The Conference is set to be a one-of-a-kind opportunity to gain insights, network with industry leaders, and contribute to the ongoing dialogue that shapes the future of postal and delivery services. With a tradition spanning over three decades, the Conference will celebrate its 32nd edition in 2024. This year's Conference marks a significant milestone in its history as it is organised in partnership with the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

This collaboration brings a new dimension to the Conference and aims at attracting even greater participation from key stakeholders in the global postal and delivery landscape. The UPU's involvement adds valuable expertise and insights to the discussions, enriching the academic content and fostering a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry.

To celebrate the start of this promising collaboration, this year's Conference will take place in Bern, at the UPU's premises.

About the Conference

A highly anticipated event, the Conference brings together various stakeholders from the policy, regulatory, and business communities in the postal and delivery sectors. One of its main strengths lies in the networking and interactive activities that complement the scientific sessions. As part of this, social events like the Gala Dinner are included in the program, and distinguished members from the European Commission and national authorities are invited to offer keynote speeches and participate in roundtable discussions. Typically, the event features around 35 to 40 papers and attracts 60-80 participants, in addition to the authors of the papers.

The Conference is an itinerant event that takes place in a different location every year (so far, we have had 27 editions in Europe, 2 in America, and 2 online) and has been attended by more than 4200 people since its inception.

Call for papers

Every year at the beginning of Autumn, a call for papers is launched to invite contributions from researchers and practitioners, including academic and research economists, postal administration staff, and express carriers' managers. The conference features contributions covering a wide range of topics, such as the evolution of postal regulation, strategic and logistical challenges of e-commerce, USPs (Universal Service Providers) and USOs (Universal Service Obligations), USO funding, the impact of Covid on posts and logistics, the parcels market, environmental sustainability challenges, pricing strategies, and innovation in postal and delivery services.

Following the Conference, authors are encouraged to submit their papers for consideration in a collective book published annually with Springer and edited by Professors Parcu, Brennan, and Glass. In 2023, two books were published:

• The Postal and Delivery Contribution in Hard Times, which comprises 21 papers presented at the 29th Conference in September 2021 (online).
• Postal Strategies: Logistics, Access, and the Environment, which consists of 27 papers presented at the 30th Conference in May 2022 in Rimini.

Innovation Challenge

The second edition of the UPU Innovation Challenge will take place in conjunction with the 32nd Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics. The Challenge aims to harness the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) to tackle some of the most pressing challenges and unlock new opportunities within the postal sector and beyond.

Participants will collaborate in an intensive problem-solving environment, utilising vast datasets to develop AI-driven solutions that enhance operational efficiency, improve customer service, and advance digital inclusion, sustainable practices and regulation in the area of postal services. They will have an opportunity to access unique postal, aviation, and international trade datasets, curated from an expansive archive of tens of billions of records through the UPU’s big data systems, and made available exclusively for the purpose of this event.

Conference supporters

The conference's success is made possible through the generous support of donors, and depending on their contributions, they are granted a number of fee-waived seats.

This year, the Conference is supported by Amazon, Ofcom, Poste Italiane, Swiss Post, La Poste, Copenhagen Economics, Frontier Economics, K&L Gates, and Cullen International.