On 30–31 March 2026, SMARTIN partners gathered at ERTICO’s offices in Brussels for the project’s second in-person General Assembly. The meeting combined progress updates with two interactive workshops designed to actively engage partners, strengthen collaboration and move key activities forward. Bringing together technical discussions, co-creation insights and hands-on sessions, the meeting provided a valuable opportunity to align on progress, exchange perspectives and collectively shape the next phase of the project.
Day 1: Project Updates and Communication Strategy
The General Assembly opened with a welcome and introduction by the Coordinator, Anaïs Baudrier (ERTICO), setting the stage for a day and a half of technical discussions and collaborative exchanges. The first session focused on WP1, covering key aspects of project coordination, quality and risk management, and data governance, providing a comprehensive overview of the project’s current status and ensuring alignment across the consortium. This was followed by updates on communication and dissemination activities, governance and capacity building, and future exploitation pathways.
A highlight of Day 1 was the interactive workshop on “Designing a local communication strategy”. Partners worked in pilot groups to develop tailored approaches for communicating SMARTIN at the local level.
Each group worked on:
- Defining a core message for their pilot
- Identifying key stakeholders and assessing engagement complexity
- Selecting relevant communication tools and channels
- Refining messages based on stakeholder type, engagement level and communication channels
This hands-on session helped partners move from project-level objectives to concrete, locally tailored communication actions, building a shared understanding of how to craft messages that resonate in each pilot city and strengthening the overall strategy for SMARTIN’s outreach and visibility across Europe.
Day 2: Technical Progress and Pilot Alignment
The second day opened with technical sessions covering progress across the project’s core work packages. Partners discussed the development of the infrastructure performance assessment framework and the architecture of SMARTIN’s integrated data platform, alongside updates on tools for infrastructure monitoring, predictive maintenance and digital twin development. Progress was also shared on solutions for real-time traffic and mobility management – including incident detection, traffic flow optimisation and dynamic dashboards – as well as advances in multimodal planning, dynamic lane management and demand prediction tools.
Across all sessions, particular attention was given to how the different components come together into a coherent system, and to ensuring that technical developments remain aligned with the real-world needs of each pilot.
The afternoon workshop brought together all pilots to reflect on the outcomes of their co-creation activities and move towards implementation.
Through interactive discussions and live input, partners:
- Shared key insights and lessons learned from stakeholder engagement
- Reflected on challenges and evolving pilot needs
- Identified relevant data and outputs to support implementation
- Explored synergies and collaboration opportunities across pilots
The session played a crucial role in aligning priorities and ensuring readiness for the next phase, bridging the gap between planning and real-world deployment.
The General Assembly concluded with a summary of key takeaways, alignment on next steps, and a look ahead to upcoming meetings and milestones. With strong progress across technical development, co-creation and dissemination activities, SMARTIN continues to advance towards its goal of delivering smart, data-driven and user-centric solutions for more accessible, resilient and sustainable transport infrastructure across Europe.
