ERTICO News: Gatherings in Rome strengthen European ITS

Date: 05 October 2007

Rome hosts ERTICO - ITS Europe’s Public Authorities Platform and Network of National ITS Associations meeting.

ERTICO - ITS Europe’s Public Authorities Partners met up in Rome on 24 September 2007 at the kind invitation of TTS Italia and ERTICO Partner Italian Ministry of Transport.

Eleven countries were represented at the meeting (Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the UK) and the participants discussed, amongst other issues, how to approach the EU Member States who are not yet part of the ERTICO membership (Greece, Baltic States, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus and Malta).

The Platform Chairman, and current Chairman of ERTICO - ITS Europe, Monica Sundström, encouraged all members to work within their respective administrations towards the signature of the MoU on eCall, after the inclusion of the Czech Republic, Portugal and Spain during the eSafety Plenary Forum in Versailles the previous week. Other important issues discussed by the platform included the need for validation and consensus throughout Europe on the high-level architecture of interoperable road charging solutions, the involvement of public authorities in new ERTICO activities and in particular the large-scale field operational tests and the need for co-operation between various bodies such as ERTICO, CEDR, PIARC and Easyway. Participants also gave updates on ITS developments in their respective countries.

ITS best practices
During the afternoon, TTS Italia organised a Convention on ITS best practices, opened by the President of TTS Italia, Mr Piero Bergamini, the Vice Minister of Transport, Mr Raffaele Gentile and the Chairman of ERTICO – ITS Europe, Monica Sundström.

Presentations covered a range of ITS best practices from the Italian perspective as well as from the rest of Europe.  Colin Wilson talked about VERA 3, the latest project looking at cross border enforcement of traffic rules.  Jan Malenstein from the Dutch Police Department updated the audience on eCall, whilst Michaela Lemm spoke about the potential impact of demographic development on mobility and traffic in Europe.  Thomas Kusche presented ‘Mobil in Rheinland’ the project on multi-modal mobility information.  From the Italian perspective, the audience heard about the ULISSE Project – the Unified Logistic Infrastructure for Safety and Security in the Campania region of Italy.  Fabio Nussio spoke about the current situation in Rome, where they are looking at new solutions and services to improve mobility in a city where pressure on transport is very high.  Finally Diego Galletta from Autostrade explained the integration of the motorway system with technology.

Mr Arnold van Zyl, CEO of ERTICO – ITS Europe, concluded by stating that the presentations clearly showed that at a national level the implementation phase of ITS had begun and that EU organisational structures were now needed to harness the technology already available.

The convention was followed by a magnificent gala dinner on the terrace of the Hotel Forum hosted by Iveco and Autostrade.

National ITS associations assemble
The Network of National ITS Associations meeting took place on the second day at TTS Italia’s offices where the Network Chairman, Christer Karlsson thanked TTS Italia for their organisation of such an event and welcomed the large number of Network members present (20 out of the current 27).  Olga Landolfi welcomed the members and outlined TTS Italia’s activities.

The representatives of the 20 national associations were able to give a short presentation about the work they were doing in their own countries, which as ERTICO CEO, Arnold van Zyl highlighted, emphasised the complimentary nature of the Network with respect to membership and activities.  He added that it was a good forum for discussion and thanked the ITS Nationals for their positive synergistic relationship with ERTICO – ITS Europe.

The Network will be well represented at the World ITS Congress in Beijing next week, with several of the members exhibiting there.  The next major event will be the European ITS Congress being held in Geneva in June 2008 where again, the Network is expected to have a strong presence.

ITS Solutions becomes Network mouthpiece

Finally, the highlight of the meeting was the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between the Network and the Hemming Group – publishers of ITS Solutions, recognising ITS Solutions as the official publication of the Network.  The magazine, originally published for the London World Congress will be the tool for the dissemination of information from the Network members.

The next meeting is likely to take place during early spring 2008.

For more information, please contact info@itsnetwork.org or consult www.itsnetwork.org