[IPIC 2026 Webinar III] Artificial Intelligence Applications for the Physical Internet

In collaboration with ALICE and the EU-funded project IKIGAI, KEDGE Business School is organising a webinar to explore how data-driven decision-making and artificial intelligence can support Physical Internet systems.

This webinar introduces a unified, data-driven framework for multi-tier urban logistics districting, designed to operationalize Physical Internet principles in complex city environments. Focusing on the convergence of spatial analysis, operations research, and machine learning, it explores how heterogeneous open data can be transformed into actionable and transparent territorial designs. The session demonstrates how to build scalable and reproducible logistics networks and highlights how this open-data approach provides the analytical foundation necessary for dynamic, collaborative, and resilient city logistics.

The webinar also explores how artificial intelligence can support more adaptive and responsive Physical Internet systems. Focusing on collaborative urban logistics, it examines how learning-based and context-aware decision models can help determine when collaboration should be activated, how much openness should be allowed, and how shared operations can remain feasible in practice. Through a two-level framework combining contextual intelligence and operational coordination, the session shows how AI can support smarter, data-informed, and dynamically governed collaboration.

Key topics include:

• Multi-tier urban logistics districting
• Spatial analysis, operations research, and machine learning
• Use of heterogeneous open data for territorial design
• Context-aware decision models in collaborative urban logistics
• Adaptive and responsive Physical Internet systems

• Tianyuan Zhang is an Assistant Professor in Data Science and Business Analytics at KEDGE Business School and contributes to the Center of Excellence in Supply Chain Innovation and Transportation (CESIT).
• Nafe Moradkhani is an Assistant Professor in Operations and Supply Chain Management at KEDGE Business School, Bordeaux and contributes to the Center of Excellence in Supply Chain Innovation and Transportation (CESIT).

AGENDA

• Welcome and introduction by Pablo Segura, Project Manager at ALICE
• From Open Data to Multi-Tier Districting: A Unified Framework for Urban Logistics Planning by Tianyuan Zhang, Assistant Professor at KEDGE Business School
  • Presenting a data-driven framework that integrates spatial clustering, graph-based network partitioning, and multi-criteria optimisation to design scalable and reproducible urban logistics networks based on open data.
• AI for Adaptive and Collaborative Urban Logistics by Nafe Moradkhani, Assistant Professor at KEDGE Business School
  • Exploring how learning-based and context-aware decision models can support adaptive collaboration, enabling dynamic and data-informed coordination in Physical Internet systems.
• Q&A and closing

IKIGAI has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101202912. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.