation spaces and the opportunities they offer for testing, developing and validating innovative solutions in the fields of mobility and logistics.

With this initiative, the Mobility LAB Vitoria-Gasteiz Foundation becomes a facilitator for public or private agents interested in testing projects and solutions in order to promote innovation and turn Vitoria-Gasteiz and Alava into regions of reference through the promotion of the ‘Innovation LAB’ project.

‘Being a ‘Living Lab’ is one of the four strategic lines of work of the Mobility Lab Foundation. Our aim is to create a one-stop shop that provides the sector with a delimited framework in which to test innovative solutions in real spaces, accompanying and supervising the process and thus reducing the risks inherent in any innovation process’, explained the director of the Mobility Lab Vitoria-Gasteiz Foundation, Iñigo Bilbao.

The Mayoress of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Maider Etxebarria, stressed the importance of ‘creating spaces to experiment and find solutions in real environments’ based on public-private collaboration. The councillor assured that ‘innovation and mobility are axes of urban transformation’ and recalled that the capital of Alava is a benchmark in terms of sustainable mobility thanks to its commitment to public transport – which includes the implementation of the tram, the EIB and the recent purchase of electric units for line 4 of Tuvisa – and other measures such as the increase in charging points for electric vehicles, the promotion of cycling and the expansion of pedestrian areas. Actions which, in short, ‘fit in with the recognised track record of a city that has won awards for its sustainable spirit and which for decades has been a benchmark in the fight against climate change’. Etxebarria also stressed that this strategy ‘strengthens the competitiveness’ of the local economic fabric and creates jobs.

For his part, the Provincial Councillor of Alava, Ramiro González, stressed that ‘Innovation Lab is not just a project; it is an opportunity. An opportunity to place Alava at the forefront of the mobility of the future. An opportunity to ostrengthen ur economy and improve the quality of life of our people. An opportunity to build a more sustainable, more humane and more connected territory’. In this context, the Deputy General appealed to all the agents present. ‘To the companies, so that they actively participate in these spaces for experimentation. To the institutions, so that we continue to create the necessary conditions for innovation to flourish. And to society in general, to get involved in this transformation process that will lead us towards a more sustainable, inclusive and efficient model’.

During the conference, the Head of Legal Innovation Projects at the TECH Friendly consultancy firm, Geana de Miranda Leschko, defined and explained the characteristics of experimentation spaces (sandboxes and controlled test environments), as well as the strategic and regulatory framework of these spaces.

Eight spaces for experimentation

Afterwards, Leire Balzategui, Head of Innovation at the Mobility LAB Vitoria-Gasteiz Foundation, presented the eight experimentation spaces available to mobility and logistics innovation agents and the challenges and opportunities they offer.

• Intermodal logistics

Experimentation in the main logistics and intermodal transport poles of the territory (CTVi, railway infrastructures, airports, land transport of goods, etc.), with the potential participation of top level logistics operators.

• Last mile distribution

Testing of new technologies, tools, business models, products and services for urban distribution of goods (DUM) in Vitoria-Gasteiz that meets the conditions of access and movement defined by the Low Emission Zone.

• Connected and autonomous vehicle

Innovation in controlled and delimited spaces of solutions aimed at the development of autonomous and connected vehicles. Use case already advanced for testing in the Vitoria-Gasteiz Technology Park.

• High-capacity roads
• Testing of innovative solutions on the AP-1 and AP-68 sections in Alava, in areas such as sustainable road surfaces, inspection of road assets, energy efficiency, preventive maintenance, electronic toll systems, etc.
• Drones and unmanned aerial vehicles
• Innovation in the field of safe air corridors to test different applications of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles, especially in the field of transport and/or surveillance.
• Intelligent public transportTransporte público inteligente

Testing of innovative solutions in the public transport network (tram, smart electric bus, on-demand bus in rural areas, etc.), both in means of transport, network management and new business models.

• Active and micro mobility
• Innovation in new policies and infrastructures that promote mobility and active leisure for the population, especially in the field of cycling infrastructures for experimentation in cycle lanes.
• Road safety and accessibility
• Innovation testing in the framework of road safety in urban environments or on high-capacity roads, as well as in improvements in accessibility linked to the public transport network.

First pilot test

In the last mile distribution experimentation area, a pilot test has already been carried out under the umbrella of the StandTrack project to reduce the number of vehicles delivering parcels in the last urban mile of Vitoria-Gasteiz,

The StandTrack project, supported by EIT Urban Mobility of the European Union and led by the Innovation Centre for Logistics and Freight Transport (CITET) is a project that seeks to improve the distribution of goods in urban environments through a standard intermodal platform that facilitates the traceability of packages and communication between agents in the distribution chain.

The Standtrack project consists of relabelling all the packages from the different logistics operators that arrive at the delivery office with a single label, which provides data on the requesting entity, the origin and destination, thus ensuring that a single vehicle carries out the deliveries which, in the case of Vitoria-Gasteiz, are made in a sustainable vehicle such as a bicycle.

The project, which has already been tested in real environments in Madrid, Valencia and Braga (Portugal), has also been tested in Vitoria-Gasteiz at a key moment in the implementation of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ), which will accelerate the digitisation of the transport system and generate new high-value data for the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council.

The launch of the microhub in the San Martin neighbourhood, managed by the Eraman Koop cooperative, has enabled the first pilot test for the reception of parcels and the sustainable implementation of any improvements in last-mile technology.

As a cooperative, all its members collaborate on a daily basis to improve efficiency on each delivery route and innovate best practices, such as distribution via mobile hubs, the use of public lockers and multi-operator consolidation.

Eraman is also a member and current director of the CoopCycle federation, a global organisation of more than 120 bicycle logistics cooperatives around the world that allows these entities to have a common software. The integration of StandTrack with the CoopCycle platform, thanks to the Mobility Lab’s involvement in the project, allows Eraman to offer its services to multiple logistics operators in a truly consolidated way, avoiding the complexity of managing different traceability software. This increases the efficiency of delivery routes by making multi-operator consolidation possible, achieving greater efficiency in shipments and a lower environmental impact.

Two major logistics operators, SEUR and DHL, were involved in the pilot, which allowed the platform to be tested. During the test, packages from three different operators were given a unique code to ensure full traceability of the packages without the need to know more information about the operation and so that this unique code would allow them to be identified in a standardised way at any point in the chain.

Among the eight experimental areas in which the Mobility Lab Foundation is working, the Urban Goods Distribution area stands out as the first pilot to be activated in the Living Lab itself.

Spaces for dialogue

The conference also opened a space for dialogue aimed at jointly identifying challenges and opportunities that the different spaces can offer. Through this dynamic, the participating agents were able to share their knowledge and experience to enrich the conceptualisation and prioritise, through specific use cases and potential scenarios, key needs for the testing of innovative solutions.