On November 20-21, 2024, the FOR-FREIGHT project successfully hosted (BEIA) its 4^th hybrid General Assembly (GA) and Technical Meeting in the vibrant city of Bucharest, Romania. Partners from across Europe gathered to discuss the project’s progress, share updates, and collaborate on the next steps toward achieving the project’s objectives.

Together with representatives from all project partners, including key stakeholders from academia, industry, and research institutions, we focused on technical sessions dedicated to discussing, amongst other aspects, the (i) recent advancements in the three use cases and the FOR-FREIGHT platform, (ii) detailed discussions and collaborative workshops on the project’s solvers, generalised real-world problems of intermodality associated with the solving processes, related intermodal interfaces, and legacy systems, and (iii) strategic discussions outlined the roadmap for upcoming phases, emphasising milestones and objectives.

Additionally, key highlights of the meeting included:

• Use case solution development, trial site, and operational insights;
• Commercialisation and innovation;
• Standardisation and policy recommendations;
• FOR-FREIGHT functionality and User Interface (UI);
• Dissemination, communication, and capacity building;
• Quality assurance and risk mitigation;
• Project management.

The meeting also provided an excellent platform for networking, enabling partners to strengthen collaborations and share best practices. Participants emphasised the importance of teamwork and cross-sectoral collaboration in addressing the challenges of sustainable and efficient freight transportation. The next physical GA meeting is scheduled in Madrid, Spain, where partners will review the progress made and set the course for the upcoming project phases.