photo: Archive / Archive/VIDEO REPORT: Ljubljana Challenges and Opportunities for Railway Companies and Suppliers in the Post-Covid era Conference
RAILTARGET editorial team participated in the conference Challenges and Opportunities for Railway Companies and Suppliers in the Post-Covid period in Ljubljana at the end of June and beginning of July, where we were media partners of the event.
You might've followed our live coverage of the conference here. Here is a video report from the conference Challenges and Opportunities for Railway Companies and Suppliers in the Post-Covid era, which took place on 30 June in Ljubljana.
The main topics were challenges in the post-covid era. At that time, there was generally a disconnection of ties due to the inability to meet, and, therefore, the topics of networking or internationalization resonated more. The conference participants were thus very grateful for the opportunity to see each other again, so to speak, in person and to build interpersonal relationships that are important for business.
Modern technology as a competitiveness booster was also a crucial point of the conference. Veronica Elena Bocci (DITECFER) talked about this and about the concept of clusters in general, which serve as a support for small and medium-sized companies so they can establish themselves more easily on the market. It is not only about supporting the needs of the company but also organizing short working excursions for representatives of these companies. In this way, they have the opportunity to establish new business relationships. Marko Radović (RCSEE/BSN) presented a similar topic.
There was also the topic of alternative energy sources when Alex Burrows (University of Birmingham) presented the project of his department at the University of Birmingham (BCREE) - hydrogen-powered locomotives. These are no longer just in prototypes but in a mass-produced model that can reach speeds up to 120 km/h. They have also managed to reduce the overall size of the fuel cell, which currently weighs just 200kg. And development is continuing in the local department.
We'll stay with technology. Goražd Reberšark (ELPA) brought a captivating topic to the conference, namely the de-noising of lines together with the extension of their service life. It is all thanks to a specially developed lubricant by ELPA, which has a much higher solids ratio than the competition, making it completely unique. Find out more about this topic in the interview we have prepared for you.
Alex Berzokić (MIND Park) had an equally fascinating input, presenting the Serbian MIND Park project. It brings together large companies such as SIEMENS or IME-AUTOLIFT on its premises. The aim is to deliver the best solutions in the field of infrastructure, and further expansion of the site is planned in the future to create a science and technology park. It would then be the center of research in Serbia. MIND Park is then part of the MIND Group, which helps Serbian companies with their problems, be it security or IT, but above all, their creation. There is also cooperation with local universities.
Then there was a presentation by Franc Klobučar, representative of Slovenian Railways, who presented plans for Slovenian railways with many captivating projects. These include plans to build a corridor towards the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean to make it easier for the rest of Europe to have rail links to these regions. Slovenia could thus act as a kind of railway hub. He also highlighted the advantages of rail as such, especially its environmental aspect in the context of the Green Deal. The floor was also given to Andreja Mulec Bohinc (SPIRIT SLOVENIJA), representing the Slovenian public agency for entrepreneurship, internationalization, foreign investment, and technology promotion. Thus, the contribution was related to the Slovenian economy, especially its stability and export character. It appealed to the desire to have a modern and green Slovenian economy open to foreign investment.