To increase the competitiveness of the Flemish logistics companies, VIL carries out projects around Collective Knowledge Development and Knowledge Transfer (COOCK). “Collective” means that the project is aimed at a group of companies. 80% of the project cost is subsidized, 20% is financed by the participating companies.
In addition, VIL also focuses on innovative business projects (research and development projects), multidisciplinary research projects, strategic basic research and EU projects (Horizon Europe).
The use of glass bottles for beverages remains popular in Belgium. The costs of sorting out, transporting and storing these empty bottles is not to be neglected and often not very transparent. In this project VIL aims to analyse and reduce these non-value adding costs.
Self-driving electric vehicles: they’re already undergoing thorough testing for passenger transport. Can these self-driving vehicles also be used to carry goods in logistics operations, specifically in the context of urban logistics? This futuristic project begins by setting out the requirements.
Due to the continuous rise of e-commerce and growing urbanisation, demand for efficient urban logistics is higher than ever (more home deliveries, more delivery locations, more returns, shorter delivery periods, etc.). How can the Internet of Things also help make logistics more efficient in the city?
Low power wide area networks (LPWAN) such as Sigfox or LoRa could well play a major role in the future. VIL will investigate what these wireless, energy-efficient networks could mean for tracking and monitoring assets and high value goods.
Too much food is lost in distribution chains. Through the ‘Fresh Food Logistics’ project, VIL aims to investigate where and how food spoilage can be prevented or reduced, through the optimization of the logistics chains for fresh food for retailers.
Through this project, in conjunction with the road haulage sector, VIL aims to design a costing model that reflects the actual profitability of every transport order carried out.
With Crowd Logistics, private individuals or semi-professionals are used to transport goods. What business models can apply to this? What are the legal implications? How can this be integrated into business logistics and what is its added value, both for logistical actors and for society in general?
With the IKEO project for the collection of small electrical goods online, VIL aims to offer a proactive response to the question of how webshops and their logistics service providers will organize the take-back obligation applying to small electrical appliances logistically.
‘Waste is the new gold’, so the saying goes. It’s a fact that there’s huge economic potential in recycling. The ambitious ‘Flanders Recycling Hub’ project aims to put Flemish ports on the global map in order to attract flows of materials and recycling activities.
Flexible transport robots, or Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), show great potential. The new generation of transport robots are flexible and compact and have no impact on infrastructure. Some also have a fully autonomous location system on board. In which warehouse operations can they be used?
Through the Value Added Trucking project, VIL aims to find out which (administrative or other) value-added tasks can be carried out by the driver of a truck in self-driving mode. This is not about the technological angle, but the logistical approach: what improvement in efficiency and productivity can be achieved by having the driver on board the self-driving truck carry out useful tasks?
Innovation is important. Innovation makes for better margins, for a better world. But innovation is not always easy and success is not always guaranteed. And it requires an investment from you, in people and in time.
That is why you can rely on the expertise of VIL and on a reserved budget for innovation projects related to logistics!
