The FLEXI-cross project aims to increased security and reliability of EU border checks for people and goods, while enhancing and improving the border management capabilities, through the development, deployment and validation of a toolkit of innovative border-checking solutions, in real operational environments, addressing road, rail and port borders. The resulting flexibility and dynamicity of border check planning will offer novel capabilities such as dynamic deployment of check-points and support via mobile applications for border personnel, while guaranteeing high level of security, privacy of personal data and protection of people's fundamental rights. Through the FLEXI-cross solutions the following functionalities will be delivered: i) anti-trafficking and anti-smuggling protection via predictive risk assessment of vehicle and people, ii) enhanced border security through portable biometric based checks, iii) secure person verification through real-time multi-source cross-referencing, iv) flexible, fast and cost-effective deployment of ad-hoc Border Check Points (BCP), v) secure, private and traceable sensitive / personal data exchange based on blockchain technology and vi) increased safety and improved experience for border-personnel based on advanced Human Machine Interfaces and enhanced situational awareness via Augmented Reality (AR). To achieve these ambitious goals, the FLEXI-cross project engages key European border authorities and end-users (police, port/rail operators, etc.) and brings them together with leading SW and technology developers, research organizations and innovative SMEs, to co-design the requirements and the solutions and to validate the project outcomes. This collaboration will drive the deployment of three state-of-the-art border-checking trial facilities, to enable real life trials in diverse operational environments, namely, vehicle-based road border crossing, rail-based border-crossing and port embarkation/disembarkation.

The VITAL-5G proposal has the vision to advance the offered transport & logistics (T&L) services by engaging significant logistics stakeholders (Sea and River port authorities, road logistics operators, warehouse/hub logistic operators, etc.) as well as innovative SMEs and offering them an open and secure virtualized 5G environment to test, validate and verify their T&L related cutting-edge Network Applications (NetApps). The combination of advanced 5G testbeds (offered through participating MNOs / vendors) with vertical specialized facilities and infrastructure (offered by participating key logistics stakeholders) through an open service validation platform (repurposed and created by the project) will create a unique opportunity for third parties such as SMEs to validate their T&L related solutions and services utilizing real-life resources and facilities, otherwise unavailable to them. The platform will provide to 3rd party experimenters, the necessary testing and validation tools, offering them a trusted and secure service execution environment under realistic conditions that supports multi tenancy. Such an elaborate validation mechanism will allow for the further refinement and fine-tuning of the provided services fostering the creation of new services and the evolution of existing ones, while boosting the SME presence in the emerging 5G-driven logistics ecosystem. The VITAL-5G proposal plans to showcase the added-value of 5G connectivity for the European T&L sector by adopting a multi-modal approach containing major logistics hubs for freight and passengers (sea ports, river ports, warehouse / logistics hubs, highways, etc.) as well as the respective stakeholders (road operators, port authorities, 3rd party logistics (3PL) operators), thus creating an end-to-end chain of connected T&L services accommodating the entire continent.

The FOR-FREIGHT project aims to maximise the utilisation of multimodal freight transport capacity and reduce the average cost of freight transport through the development of novel solutions and their integration with legacy logistics systems. This will enable more effective and sustainable management of goods and freight flows in airports, ports, inland terminals and various logistics nodes, taking into account the requirements of all involved stakeholders, and accounting for economic, environmental and social aspects. Through the FOR-FREIGHT solutions the following functionalities will be delivered: i) real-time door-to-door tracking and status monitoring & control of cargo, ii) Decision Support Systems for the optimization of resource utilization based on Digital Twin concept, iii) Increased resilience against large scale disruptive events and increased security of information based on Blockchain technology, iv) Increased sustainability through the implementation of a carbon footprint assessment framework and use of alternative modes of transportation (subway). To achieve these ambitious goals, the FOR-FREIGHT project engages world-leading T&L stakeholders specializing in different modes of transportation, such as port and airport authorities, terminal operators, airfreights handlers, train operators and major transport/shipping operators and brings them together with leading SW and technology developers, research organizations and innovative SMEs. This collaboration will drive the deployment of three state-of-the-art multimodal trial facilities, to enable real life trials in operational environments covering heterogeneous multimodal scenarios, namely, seaport to logistics hub and last mile delivery, seaport to airport (airfreight) and river-port to rail cargo. A cloud-based experimentation platform will be offered by FOR-FREIGHT, integrating access to the three trial sites, and offering advanced monitoring and experimentation tools.