Highlights from the Opening Ceremony of the 19th ITS World Congress

The 19th ITS World Congress kicked off on Monday 22 October with a beautiful opening ceremony and high level keynote addresses. Read on for a flavour of the proceedings…

Doris Bures Austrian Federal Minister for Transport Innovation and Technology welcomed delegates drawing attention to the charms and delights of Vienna consistently ranked one of best cities to live – and how has this been achieved? Minister Bures highlighted one important aspect that “more trips are made using public transport than cars” contributing to a better quality of life with less congestion less pollution and more efficient travelling.

Doris Bures Austrian Federal Minister for Transport Innovation and Technology “The answer can’t be to build more roads – rather we must develop new transport technologies“

“ITS can do more than save lives it can also reduce environmental burdens reduce congestion and so on“

“My expectations of the Congress are that it will bring additional impetus to the very dynamic development of ITS”

Siim Kallas Vice-President and Commissioner responsible for Transport Siim Kallas Vice-President and Commissioner responsible for Transport thanked ERTICO and the Austrian hosts for all their work in putting the Congress together and paid tribute to the many demonstrations clearly showing that the potential of ITS to mitigate the negative impacts of transport is already here and available. Speaking more generally Vice-President Kallas underlined that the challenge now was to combine the many different national and European research projects into a coherent whole so that ITS could be deployed in a seamless manner. the full speech can be read here.

Jean Mesqui Chairman of the ERTICO supervisory board

Jean Mesqui Chairman of the ERTICO supervisory board thanked Vice-President Kallas and Minister Bures for their patronage and for the ministerial round table “it is a huge success to have it here with 13 Ministers 5 Vice-Ministers and 15 high level political leaders coming together to develop recommendations for improving international cooperation”

Mr Mesqui reminded the audience of the aim of the Congress “five days sharing energy competences motivation and good will to move ITS forward – why? The iMobility Forum estimates that between 2011 and 2020 the deployment of ITS can reduce road fatalities by 30% meaning 10000 lives saved can reduce serious injuries by 30% lessen congestion by 15% and increase energy efficiency by 20%”

Mr Mesqui emphasised that we all share the common goal to make these estimates come true and the way to do so was interoperable secure and reliable ITS with viable business models for industry and consumers alike.

Echoing Vice-President Kallas Mr Mesqui said “ERTICO has many projects and initiatives to achieve this common goal – time now to bring them together in cooperation with the European Commission“

Yasuhiko Wakai Parliamentary Vice-Minister Ministry of Land Infrastructure Transport and Tourism Yasuhiko Wakai Parliamentary Vice-Minister Ministry of Land Infrastructure Transport and Tourism Japan expressed his sincere congratulations on the opening of the Congress emphasising that “transport systems are an indispensible part of modern society”. Mr Wakai highlighted the potential of ITS as a solution to common challenges. Mr Wakai invited delegates to the 20th ITS World Congress in Tokyo in 2013. ITS Tokyo under the theme “open ITS to the next” will demonstrate how ITS is entering a new phase that will accurately reflect the mobility needs and desires of the of next generation.

“Traffic accidents and congestion have been the focus up to now – that will change”

Peter Sweatman Chairman of ITS America

Peter Sweatman Chairman of ITS America congratulated the organisers of the Vienna Congress and underlining that attending this year was one of largest American delegations at a Congress outside of the US. “We are coming together strongly to promote the deployment of ITS in all regions” Mr Sweatman underlined pointing out that the theme of the 18th ITS World Congress at Orlando “keeping the economy moving” lent itself nicely to this year’s theme of ” smarter on the way”. Mr Sweatman said that he particularly looked forward to exchanging ideas with peers from Asia and Europe.

“the beauty of Vienna is timeless – but we can’t let the deployment of ITS be likewise – time is of the essence“

Link to original Article

http://www.ertico.com/highlights-from-the-opening-ceremony-of-the-19th-its-world-congress/

Original Publication Date: Wed 24 Oct 2012