Ben Kraaijenhagen

Grown up with trucks and transport of freight and in business since mid-1982. Over the past 40 years, he worked for 4 European OEM´s, building up expertise in the mobility and transport industry in many countries worldwide. He has an in-depth expertise in trend analysis, the creation of scenarios, product stewardship, mobility and logistics and public funding programs.

Since mid-2011, he is engaged in many platforms and associations, e.g., ALICE, ERTRAC, HVTT, Metropolregion Munich, EUCAR, ACEA, and EIT KIC UM to shape the future of a sustainable and competitive Europe. In 2019 his engagement was granted by the Physical Internet Building Blocks Award.

He was the initiator and project leader of the project AEROFLEX, AEROdynamic and FLEXible trucks for the next generation of long-haul freight trucks in Europe. An EU flagship project, funded by Horizon 2020 Oct 2017 till Sept 2021. 24 partners out of 7 European countries and Turkey supported by a Sounding Board counting 70 members. All from the industry, the logistics and transport sector, research institutes, associations, authorities, and policymakers.
In close collaboration with the Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium, he initiated a follow up project focusing on Zero Emission flexible vehicle platforms with modular powertrains serving the long-haul Freight Eco System, ZEFES. Appointed at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel he will act as technical coordinator project ZEFES January 2023 onwards.

Early 2017 he got involved in the EIT KIC Urban Mobility Community, a consortium of 48 partners, being cities, academia, and Industry, working towards livable urban spaces for our European cities and beyond. Together with the interim team, he brought this KIC to live and supported them over a period of 3 years.

His vision is sustainable mobility for freight and people, being efficient, affordable, open technology minded with minimum negative impact on the environment, health, safety, and society.To achieve this, he is convinced that we need a paradigm shift in our thinking and ways of doing daily business.

Since 2020, he successfully acts as an independent consultant and is more than happy to support the academia, industry, and communities to face these challenges and turn them into real projects.