A total of 571 students from 26 countries seized the opportunity to develop new ideas for the logistics industry. The winners will be given an opportunity to further develop their concepts during a paid internship with the respective company, reports Linde Material Handling , which is supporting the initiative.

Award winners included the concept of a robot that can autonomously take the plastic wrapping off palletized goods. 600 million such pallets are processed each year in France alone, this idea's country of origin. Although the outer packaging is necessary, it offers little added value, according to the two young developers, Dimitri Mathon and Charles Elloy. No cobot is yet capable of automatically removing the plastic film. The two students expect their idea will both save time and reduce the physical work required.

The E-Truck Net project from Spain aims to optimize long-haul transport capacity using a network of autonomous electric trucks. They should also be able to plan loading and unloading independently. Ángel Lorente Rogel's long-term goal is to start a business offering intelligent software solutions for an efficient European truck transport network.

The award ceremony will be held in Belgium on September 14. There will also be an audience award: votes for the winner of the "TrendSpotter Award" can be cast until September 10.