Five insights emerged from the KEYSTONE webinar on digitisation, interoperability, and the future of European enforcement
Picture from the artcile on Cefriel’s website
On 29 October, Cefriel organised, as part of the European KEYSTONE project, the webinar “Digital Technologies for Road Transport Control: Innovation, Interoperability and European Use Cases”. The event was dedicated to how digital technologies can support the evolution of controls in road freight transport.
The initiative involved 60 participants, including logistics operators, public bodies and researchers, interested in understanding how digital technologies can improve controls in road freight transport, with a focus on enforcement, interoperability and data sharing. In addition to KEYSTONE, SETO and HOLOGISTICS took part in the discussion on how digital technologies can transform controls in road freight transport. Here are five insights that emerged from the exchange:
1.Smart Enforcement marks the start of a new control model
The digital transformation of logistics requires an evolution from the current vertical systems to open platforms, where different stakeholders – carriers, logistics operators, infrastructure managers and authorities – can share data in a secure and controlled way. Collaboration becomes a strategic requirement to gain end-to-end visibility and optimise still-fragmented processes. Digital ecosystems emerge as fundamental enablers for building this new paradigm.
2. Shared standards as accelerators of interoperability
To overcome the fragmentation of information systems and ensure the exchange of data between heterogeneous actors, the role of standards is central. The adoption of a common vocabulary and interoperability models enables services, devices and platforms to be integrated more quickly, reducing complexity and development costs. In the KEYSTONE context, standards such as IDS and open reference architectures become concrete tools to accelerate innovation.
3. Data governance as a pillar of trust
Data sharing can only take place if supported by clear data governance mechanisms, able to define who can access what, with which rights and for which purposes. Trust between actors is built through transparent policies, granular control systems and infrastructures that guarantee data sovereignty. Well-designed governance enables data to be valued without compromising security, a particularly critical element in the transport sector.
4. Concrete use cases as a driver of transformation
Experimentation on real use cases – such as those developed in the KEYSTONE project for road transport and intermodality – represents an essential step to validate technologies, interoperability models and collaborative approaches. Working on concrete scenarios enables measurable benefits to be highlighted, operational barriers to be identified and scalable, market-oriented solutions to be defined.
5. The role of roadmaps in promoting industrial adoption
For innovation to become part of companies’ daily processes, it is necessary to build clear roadmaps and support actors in the transition. Maturity frameworks, technical guidelines and accompanying tools help companies assess their level of digitisation and plan sustainable investments. Roadmaps are a key element in transforming research experiments into large-scale, operational solutions that can be adopted by industry.