inned

The European climate target requires a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by simultaneously increasing the share of renewable energies and energy efficiency. The transport sector accounts for nearly one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in Austria and is therefore of great importance in this respect. In addition to the retrofit of existing systems, new transport infrastructures and transport technologies have been developed in recent years providing less pollutant emissions and more energy efficiency, such as Hyperloop technologies, drones, freight-zeppelins and high-speed trains.

The integration of these transport systems into the existing transport network is not only a challenge from a technological point of view but also has spatial, social, economic and ecological impact on our habitat, which has not yet been explored. In order to integrate new technologies and (high-performance) infrastructure into the existing transport network, the prospective network design has to be examined as well as potential impacts and associated changes in agglomerations have to be estimated.

The one-year exploration “inned” funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (bmvit) in the research program “Mobilität der Zukunft” deals with the issues mentioned. Building on the likelihood of the realization of various transport infrastructures and transport technologies, which are depicted in scenarios, demand forecasting and the investigation on necessary corridors to ensure an efficient network is performed. Recommendations and FTI potentials form the conclusion of the study and lay the foundation for further research projects.

The interdisciplinary consortium consisting of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, the Traffic Systems Planning Department of the Vienna University of Technology, the University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna and the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria – Logistikum  Steyr provides the necessary pool of knowledge on transport networks, transport systems, spatial, societal, economic effects, market potentials, goods flows and logistics technologies.