Belgium will host Europe’s biggest sportainment park
The facility will be located in Hasselt and is set to welcome its first visitors this spring
Finland is the land of thousand lakes...and probably just as many hard to reach islands, Source: Depositphotos
The experiment is the first of its kind in the world and it aims to bring the news to island villages
Finland is the land of thousand lakes and some of these lakes have islands populated by communities. It’s pretty idyllic, but it is also a logistical nightmare when it comes to regular mail deliveries to such localities.
As a way to tackle this long-standing problem, a local logistics company has decided to try out a new solution, set to be launched next year (2023), mail delivery by drone. More specifically, the flying machines will bring in the daily newspapers, as these are the items that require the most regular delivery schedules.
The site for the experiment will be the island villages of Saarikylät to the southeast of the city of Tampere in the Pirkanmaa region. There are seven such villages located on different lake islands.
Markus Hohenthal is the CEO of Lentola Logistics, the company behind the pilot project. He told Yle news agency that the three-month trial is scheduled to begin in March. "We are trying out a new way of distributing to rural areas instead of by car. This is more cost-effective, faster and more environmentally friendly than the current way," he explained.
A survey of customers, carried out by the company, suggested that people are willing to pay extra if their newspaper arrives early and in their own yard. According to the company, this has not been tried anywhere else in the world.
The drones set to be used for the trial can carry a load of more than 3.5 kilos at a time, but will only carry a few newspapers at the start and will be restricted to distances of about 20 kilometres. They have the ability to fly at a speed of 80 km/h and the estimate is that it takes a minute to deliver each newspaper, however, the whole return trip would take about 20 minutes.
Still, there will be challenges, such as the freezing weather in winter. Nevertheless, the Media Industry Research Foundation of Finland is supporting the experiment with funding of 60,000 euros.
Citing concerns about humaneness, the legislation aims to discourage the proliferation of the so-called designer pet breeds
Naturally, many aren’t happy - not because of the reduced possibility for prayers, but because they felt it was an attack on welfare
The facility will be located in Hasselt and is set to welcome its first visitors this spring
Some autonomous shuttles in France are now doing their rounds without a human supervisor inside
Europe is striving to cut the costs of operating wind turbines on water
38,000 of these fellas help to purify the city air, so why not become friends with them?
2020 and 2021 were zero years for these types of events, but the break has not diminished its reputation
As Europe strives to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, Turku and Dijon are among a group of cities seeking to reach this goal two decades earlier
Some autonomous shuttles in France are now doing their rounds without a human supervisor inside
2020 and 2021 were zero years for these types of events, but the break has not diminished its reputation
Citing concerns about humaneness, the legislation aims to discourage the proliferation of the so-called designer pet breeds
The facility will be located in Hasselt and is set to welcome its first visitors this spring
The European Commission has published its first progress report charting the achievements of the socio-cultural movement that combines beauty, inclusion and sustainability
The 2023 edition of the creative initiative promises to be bigger, bolder and more inclusive
This initiative seeks to integrate the values of the New European Bauhaus into the European Commission’s 100 Cities Mission
Veni Markovski’s take on dealing with disinformation in the European Union's poorest country – Bulgaria
A conversation with the mayor of Utrecht on the occasion of her mission to COP27
A conversation with the President of the European Committee of the Regions, about energy, climate change and the underrated importance of cohesion policy