The eFTI4EU project has been active for a little over a year now and two more years are ahead. In this short blog update, I will try to highlight some of the key actions, achievements and pave the way forward. I am writing this from my own perspective, where I have had the great opportunity to follow the project from two roles: national project support and horizontal project coordinator.
First of all, it must be mentioned that the eFTI4EU project has already been a very fun and gratifying project, where we have been able to build cooperation both on a national and international level. In addition, it has been nice to see that the cooperation between the public and private sectors has also shown its effectiveness. And surely there is still a lot to do and see. A big thank you already to all “eFTI believers”. 😊
The eFTI4EU project builds a future proof eFTI data exchange system for EU logistics, with strong focus on authority systems. Thanks to eFTI, authorities enable a digital data exchange channel for freight transport, allowing operators to transfer fully digital solutions, if their business network is ready for it. In general, the eFTI4EU project is mix of IT project and EU policy implementation, with nice twist of development and recommendation actions.
During the first project year, eFTI4EU beneficiaries and representatives of EU member states have planned their eFTI work plans and documented them in their national roadmaps. At the same time, the beneficiaries have planned, documented and some have already started their eFTI pilots. The eFTI4EU team, in cooperation with national authorities and IT and architecture experts, has also drawn up a reference implementation model. Reference implementation model is an example of eFTI implementation that will be one main outcomes of the project. It summarizes and adapts all the work done under architecture design, joint development and eFTI business logics/service design. It is designed in line with eFTI use cases and system governance. The reference implementation model will later be published as open source and will provide a solid, tested and interoperable foundation for all EU countries for their eFTI implementation.
Currently the project focuses on eFTI benefits, governance and certification requirements for the eFTI platform. Traficom has published its thoughts regarding eFTI benefits, i.e. what eFTI offers for competent authorities and private sector, see “Benefits of eFTI”. After the summer 2024 the focus will be sifted more on pilots, dissemination, data model and co-development. Currently the project is well on schedule, although there are some delays in eFTI regulation. This is also good note for all Member States, that have not started their eFTI actions, all Member States can already do a lot and without active cooperation between economic operators and authorities, national implementations may face major challenges.
If you want to know more about the eFTI EU project, please follow our newsletter and contact me or my other colleagues from eFTI experts team.
Author:
Lasse Nykänen
Project Director
lasse.nykanen(at)vedia.fi