Vienna, 26 October 2012 – for immediate release. Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, attended this year’s iMobility Award Ceremony at the 2012 ITS World Congress in Vienna. Ms Kroes welcomed the attendees by highlighting the importance of the iMobility Awards in recognising and promoting ambitious and innovative iMobility deployments, paving the way to safe, smart and clean road mobility.
Presiding over the Awards Ceremony at the iCar Support stand in the 2012 ITS World Congress, Ms Kroes congratulated all the nominees, paying tribute to their high calibre and professionalism, before calling the three winners to the stage to hand over their awards. M Kroes underlined, “the iMobility Awards are the perfect occasion to introduce to the ITS World Congress delegates those who have been recognised by the ITS community as paving the way to the mobility of the future.”
In the industry/technology category, TNO – represented by Joelle van den Broek – were recognised for their work in creating, testing and realising new transport solutions to make mobility cleaner, safer and more reliable. In particular, TNO’s work, together with 20 other companies, on the Dutch Integrated Test site for Cooperative Mobility (DITCM), one of Europe’s première field labs for cooperative mobility, was instrumental in securing the award. Thanking the iMobility Forum for the award, Mrs van den Broek said, “We would like to share our way of working with the rest of Europe, to build a European ecosystem in SmartMobility in an open innovation setting.”
In the policy category, the European Commission – represented by Emilio Dávila González, Project Officer (eCall), DG Connect – was rewarded for its vision and work in bringing the eCall initiative to life. The European Commission has been instrumental in successfully promoting and creating a Europe-wide range of stakeholders working with one vision – that of making eCall available in all vehicles in Europe, with a service working seamlessly wherever the vehicle is, home or abroad. Mr González said, “I would like to thank the iMobility Community for this honour.” Paying tribute to his colleagues, past and present, in DG Connect, and Commissioners Reading and Kroes, Mr González stressed, “It is not just the Commission. If we have progressed in the deployment of eCall, it is because many stakeholders have worked together.”
In the national/local category, the Austrian motorway company ASFINAG – represented by its CTO Bernd Datler – were recognised for their work on cooperative as well as co-modal transport services, demonstrating where user orientation and technical feasibility. A key component in this success was the setting up of a dedicated 18 strong team of experts specialised in bridging the gap between research, development and full-scale deployment. Mr. Datler strongly recommended to other countries that they “encourage parties to start project like these with some sort of public co-funding. I think this is a critical factor to make major achievements in the ITS field.”
A special, discretionary, iMobility Award was given by Mrs Kroes to Jean-Pierre Medevielle, Deputy General Director of IFSTTAR (the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks) in recognition of his dedication throughout his working life to transport and intelligent mobility. As Mrs Kroes pointed out, “Mr Medevielle committed to ITS before the name even existed” when he participated in the ESPRIT programme more than 30 years ago.
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Notes to the editor:
About the iMobility Awards
The iMoblity Forum Awards aim to reward excellence in ITS implementation and deployment in Europe. For 3 months, the names of 11 nominees were up for online voting in the following categories: Industry and Technology, Policy, and National/Local ITS Implementation.
– Industry and Technology Award: this category rewards a person or team from a company or industry initiative, which has played a key role in accelerating deployment of iMobility systems;
– Policy Award: this Award goes to a person or team from a public administration which has taken the lead in implementing measures to facilitate iMobility deployment;
– National/Local ITS Implementation Award: it aims to put forward an action, such as for example a pilot or a Field operational test, which has accelerated ITS implementation at National or Local level, acting as a European showcase.
About the ITS World Congress
To share knowledge and experience within the ITS community is seen as a must in the development and implementation of ITS technologies. In that regard, European and World Congresses provide the ideal opportunity for all players of the ITS world to come together and make the necessary contacts to help move initiatives forward. Over the years, they have also received the highest support throughout the ITS world from government, industry and other organisations.
ERTICO – ITS Europe, ITS America and ITS Japan work closely together in the preparation of the annual ITS World Congress and Exhibition attracting people. Each year the event takes place in a different region, and it is held in Europe every third year. Valuable support is also provided by the host region, including by the national ITS association of the country. European ITS Congresses that bring together over 1500 people are organised by ERTICO – ITS Europe in years when there is not an ITS World Congress in Europe. In 2013, the World ITS Congress will take place in Tokyo, Japan, and the European ITS Congress in Dublin, Ireland.
Japan: http://www.itsworldcongress.jp/
Last modified on Friday, 12 July 2013
