MATAVA – Rural freight transport

MATAVA – Rural freight transport – the project focuses on studying the challenges of the sparsely populated areas of Northern Ostrobotnia in the process of transporting goods and finding sustainable business solutions for them. The project is done in cooperation with Ii Micropolis, the University of Oulu and Centria University of Applied Science, as well as the companies in the area. Some of the freight transport pilots are carried out with drones.

The goal of the MATAVA project is to find solutions to freight transport challenges in a rural area so that the level and speed of services better meet the needs of the area. With the development, transportation solutions that save fuel consumption, costs, workload, and climate load will become available.

The goal is also to create cooperation between municipalities, companies and residents, as well as transport organizations. By making transportation more efficient, opportunities can be created for new types of service companies to operate as part of the transportation sector. Means can be, for example, mass freight transport, transport by self-driving vehicles, and the combination of transport by municipalities, companies and residents.

Logistics improvements are aimed at lower transport costs, fuel and equipment costs, and a amount of work required by transport, which saves, for example, the working time of entrepreneurs. In this case, the emission caused by transport will also increase. When transport works well, the competitiveness, operating and location conditions of the companies in the area improve.

The project solves the transport problems of companies, society and residents of the area, for which appropriate cooperation and business models are developed, as well as technical solutions utilizing digitalization. The functionality of solutions is tested with partners in the form of pilots. The project investigates which business models are sustainable when utilizing drone technology.

The MATAVA project is co-financed by the European Union. Other financers are city of Pudasjärvi, the municipality of Liminka, and the implementing organizations.

The project is implemented in cooperation with Ii Micropolis, University of Oulu, Centria University of Applied Science and Oulu University of Applied Science.