Deriving from the Latin resilire, meaning ‘to jump back’, resilience in physics is the ability of an elastic material to absorb energy and return to its original shape. The recovery that occurs in this phenomenon can be compared to the ability of individuals, a system or an organization to respond to change, or readily recover from a disruption.  Due to the global COVID-19 health crisis, the last six months have been a true test of resilience for our society: we have had to adapt to this ‘new normal’, utilising a range of tools at our disposal to change.

ERTICO, working daily to create smarter and more efficient mobility, aims to deliver the same ‘resilience goal’ in the transport sector; that is why ‘resilience’ is one of the key topics of the upcoming Virtual ITS European Congress. Resilience is a key component to ensure that we avoid collapse. Collapse of the mobility system would result in a  collapse of the economy and the way we live. The faster, we can ‘jump back’ or ‘keep on going’ the less hit our economies and our societies will be.

Traffic Management, data exchange, freight digitalisation are some of the areas in which specific measures can be implemented to ensure a level of flexibility that will allow the transport system to handle unforeseen changes and accommodate disruption, adapting its services and operations to ensure its continuous efficient performance.

‘Delivering Resilience to the transport sector’ is the High-level session in which representatives from both the public and private sectors will brainstorm to identify some possible solutions that can make the future of mobility as resilient as possible.

Several other sessions in the event’s programme, particularly during the first day, will focus on the same topic:

·   Roadworks information for improved Traffic Management: an overview on the challenges of optimal dissemination of roadworks information to private and public stakeholders, based on the experience of the two cities: Hamburg and Lisbon;

·   Building a European road safety data ecosystem: an update on the work done by the European Data Task Force, which began a 12-month proof of concept in Eindhoven last year called ‘Data for Road Safety’ to improve road safety by sharing safety related information  generated by vehicles and infrastructure between public authorities , service providers and vehicle manufacturers;

·  Delivering Resilience and reach with 5G and Satellite Communication: the role of satellite connectivity in the automotive sector for the deployment of essential ITS services such as emergency calls, fleet management, remote diagnostics and road tolling;

·  Architecture for a federated platform for logistics information exchange: approaches and best practices on how Traffic Management is correlated with logistics operations focusing on ICT platforms;

·   Revolutionising mobility with drones: a session that pictures future urban and suburban mobility to support cities and regulators in preparing their responses and actions towards more  safety and security by using drones in urban mobility.  Operational topics and social perspectives will also be discussed.

Find out more about the panels of these sessions by visiting this page and book your ticket here to join the digital ITS conversation!