Andrè Perpey President of TOPOS Bordeaux-Aquitaine a new ERTICO Partner and host of the ITS World Congress in 2015 shares his thoughts on ITS development and gives some anticipation on the ITS World Congress 2015.

ERTICO: Can you describe your activities in the ITS field?

Andrè Perpey: TOPOS BORDEAUX-AQUITAINE is the cluster of reference for ITS activities in the south west of France. It is funded by the Aquitaine Regional Council and its 35 members:

  • Research and academic centres such as CETE SO ESTIA INRIA University of Bordeaux etc.
  • Private companies such as BULL CAP GEMINI STERIA THALES etc.
  • SMEs such as AERODRONES GEOLOCSYSTEMS HELILEO etc.
  • Consulting companies such as ACE MANAGEMENT CAPITAL HT AR CONSULTING etc.

ERTICO: Why have you joined ERTICO and what are your expectations for this partnership? Are there any projects activities or sectors that you are particularly interested in?

Andrè Perpey: As the representative of Bordeaux Aquitaine region inside ERTICO we joined ERTICO because it represents ITS EUROPE with excellence and TOPOS needs European relationships to promote its activities and the ones of the region.

Our expectation in joining ERTICO is to participate in all the European projects designed by ERTICO this year and in future years with BORDEAUX-AQUITAINE as a field for experimentation and dissemination.

Of course we are specially interested by ITS experiments and installations that we can demonstrate during the 2015 congress.

ERTICO: Can you give an early indication of the focus of the 2015 ITS World Congress and explain why Bordeaux-Aquitaine is interested in hosting the Congress in 2015? What do you think makes Bordeaux a great location for the World Congress?

Andrè Perpey: The focus of the 2015 ITS WC in Bordeaux will be satellite based applications for sustainable mobility. The slogan of the congress is: “More ITS for greener mobility”.

BORDEAUX AQUITAINE is proud of its worldwide reputation for a warm welcome and up-to-date business activities such as ITS. The hosting of the 2015 ITS WC will be the occasion to reinforce both.

Bordeaux is a perfect location for several reasons:

  • Every two years (since 1981) Bordeaux organises the Vinexpo International Exhibition which attracts to Bordeaux 40.000 attendees from the 5 continents in one week
  • Since the 1980’s Bordeaux has managed world-success ITS applications such as Bison Futé and Gertrude
  • The Bordeaux area has renowned ITS research centres such as CETE SO EUROVIA VINCI INRIA…
  • People from the world of ITS also deserve the Vinexpo savoir-faire and a visit to this historic city well known worldwide the largest UNESCO heritage classified patrimony.
  • During the congress special events will be possible in some of the chateaux of vineyards of the Médoc Saint Emilion Pomerol Graves…

ERTICO: How will Bordeaux stand out from other World Congresses?

Andrè Perpey: Outside the exhibition hall thanks to the vast space available complete with streets and junctions a green ITS city will be presented demonstrating the new technologies of 2015 such as satellite-guided electro-mobile systems ground and airborne UAV systems state-of-the-art Location Based Services for electronic devices on-board units smartphones etc…   

A partnership with the scientific museum Cap Sciences located in Bordeaux will be established.  This institution is one of the first in France for popularisation of scientific themes. Having already worked with Topos Aquitaine within the scope of another congress Cap Sciences is perfectly qualified to arouse public awareness of ITS.

ERTICO: What are the trends for the next three years?

Andrè Perpey: By 2015 the urban area of Bordeaux will have 4 tramlines – a total of 67 kilometres – linking together the 27 municipalities of the Bordeaux Urban Community. The international congress and exhibition centre will be within easy access of the rest of the agglomeration by tram.

An ELECTRIC SHUTTLE permanently circulates in the historic heart of the city with no fixed timetable or stopping points.

The TRAM-TRAIN between Bordeaux and Blanquefort will be another world first combining tram and train on the same rails.

ERTICO: What are the ITS solutions developed at Bordeaux?

Andrè Perpey: Bordeaux has always been at the cutting edge of ITS in the urban environment.  As early as the 70’s the GERTRUDE system was created to control the city’s traffic lights automatically according to the traffic situation at any given moment.

Today GERTRUDE is used in more than thirty cities around the world on every continent. The system has been adapted to new urban transport modes such as the tramway.

Another worldwide technological innovation is the tramway’s “APS” or “ALIMENTATION PAR LE SOL”. Indeed the Bordeaux tramway is ground-powered over 14km in the historical town centre.

The structure of the tram-bus-bicycle network is a reference throughout Europe with 944 km of dedicated lanes and cycle facilities including 700 km of cycle paths and 8 secured cycle parks.

The ITS World Congress 2015 is supported by

          

 

About TOPOS

The association TOPOS which earned its “business cluster” status in January 2011 brings together players in the field of satellite-based navigation and positioning from all over the Aquitaine region.

TOPOS objectives

•    Encourage contacts and synergies via projects knowledge transfer and networking between all players of the sectors concerning EGNOS and Galileo – manufacturers technical designers SME’s microbusinesses “start-ups” researchers engineering schools business associations and institutions.
•    Encourage partnerships and the transfer of technologies between enterprises and laboratories industrial groups and SME’s and support responses to national and European requests for proposals.
•    Conduct market studies preliminary or feasibility studies in order to help TOPOS members to make the right choices when it comes to matching the technologies to the markets.
•    For those members who are interested help them to stay permanently informed and adequately trained by setting up a permanent fine-tuned technological scientific and legal watch to enable them to anticipate and deal with potential problems.

TOPOS strategy

•    Create a network of businesses in order to construct quickly and efficiently a new sector of activity preferably with high added value which should benefit from strong growth within the next 20 years.
•    Initiate the constitution of a specialist branch within the navigation and positioning sector based on current satellite clusters (GPS for example) as well as future ones (like Galileo).
•    Aim for the closest relationship possible between its members and with scientific technical and financial partners in order to maximise the network effect.

TOPOS especially supports 3 types of application

•    Applications for professional use
     – wine-growing silviculture corn production
     – road rail and maritime transport as well as the logistics branch.
Businesses in these sectors can benefit from real-time traceability services.
•    Applications for the public at large
    – Location Based Services (LBS) such as tourist guides via Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or “smartphone”.
    – Applications integrated into the above navigation and positioning tools with a view to promoting heritage and regional  culture and facilitating travel in large cities while respecting the principles of sustainable development.
•    Applications for public authorities (state local authorities)
    – Navigation and positioning in the armed forces the forces of law and order the fire and emergency services customs services national security etc. enabling them to carry out their missions with greater speed and enhanced precision.

For more information visit the TOPOS website.

To view the promotional video of the ITS World Congress 2015 click here.

Link to original Article

http://www.ertico.com/interview-with-andr-perpey-president-of-topos-bordeaux-aquitaine-a-new-ertico-partner-and-host-of-the-its-world-congress-in-201/

Original Publication Date: Thu 26 Jan 2012