The efficient operation of international transport and logistics networks is a critical success factor for sustainable growth in global trade. Inefficient operation creates barriers to trade by causing shipment delays and raising trading costs. Since transport and logistics activities account for 10% to 20% of a country’s gross domestic product, increases in the efficiency of these activities can dramatically improve a country’s competitiveness. In addition, environmental impacts resulting from the operation of transport and logistics activities are significant, so any improvement in efficiency within a logistics network positively contributes to sustainability objectives. The ultimate aim of the FInest project is to develop a Future Internet enabled ICT platform to improve support and optimise the collaboration and integration within international transport and logistics business networks. This shall be realised as a domain-specific extension of the FI PPP Core Platform.

As the initial FI PPP use case project focusing on international freight transport, the FInest project will design the envisioned solution and provide detailed specifications for its technical realisation, define a representative set of real-world use case scenarios with detailed plans for conducting large-scale experiments, and design a suitable Future Internet experimentation environment for transport and logistics. The technology design will be driven by business requirements determined by domain experts. FInest will build on the next major leap of information and communication technology, the “Future Internet”. The Future Internet constitutes a future ICT infrastructure in which various technology streams converge. Specifically, we will see the convergence of the Internet of Services, the Internet of Content and the Internet of Things, enabled by Networks of the Future and comprehensive mechanisms for Security, Privacy, and Trust.