Results from a simulation experiment with top retailers Carrefour and Casino in France and their 100 top suppliers moving from actual practice to a “Physical Internet Model” showed a potential economic benefit of 32%, a 60% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and a potential of 50% of volume shifted from road to rail. Accelerating the Path Towards Physical Internet -SENSE- project strategic objective is to accelerate the path towards the Physical Internet (PI), so advanced pilot implementations of the PI concept are well functioning and extended in industry practice by 2030, and hence contributing to at least 30 % reduction in congestion, emissions and energy consumption. To that end, SENSE aims to increase the level of understanding of PI concept and the opportunities that brings to transport and logistics. By building stronger and wider support of industry, public bodies and research worlds towards the PI we may reach consensus and enable coordinated strategic public and private investments in research and innovation embracing Physical Internet that could lead us to a new much more efficient and sustainable paradigm. SENSE will: 1) enhance, and stabilize a solid framework for industry, research and public bodies to share advances, barriers, opportunities and best practices regarding Physical Internet implementation, 2) build awareness and raise wide consensus on the Detailed Roadmap towards the Physical Internet developed in the frame of the project, 3) Create The Reference Knowledge Platform so the Physical Internet Community has access to recent developments including: PI implementation cases assessment, industry programs and activities, related start-ups, research and innovation projects, public initiatives and programs and last, but not least, 4) assist and support Industry, European Commission, Member States and Regional Governments in the process of defining high impact research policies to fast track to Physical Internet.

The transport network is among the so-called Critical Infrastructures' (CIs), which are essential to maintaining the vital functions of the Single Market. While it is by nature a large-scale interconnected and interdependent system to efficiently move people and goods, its complexity also makes it more vulnerable in the event of a disruption and generates economic impact on a European scale. Due to the increasing cross-border interdependencies between services provided using critical infrastructures in these sectors, an interruption in one MS may have implications in other MS or in the Union as a whole. In December 2022, Council Recommendation 2023/C 20/01 suggested giving priority to four of the eleven sectors mentioned in the CER Directive, including transport. Although transport is recognised as a key sector to be protected, freight transport is underrepresented in terms of previous research projects. As supply chains become more complex and global, they rely more on logistics infrastructures that must be resilient to provide seamless transport. Since freight transport terminals are locations where goods are assembled and dispersed, they have always been a focus of security and safety concerns. The overarching objective of TRANSCEND is to provide freight transport critical infrastructure operators with an integrated set of advanced tools, guidelines and technological solutions to reduce risk, and enhance the protection and resilience of their critical infrastructure and interrelated critical infrastructures against physical, cyber and hybrid threats.​ The contributions will be integrated into a Control Tower, a digital platform with embedded business intelligence giving stakeholders a shared and continuous visibility of threats and risks by breaking down silos within and between organisations. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach, five diverse CIs will experiment methodological and technological solutions as pilots: three leaders and two followers.