Unlocking seamless transport: KEYSTONE shines at NAPCORE event
Alexandros Papacharalampous (CEO & CTO of KEYSTONE Consortium Partner Aethon Engineering)
The recent NAPCORE event held in Budapest witnessed the dynamic presentation of the KEYSTONE project, a groundbreaking initiative with a vision to shape the future of freight transport operations during a dedicated panel session. The session, centered around the theme "KEYSTONE Project and the Role of NAPs," provided an overview of the project's goals, challenges, opportunities, and the collaborative potential with National Access Points (NAPs).
Project Overview Presentation
KEYSTONE Presentation at the NAPCORE Conference
KEYSTONE envisions contributing to a Smart Enforcement system that fosters resilience, sustainability, and efficiency in transport operations across the European Union. The project aims to establish an EU-wide automated, cooperative enforcement system, underpinned by digital technology. Compliance controls will be efficient, non-discriminatory, and feature trusted and secure data exchange among public and private entities.
KEYSTONE recognizes challenges in real-time information sharing, compliance monitoring, and enhancing transport workers' social conditions. The project addresses these challenges with a focus on direct access to real-time information, improving access to market services, fostering collaboration among stakeholders, and standardising digital data exchange in supply and logistics.
The starting thesis of KEYSTONE revolves around the reluctance of companies to switch data models, the shortcomings of already existing systems and platforms to be truly interoperable and aims atfacilitating the real-time accurate and safe exchange of information and data for compliance checks purposes, as well as the ‘chaos’ that exists in regard to formats of existing documents, tools that are already in use , differences in data formats, etc. across different EU Member States. The Plug & Play Principle becomes crucial, as new initiatives for data aggregation such as the Electronic Freight Transport Information (eFTI) . Standardised data transmission is essential, and increasingly decentralised flows of data highlight theneed to standardize data storage and transportation.
Objectives & Solutions
KEYSTONE's objectives align with EU-wide safety standards, reduction of compliance logistics costs, replication of success at the EU level, promotion of collaboration among logistics stakeholders, and the development of standardized APIs with a Plug-and-Play design. The project proposes the creation of an API Reference Model and Standard, along with a versatile web app. Pilot implementations will showcase progress, emphasising agility and standardisation.
NAPCORE & NAP’s Role
During the event, attention was drawn to the pivotal role of National Access Points (NAPs). KEYSTONE aims to collaborate with NAPs to gain insight into their needs, requirements, infrastructure, and accessibility. The project could serve as a leap forward in enriching already existing data standards, accommodating also the logistics and enforcement domains, incorporating standards for logistics into NAPs, testing API models, working on Paperless Transport, and assessing compatibility with existing standards.
NAPCORE's role extends to an expert review, providing compatibility assessments with existing standards, ensuring interoperability, and contributing to efforts in standardisation for logistics. Furthermore, the envisioned NAPCORE’s role, as presented in the Mobility Data Day’s event, involves provision of insight and input regarding the NAPs' perspectives, NAPs' needs and requirements, consideration of standardization for logistics, and collaboration on Paperless Transport. NAPs' infrastructure is expected to play a crucial role during pilot implementations.
Stakeholder Discussions
Discussions during and after the presentation delved into the capabilities of NAPs in handling enforcement-related data, preliminary standardisation needs, ideal states for data exchange and compliance checks, and prioritising safety and environmental implications in the transport sector.
The KEYSTONE presentation at NAPCORE marks a significant step toward revolutionising data exchange, compliance checks, and safety standards in the European transport sector. With collaborative efforts, the project aims to shape a future where seamless transport operations are the norm. Stay tuned for more updates as KEYSTONE continues its journey toward a smarter and more efficient transport ecosystem.
Authors: Zoe Petrakou (Aethon Engineering)