Transport Economic Centre has within the EU project CASTLE and in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport of Republic of Slovenia on 2nd of March 2011 successfully organized the second CASTLE Regional logistics forum entitled "Research and Development Transport Priorities in Slovenia". The purpose of the forum was to continue with the active dialog established on first logistics forum, between business organisations, policy makers and R&D organisations in the field of transport in Slovenia.

In the welcome speech dr. Stane Božičnik, head of TEC, has briefly presented the CASTLE project. Latter on his presentation was focused on Logistics Competence Centres (LoCC) and possible services and solutions that such centre may offer to its potential users. He was followed by dr. Igor Jakomin, State Secretary at the Ministry of Transport. Dr. Jakomin has presented the program of the Ministry of Transport, entitled "Slovenia, as a logistic platform for Central and Southeast Europe".

The focal part of the Forum was dedicated to Logistics Competence Centres: presentations of experiences with LoCCs in EU (»OpenENLOCC«) and to open discussion about the needs and opportunities for setting up the LoCC in Slovenia.

Alberto Preti, director of the Institute for Transport and Logistics in Bologna, Italy, shared his experiences with LoCCs in Italy and gave examples of good practices of LoCCs across Europe. The presentation has provoked a discussion on concepts, functions and possibilities of implementing the LoCC concept in Slovenia. The idea of LoCC in Slovenia was supported by dr. Jakomin, who has additionally pointed out the potential obstacles that might hinder implementation of LoCC in Slovenia.

The afternoon session was devoted to presentations of R&D needs and opportunities identified by the Ministry of Transport. These were presented by dr. Janez Požar, Director-General of Maritime directorate, and mag. Sašo Murtič, Secretary at the Civil Aviation Directorate. The workshop was concluded with a round table where participants made an effort to identify potential project proposals.