Last week, a joint UK delegation from ITS UK, Transport for West Midlands, Innovate UK and the Connected Places Catapult attended the Virtual ITS European Congress. ‘This joint approach allowed us to have two virtual stands and take part in sessions both as audience members and speakers. This was an excellent way to hear from contacts old and new,’ says the delegation.

Useful to hear the views from around the world

‘For us in the West Midlands, it was great to see our colleague Prabs Johal talking about how our Future Transport Zone is encouraging the use of green connected and autonomous vehicles in the ‘Using connectivity and automation to deliver sustainable mobility’ session,’ says John Paddington the representative of Transport for West Midlands. The 5GAA Bridge interactive session was also useful to hear the views from around the world on priorities for connected vehicle technologies.

Opportunity to build new relationships

‘The ITS (UK) team found that the Virtual ITS European Congress was the perfect platform and opportunity to build and create new relationships with key mobility players and influencers albeit in a virtual format. We were pleased to be actively involved in the process of pushing forward the digital evolution and inspiring further sustainable mobility and transport solutions. On Day 2, our Communications Manager, Paul Hutton moderated a Network of ITS National Associations session on implementing the key actions and frameworks needed to ‘make a MaaS a reality from an international perspective,’ says Jennie Martin the representative of ITS UK.

Made networking easy

‘The team at Connected Places Catapult were delighted to participate in the Virtual ITS European Congress. The platform selected by ERTICO made networking relatively easy for a virtual event, which combined with a strong speaker line and an engaging interactive exhibition made for an overall successful and worthwhile experience. The virtual event cannot replace the physical event, but there are some features and functions from the platform that could be added to future congresses that would enhance attendee involvement and participation,’ observed Gill Butcher, the representative of Connected Places Catapult.

Friendly environment 

‘Many thanks to all of those who engaged with us at our two UK stands. We had some very informative and interesting conversations and it was great to meet new people and engage with those we have met previously at this event. As always in Congresses, talk turned to food in the networking area and Jennie and Gill led conversations on the best sweets for each ITS Association,’ says the delegation of the UK. ‘One advantage of a virtual event was that there was no need to clean up our stand afterwards, we just simply had to sign off! Congratulations to the ERTICO team for delivering a great event. We look forward to seeing you all in person in Hamburg next year. We will ensure that we have British sweets on our stand!’