Our Future Freight event – 25 October 2024, Brisbane

Our Future Freight was freight-specific event following iMOVE’s National R&D Conference 2024, where we explored technology and initiatives to address business and industry challenges for a more efficient, clean freight sector. It was held in Brosbane on 25 October 2024, at QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus.

ABOUT THIS EVENT

Most organisations in the freight sector are keen to take advantage of the opportunities brought about by a growing freight task and advances in technology that allow for greater efficiency. This drive for profitability through efficiency can be balanced with the growing imperative to decarbonise our transport networks and this is not a one-size-fits-all response.

So, what are ways to achieve a win-win situation for businesses and for the environment?

This event is a step in the right direction. We will explore advances in data and AI and testing, trialling and roll out of new technologies and different approaches to achieving efficiency and sustainability.

iMOVE specialises in bringing together the different voices, ideas and expertise needed to progress R&D initiatives in transport, and we hope you can join us to that end in October.

PROGRAM

CLICK HERE FOR A DOWNLOADABLE PROGRAM

Welcome and scene setting

Time: 10.00—10.30

Speakers:

• Jeff Kasparian: MC
• Lee-Ann Breger: Programs Director, iMOVE Australia
• Matt Stockwell: Head of Charging Frontier

Technology progress

Time: 10.30—12.30

A strong freight sector is essential to the Australian economy as it supports the success of all other sectors. As such, challenges faced by Freight and its component businesses have a large national impact, and this includes the emissions challenge. The need to become more sustainable is growing and each organisation will have their own pathway. This session will lay out some of the current and future drivers for change and discuss how businesses can adopt new ways of operating that will deliver on sustainability objectives that can also complement other business goals such as safety and efficiency.

Speakers:

• Ishra Baksh (moderator): Executive Director (Strategic Insights and Transformation), Department of Transport and Main Roads Queensland
• Rainer Knobloch: Co-founder, New Volt
• John Morris: Technical Director, Aimsun
• Professor Moe Wynn: QUT
• Ian Christensen: Managing Director, iMOVE
• Leon Daniels OBE: President, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK
• Brayden Soo: Manager Freight and Supply Chain, National Heavy Vehicle Regulator

Towards sustainable freight: Successful businesses = a successful sector

Time: 13.00—14.30

A strong freight sector is essential to the Australian economy as it supports the success of all other sectors. As such, challenges faced by Freight and its component businesses have a large national impact, and this includes the emissions challenge. The need to become more sustainable is growing and each organisation will have their own pathway. This session will lay out some of the current and future drivers for change and discuss how businesses can adopt new ways of operating that will deliver on sustainability objectives that can also complement other business goals such as safety and efficiency.

Speakers:

• Dr Hadi Ghaderi (moderator): Professor, Swinburne University of Technology
• Stephanie Callaghan: General Manager – Strategic Business Development, Toll Group
• Dr Robin Smit: Director and Principal Research Consultant, Transport Energy/Emission Research (TER)
• Kevin Kane: Senior Manager of Sustainability and Environment, North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation
• Samuel Marks: Head of Policy, NatRoads
• Simon Roycroft: Manager – Future Fuels, Refuelling Solutions
• Mark Gjerek: Founder and Director, Mov3ment

A way forward: Co-operating towards freight goals

Time: 14.30—15.00

Speaker:

• Lee-Ann Breger: Bid Lead, Future Freight CRC

Cooperative research has proved itself time and again as an effective way to apply industry vision and R&D expertise for the benefit of a sector and its component companies. Cooperative Research Centres are an integral part of this landscape, and offer a unique way for organisations to capture benefits of collaborating on R&D while respecting individual business needs.

Based on conversations we are having, the freight sector badly needs proof, trials, demos, prototypes and more to move forward and achieve its efficiency and sustainability goals. A Future Freight CRC will secure government funding and use the power of collaboration to deliver this as both company and sector levels.

This session will showcase how this model can work for the Freight sector and invite suggestions and questions from the audience to further develop the proposition to government.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Rainer Knobloch: Co-founder, New Volt

Rainer is a co-founder & COO of NewVolt, and leads strategy & operations in NewVolt’s mission to build a national network of charging infrastructure for electric trucks in Australia. With over 20 years of experience, Rainer specialises in scaling technology and tech-related initiatives to solve challenges and transform organisations.

With exposure to a wide range of verticals, from multinationals, to advertising, theme park infrastructure, broadcasting & digital streaming, Rainer has led large scale technology initiatives in Europe, Asia and Australia, for a range of organisations including McDonald’s Global Technology Team, and SBS Australia. Rainer is driven by finding technological and commercial solutions to the decarbonisation challenges of the world today.

John Morris: Technical Director, Aimsun

John is a transport engineer with more than 35 years’ experience in strategic transport planning, demand analysis, modelling and advisory across many facets of transport. His career has bridged consulting and software, providing solutions and support for clients in Australia and worldwide.  At Aimsun, John brings this expertise to support clients and teams in the application of the platform and its future development.

His experience covers passenger, freight and active travel and transport, travel behaviour modelling, network and corridor planning, patronage forecasts and public transport system design, traffic forecasts and impact assessment, economic evaluation, modelling interaction of land use, transport and environment, analysis of port and intermodal operations, planning for major events, risk assessment, survey design, model estimation, training and advice on practice guidance and peer review.

He has pioneered innovation in commodity-based approaches to estimating the demand for goods movement aligned with national and regional accounts for production and consumption, interstate and international trade.

Professor Moe Wynn: QUT

Professor Wynn leads the Process Science Academic Program (formerly Business Process Management) and is the Academic Lead of Research for the School of Information Systems, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia. She co-leads the Data for Discovery Program within QUT’s Centre for Data Science. She has extensive knowledge of information systems, data architecture, data quality, workflow technologies and process-oriented data mining. She was a Vice-Chair and one of the steering committee members of the IEEE Taskforce on Process Mining (2019 – 2023). She now serves as a member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts (2023 – 2025).

Moe has secured AUD 6+ million in grant funding from 26 research projects as co-chief investigator. Her research expertise is recognised in her 150+ refereed papers, including 45+ journal articles (Google h-index:41; citations:8000+), and a Scopus h-index of 30, 3 Sep 2024. She has over fifteen years of experience in conducting applied data-driven research across multiple Australian sectors engaging with logistics, healthcare, insurance, utility, education, government, mining, and agri-food supply chains.

She was the project leader for the ‘Truck Movement Data – Technology Review and Policy Options Roadmap’ project funded by ImoveCRC (2023 – 2024).

Ian Christensen: Managing Director, iMOVE

Ian is a passionate and experienced practitioner in innovation and collaboration, and these were the driving motivators behind his initiative to establish the iMOVE Co-operative Research Centre. He has spent most of his working life developing and delivering innovation in real-world environments, with particular achievements in manufacturing, biotechnology, and transport.

His leadership of iMOVE draws on sixteen years of experience in managing multi stakeholder collaborations and over forty years of activity in technology innovation.

Ian is interested in a wide range of subject matter and creates value by identifying useful connections. He has a Bachelors degree in science and an MBA, and is the inventor on two families of patents.

Read Ian’s collection of thoughtpiece articles on iMOVE’s Ian Chistensen author page.

Leon Daniels OBE: President, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK

Possessing an exceptional record of delivery and performance at the highest level of private and public sector organisations, Leon Daniels is recognised for his world-class experience, expertise and knowledge of public sector transport in the UK, Europe and Far East.

With extensive knowledge and experience of traffic and streets management, bus transport, urban rail, cycling, road safety, river operations, the taxi and private hire industry, policing and enforcement, highway engineering and major project delivery, Leon works at the highest level of central and local Government in UK and with Governments and agencies overseas.

Until his retirement from Transport for London in December 2017 and working with two London Mayors, Leon brought his unique range of in-depth-skill and experience to his role as Managing Director, Surface Transport at Transport for London, with responsibility for delivery of all £4bn of road, light rail and transport services and all major, civil engineering infrastructure projects in the capital.

He was responsible for the successful delivery of transport during the ‘most successful public transport games ever’ in London 2012, applying his hands-on operational experience and policy-making and implementation skills. Since then, Leon has been responsible for numerous major events in London such as RideLondon, London Marathon etc and has also been in charge during unexpected major incidents.

Prior to joining TfL, in 1998 Leon had sold his own venture-capital backed business to a FTSE 100, multinational transport business, creating the largest and most profitable operating unit within this £3bn turnover organisation. As Commercial Director UK Bus, he had responsibility for the Group’s Business Development including new ventures such as Aircoach, Greyhound, Yellow School Bus in UK, its pioneering bus/tram project ‘ftr’ and for delivering coach and bus services across the UK and internationally.

Leon continues to make a significant contribution to the progress of global thinking on road and vehicle safety, efficiencies, the social effects of autonomous vehicles and technical developments generally on road and rail. He also champions those under-represented in transport by background, culture and gender to ensure that future transport leaders will more adequately represent the diversity of the passengers carried and the staff employed.

He is Chairman of RATPDEV UK, the global transport operator’s UK business; Chairman of Thames Clippers, the fast passenger catamaran service on the River Thames; and Chair of GoMetro – a software and telematics business.

He was awarded the OBE in the 2018 New Year’s Honours list.

Find out more about Leon in this interview we conducted with him, Leon Daniels OBE: From on the buses to the Olympics.

Brayden Soo: Manager Freight and Supply Chain, National Heavy Vehicle Regulator

Brayden is the Manager, Freight and Supply Chain at the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR), and has over 10 years’ experience in transport, infrastructure and heavy vehicles. He is passionate about using a strong evidence-base to create safety, productivity and sustainability outcomes for industry, government and the community.

At the NHVR, his team leads externally facing research and projects, such as the NHVR Heavy Vehicle Productivity Plan 2024-2029, innovative tools to demystify the impacts of heavy vehicles and to raise awareness of the long-term effects of road freight activity and vehicle choice, and economic analysis underpinning regulatory and operational reform for heavy vehicle access and productivity.

His key achievements at the NHVR include delivery of Australia’s first national access instrument for heavy agricultural vehicles, eliminating over 80 per cent of permit requirements for industry; and releasing the NHVR’s Freight PASS and Pavement Impact Comparison Calculator tools.

Brayden previously worked for the Brisbane City Council, with diverse responsibilities such as coordinating engineering assessments for more than 5,000 heavy vehicle access requests, updating the planning scheme and infrastructure design policies, and developing Brisbane’s first integrated Local Government Infrastructure Plan, comprising more than 400 future projects.

Stephanie Callaghan: General Manager – Strategic Business Development, Toll Group

Stephanie is a strategic executive with 20+ years experience in leadership roles within the transport, logistics, construction, and manufacturing sectors.

She has an exceptional track record in building long-term innovative customer partnerships, driving new commercial growth, continuous improvement, and innovative thinking.

Dr Robin Smit: Director and Principal Research Consultant, Transport Energy/Emission Research (TER)

Dr Robin Smit is a Director and Principal Research Consultant at Transport Energy/Emission Research (TER) and an Adjunct Professor with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He has almost 30 years work experience in emission, air pollution and climate projects in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Middle East.

His passion is to understand the complex area of transport emissions using in-depth analysis and statistical methods, and to make independent, impartial and evidence-based information available to everyone.

Kevin Kane: Senior Manager of Sustainability and Environment, North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation

Kevin is a respected leader in sustainability and environmental stewardship, with extensive experience driving innovative solutions and nurturing sustainable practices. As the Senior Manager of Sustainability and Environment at North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation (NQBP), Kevin has led numerous programs that integrate environmental sustainability with industry operations, setting new standards for corporate responsibility. Kevin’s global influence is highlighted by his co-chairing of an international working group that developed a best practice guideline on environmental risk management.

Beyond NQBP, Kevin is a Non-Executive Director of several natural resource management organisations, including Reef Catchments and serves as an adjunct Associate Professor at James Cook University, bridging research with practical applications. His commitment to sustainability is evident in both his professional achievements and personal passion for environmental protection and stewardship.

Sam Marks: Head of Policy, NatRoads

Sam is the Head of Policy for the National Road Transport Association (NatRoad) and has over 17 years experience in public policy and government relations.

He leads NatRoad’s work on road freight decarbonisation, which includes policy and advocacy, and the development of practical guidance for road freight businesses on emissions reduction. He is also experienced in policy and advocacy on road freight, transport infrastructure, heavy vehicle regulation, workforce, road pricing and road safety. Sam previously led sustainability policy for the Australian Trucking Association.

He has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning, a Bachelor of Arts in Policy Studies, and is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia.

Simon Roycroft: Manager – Future Fuels, Refuelling Solutions

Simon Roycroft is the Manager Future Fuels at Refuelling Solutions, and also serves as the Chair of the Cleaner Fuels Alliance at Bioenergy Australia

Simon has extensive experience in multiple industries, such as media, FMCG & energy. He leads initiatives in the energy sector to develop and implement sustainable fuel solutions with a particular emphasis on capacity for this emerging industry to stimulate regional economic growth and demonstrably improve Australia’s fuel security.

Mark Gjerek: Founder and Director, Mov3ment

Mark is the founder of MOV3MENT Consulting, whose mission is to accelerate adoption of low carbon, low pollution vehicles and fuels. Mark started his career in the auto industry; switched to government working on business sustainability programs; and has spent over a decade advising on projects and programs to reduce transport emissions. His team is currently working on electric vehicle transitions strategies for buses and trucks and council fleets, trials of electric and biofuel buses, and helping vehicle manufacturers with their product strategies for Australia.

Lee-Ann Breger: Bid Lead, Future Freight CRC

Lee-Ann has over 20 years’ experience across diverse industries in New Zealand and Australia, specialising in supporting partnerships and collaboration that delivers value, and the deployment of transformational technologies.

She has had roles in public health, health insurance, transport and research, at such organisations as the Capital Markets CRC, Medibank, Australia Post, Auckland District Health Board, Auckland Regional Public Health Service, and most recently the Digital Health CRC.Lee-Ann is also right now applying her experience and skillset to a bid for a new Co-Operative Research Centre, the Future Freight CRC