In this first autumn edition of ‘Meet the Expert’ series, we explore some very insightful stories from Wolfgang Höfs, Senior Advisor and Chief Rapporteur for the ITS World Congress in Dubai. His remarkable journey, marking over 30 years of experience, takes us back to his first encounter with the transport and mobility sector.
Wolfgang has contributed to advancing the digitalisation of transport, starting from his time in the European Commission to global influence across the regions through the Programme Committees for the ITS Congresses, and now, as an active contributor to the Congress Programme. In this interview, Wolfgang reflects on his career, and his current role, providing insights into the evolution of transport and mobility. He also ends with a glimpse into what he is looking forward to at the upcoming ITS World Congress in Dubai, 16-20 September 2024.
Your impressive professional credentials include public and private sector roles in the ICT and Mobility fields. Could you tell us a little bit about your past tenure at the European Commission, and how it relates to your interest in ITS and the digitalisation of transport in general?
When I look back at my career, there are two or three key elements that have shaped my journey. My background is in computer science, with a Master of Science degree, and I also studied business administration. This combination of technical and commercial expertise has been crucial in my roles. I started my career in software development, focusing on logistics, which naturally aligned with the transport sector.
When I joined the European Commission in 2001, it was not something I had planned. I passed the concours almost as a personal challenge, not expecting it to lead to 17 years in Brussels. But it turned out to be a perfect fit, allowing me to merge my IT background with the Commission’s focus on transport and digitalisation. My colleagues were mostly transport engineers, so when I brought my IT expertise, we made a great team and complemented each other’s knowledge. During this time, I worked on various projects related to Intelligent Transport Systems, particularly those that integrated digital technologies into transport systems. This work has always been motivated by a desire to make a real impact on road safety and, more recently, to contribute to the development of smarter cities.
How have you channelled this expertise into your current role as ERTICO Senior Advisor and Chief Rapporteur to the ITS Congresses?
To start, my involvement at the ITS Congresses goes back quite a few years, the first one in 2002. Now, I joined as a Senior Advisor to ERTICO in early 2023, and my main focus has been on advising on the Congress Programme. At first, I was supporting Eric Sampson, whom I have known for more than 20 years. We worked side by side to develop the programme for the 2023 ITS European Congress in Lisbon. Of course, this was also done with the work of the Congress team at ERTICO.
The role as such involves a lot of behind-the-scenes work, from helping design the programme to selecting speakers and ensuring everything runs smoothly. My experience with previous Congresses has been invaluable here. Being Chief Rapporteur also gives me the responsibility of overseeing the Congress reporting, which is a crucial part of capturing and sharing the outcomes of the event.
Touching upon your current role, can we look back at the time you acted as Special Advisor for Smart Mobility and Digitalisation at New Mobility Solutions Hamburg GmbH, which was formerly ITS Hamburg – the Host of the ITS World Congress in 2021. Could you tell us more about this experience and if there are any particular links to the Dubai preparations?
Working at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg in 2021 was a unique experience, especially because it happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation required a lot of flexibility and quick thinking, particularly when it came to communication. My role was to help smooth out any challenges, drawing on my long-standing relationships within the industry.
This experience has also been incredibly valuable as we prepare for the upcoming ITS World Congress in Dubai. While the context is different—Dubai presents its own unique challenges—there are similarities in the need for careful planning and strong collaboration. Both Hamburg and Dubai have taught me that no two Congresses are the same, and each requires its own tailored approach.
This year’s Programme development, like any other Congress Programme, is like solving a puzzle—bringing together all the different elements, from session proposals to speaker coordination. It is a dynamic process, and it requires a lot of flexibility and quick problem-solving. The programme for the ITS World Congress in Dubai has been particularly interesting to navigate, and I am really looking forward to all the presentations during the five days.
Taking a step back, you have been participating at the ITS Congresses for many years as you touched upon earlier, and also supporting the Programme Committees. Could you tell us more about your involvement, and how your active contribution has evolved over time?
Taking a step back, I want to highlight some particular events and evolvement of the discussions before deep diving into the upcoming ITS World Congress in Dubai. Since my first involvement in the ITS Congresses, I have been participating and contributing to many in different functions and roles. At the time, there was a greater emphasis on the key elements to develop and advance cars, more into the manufacturing aspects which had great potential. We see these innovations in deployment today. These came from digital elements, such as LiDAR and ADAS to name a few. The Commission placed this high on the agenda and we see that they have a real impact on road safety.
Later on, the discussions during the ITS Congresses shifted towards a focus on cities, moving away from optimising cars and looking at the complete eco-system of mobility which incorporates all elements. Communication became a very important element of this. If we look back to the ITS World Congress in Stockholm 2009, there was a great emphasis on the communication between cars and infrastructures, but also traffic management and data. These were the early stages of what we see deployed today, mainly focusing on the research aspects. A few years later, at the ITS World Congress in Vienna 2012, these developments were brought to light from the research perspective to live demonstrations on the streets.
Coming back to my involvement with the Programme Committee, since 2004, my role has evolved. Now as a Senior Advisor to ERTICO, my work is more influential. I am involved in shaping the overall design of the programme, which starts with the Call for Contributions. This is the application process which opens the doors for proposal submissions on Special Interest Sessions (SIS) and Strategic Future Sessions (SFS), but also Technical and Research Papers. ERTICO collects these applications, and we then refine them with input from the Programme Committee. Once the selection process has been completed, we draft the Programme at a Glance, providing an overview of how the different sessions will take place throughout the week.
Now, having gone through these important pre-preparation elements, another important task in my role is the final Congress Report. This report is developed with the support of rapporteurs, and experts from all over the world, who attend the sessions and demonstrations. They gather some of the key insight and we meet together to compose the main highlights of the report which will be published a little more than a month after the Congress. A glimpse of this report and the main highlights of the event will already be presented in my final remarks during the Closing Ceremony.
As you point out, the Congress Programme has always been very comprehensive and carefully designed – like a puzzle, what can attendees expect this year in Dubai? And what are you looking forward to the most?
This year’s ITS World Congress in Dubai is shaping up to be quite exciting. One of the key topics that I believe will be of particular interest to many is Artificial Intelligence—specifically, whether it is living up to the expectations we have set for it. It also comes very timely following the adoption of the European Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). There will be many insightful presentations and open discussions around this topic.
A second topic, Innovation in Mobility and Logistics, will also gain a stronger focus. Going back to what I mentioned before about the evolvement of transport and mobility, we are now moving more towards sustainability. Safety is still an issue, but there is a greater emphasis today on how can we achieve sustainability whilst looking at the next generations, how can we fulfil the expectations of younger people?
In view of climate change, sustainability allows us to move the conversation from transport to broader concepts of mobility. We have seen this trend for the last couple of years, and now we are looking at transport and mobility holistically. In this regard, we also see more traction towards discussions on micromobility, another hot topic, especially given the challenges it presents in urban environments.
Finally, what I find particularly interesting about Dubai, is that it is the first European-organised World Congress outside Europe. This brings a unique perspective and an opportunity to compare developments across different regions. Personally, I am looking forward to seeing how these discussions unfold and what new ideas and innovations will emerge.
Get more insight into the forecast of the ITS World Congress in Dubai and Wolfgang’s expectations of this unique event in this article.
