ERTICO – ITS Europe, organizers of last week’s 12th ITS European Congress in partnership with the European Commission (EC), has hailed the event “the most successful so far”, with a record of over 2,500 people attending, 952 delegates, 110 exhibitors, and over 50 countries represented.
Hosted by the City and Eurometropolis of Strasbourg in France, and with the theme of ‘ITS Beyond Borders’, the Congress provided a week full of events, sessions, and networking opportunities for all those participating.
The opening day gave substantial exposure to new technology applications due to the ‘Start-up Boulevard and Innovative Companies’ initiative, where students, startups and SMEs had the opportunity to present their projects in the European Transport Innovation Challenge and the 12 winners pitched their ideas to EC representatives.
The topics varied from news transport applications and services; futuristic services for moving people and goods in cities; services for people with reduced mobility; robotic delivery and street cleaning platforms; and parking, railway and cycling services.
The main program of the Congress included three Plenary and six Executive Sessions with internationally-renowned speakers and over 90 Special, International, Technical, Scientific, Project and Commercial Sessions covering seven topics. The top three topics represented were: Connected and Automated Driving (41 sessions), Mobility Services (18 sessions), and Transport Network Evolution (17 sessions).
Some side events to the official program included the Energy Summit organized by four major French energy organizations (AFG, SER, UFE and UFIP); the 5G enabled Connected and Automated Driving workshop, which brought together different sectors to discuss the limits of a single network to meet the requirements of an evolving connected car market; and the EU Funding Workshop, organized by the EC to present the existing EU funding mechanism.
A highlight of this year was the second Mayor’s Summit, which gathered 23 major ‘mobility aware’ cities, the EC, the Investment Bank, and ERTICO – ITS Europe. The Summit focused on some broad topics, including low emission zones in cities; innovative solutions for urban logistics; and automated public transport.
A total of 110 organizations and private companies, including 23 ERTICO Partners, exhibited their latest products and services on a 5000m² exhibition area. The exhibition was well frequented and featured presentations on the different stands, demonstrations and cocktail receptions. ERTICO also had a large participation in the demonstration program, with three of the six live outdoor demonstrations showcasing its iHeERO, CO-GISTICS and MOBiNET projects.
