Milan, 6 March 2024. Goods and passenger transport are going through an epochal change, driven by technological evolution, but also by the growing awareness that progress must be conducted while respecting the environment.

It is around this change - some speak of the seventh revolution for transport - that the future of these two sectors is being played out.

From here also starts the proposal of NME–Next Mobility Exhibition, an event dedicated to means, solutions, policies and technologies for a sustainable collective mobility system, and Transpotec Logitec, leading event in Italy for road transport and logistics, organised trade fair events by Fiera Milano, which will take place simultaneously in May 2024.

NME will be held at Fiera Milano, Rho from 8 to 10 May 2024, while Transpotec Logitec will last one day longer, until 11 May. The two events, which will occupy a total of 6 halls, will each maintain their own identity and project, but at the same time will offer operators the opportunity for interesting points of contact.

“The transport of goods and the mobility of people represent two separate markets, with their own specific methods and logic, but they are united today by the challenge of the energy transition,” explains Simona Greco, Director of Events at Fiera Milano. “With this in mind we have combined Transpotec Logitec and Next Mobility Exhibition on the same dates, to more forcefully talk about common urgencies, but also the contribution that their innovation can offer. Today we have more than 400 companies involved, but our goal is to host 500 next May, thus making available to operators a complete panorama of means, services and solutions, useful for demonstrating the centrality of these sectors for the entire society" . 

THE FUTURE OF TRANSPORT FOR GOODS AND PEOPLE IS BEING WRITTEN TODAY

At present, the new awareness of the environment and the effects of climate change is central to the world of transport: just consider that the sector is responsible for 24% of direct CO2 emissions, or 8 billion tonnes of total emissions (Source: United Nations. Sustainable transport, sustainable development. Inter-Agency report for second Global Sustainable Transport Conference. 2021).

To achieve the objectives set by the European Community, i.e. Zero Net Emissions by 2050, transport emissions need to decrease by more than 3% per year by 2030. This is a truly challenging objective, which calls the operators of the two sectors to an unprecedented commitment, which leverages important drivers both linked to the market and to the evolution of society.

“We live in a time of profound social transformation which is reflected in our way of living, interacting with others and even moving around. In a context of such rapid change, transport systems will have to prove capable of guaranteeing a transition towards inclusive and economically sustainable mobility models, capable of transforming the environmental challenge into a development opportunity. The trigger may occur, on the one hand, as a result of a change in individual behaviour (e.g. the renunciation of ownership of means and a greater propensity to share) and, on the other, by the exploitation of technological opportunities to develop a transport offering that allows rational and convenient choices both for individuals and for collective sustainability,” declares Pierluigi Coppola, professor of Transport Planning at the Politecnico di Milano.

The technology is there: alternative engines - electric, hydrogen and, in particular for heavy transport, also biodiesel and biomethane - are already present on the market and experiments with connected and autonomous driving vehicles (from track platooning for freight vehicles to Robotaxis for passenger transport, to drones for goods) are making inroads. Also growing, with good prospects for use in Italy too, is Urban Air Mobility, which involves the use of electric vertical take-off aircraft for passenger transport.

Big data analysis and digitalisation also represent a high-profile innovation factor, useful for optimising transport and minimising its environmental impact: if in local public transport we are moving towards MaaS (Mobility as a Service, which allows the user to manage, with a single digital platform, or smartApp, the use of multiple means of transport to reach a destination, booking together different means such as buses and e-bikes), the reading of large masses of data - such as those derived from urban traffic - is also changing freight transport, now closely linked to an advanced logistics logic based on digital tracking systems of routes and vehicles, on the remote coordination of fleets and on the evaluation of the best routes.

But external factors also affect how the transport sector can evolve in a sustainable way. The increase and ageing of the population, its polarisation towards urban centres (in 2050, 68% of people will live in cities, compared to 55% today) will change the way of managing transport services and people (more accessibility and efficiency), and goods (greater investment in the “last mile”).

Finally, behaviours are also changing: the sharing economy is increasingly pervasive and it is expected that revenues from shared mobility could reach over US$1.5 trillion in 2024 globally, with growth of up to 3.5% in the medium term (2028).

We are also becoming “hypermobile” and increasingly optimising trips for shopping or leisure, expanding the typical “home-work-home” sequences towards more complex dynamics. New needs therefore arise, which must find new answers in the world of transport.

THE RESPONSE FROM NME AND TRANSPOTEC LOGITEC: NEW AWARENESS FOR OPERATORS

Faced with such a complex scenario, Transpotec Logitec and NME-Next Mobility Exhibition will offer concrete answers to operators in both sectors, encouraging a fruitful dialogue around common development prospects.

At the centre of the fair proposal, vehicles, solutions, products and policies that represent concrete tools for implementing the ASI strategies, an acronym that summarises the three approaches with which to make mobility sustainable : Avoid, Shift and Improve. In fact, the aim is to avoid or at least reduce the need to travel, shortening the distances between residences and places of work and leisure, or between places of production and consumption of goods so as to reduce travel distances (especially by car, plane and ship). We then talk about the modal shift, which means making the movement of goods more intermodal and public transport for people more reliable and therefore more appealing. Finally, we are looking to improve engines, making them increasingly efficient and less polluting.

The objective of Transpotec Logitec and NME will be to create new awareness around the medium and long-term objectives of the two sectors, making tools and know-how available to achieve them. A change of perspective is also possible through the contribution of the innovation described by the exhibition offering, which to date already sees 425 companies from 22 countries confirmed, with the main foreign presences coming from Germany, Turkey, UK, Holland and Poland.

To support the international development of the two events, work is also underway on the scouting of 150 hosted buyers from 44 countries, selected - by geographical area and high spending capacity - by Fiera Milano in collaboration with the ITA-ICE Agency and coming from Europe, South Africa and CIS countries.

Transpotec and NME will also offer an extensive schedule of conferences and workshops dedicated to the hottest topics for the two markets. The inaugural event will open the two exhibitions and turn the spotlight on issues of common interest, which on 8 May will see an open discussion between industry, associations and institutions on the problems affecting both sectors and on the solutions which are possible today.