Project News: SIMBA’s South Africa success

Date: 26 July 2007

12-13 July National Event in Pretoria includes European Commission – South Africa signing of joint statement of cooperation. 

In a bid to increase road safety, improve mobility, and enhance transport efficiency, the EC-supported, ERTICO – ITS Europe-coordinated SIMBA project’s South Africa National Event brought together over 60 European and South African infrastructure operators, vehicle makers, technology providers and ITS stakeholders in Pretoria, South Africa on 12-13 July 2007. Furthering the discussions held at last December’s Priority Workshop in Stellenbosch, the event defined possible future activities to be done in cooperation between the EU and South Africa in the field of road transport research.

Day 1
The first day featured general presentations which assessed South African development in ITS, Infrastructure and Automotive and the signing of the European Commission / South Africa Joint Statement on Road Transport Research Cooperation.

Dr Sibusiso Sibisi, CSIR President and CEO, opened the activities by welcoming participants. He highlighted SIMBA’s significant success in addressing fragmentation and looking at alleviating the many issues associated with transportation in South Africa.

Mr Mmboneni Muofhe, Manager of Strategic Partnerships for the South Africa Department of Science and Technology presented more information about how South Africans can participate in the EC’s framework programme, enabling global R&D cooperation.

Mrs Luisa Prista, European Commission Head of Unit for DG Research’s H2 Surface Transport Unit, provided information about active cooperation in surface transport research activities. She reiterated the fact that, although SIMBA is a small project in terms of budget within FP6, it has an enormous multiplier effect. Mrs Prista reminded everyone that concrete actions can make a difference, which is why projects like SIMBA are important.

Dr Arnold van Zyl, CEO of ERTICO, outlined the importance of international cooperation, how it can be used to establish European standards in other parts of the world, and how it leverages capacity in both directions.

Mr Patrick Mercier-Handyside and Ms Susana Martins from the European Commission’s DG Research unit, then outlined transport opportunities in the EU’s 7th research framework programme in terms of structure, themes and budget.  Special attention was dedicated to transport where the objectives are to develop safer, greener and smarter transport systems.

These presentations were followed by position papers that summed up the SIMBA activities in South Africa in the first half of 2007.

Mr Daryll Thomas, Past President of ITS South Africa, presented the status of ITS in South Africa, adding that growing ITS is not sufficient, but sustainable growth is. He mentioned South Africa’s current ITS projects, which include World Cup 2010 infrastructure and public transport, Gautrain rapid rail link, Johannesburg BRT, E-Natis and SANRAL (Multi-lane free-flow tolling, toll road strategy, overload control, traffic and incident management traffic data and traveller information services).

Mr Barlow Manilal of the Automotive Industry Development Centre presented the automotive perspective of South Africa and the strategic challenges facing the industry (customer focus, mass customization, etc.)

Mr Malcolm Mitchell, Executive Director of SARF, outlined the current road infrastructure issues in South Africa, stressing that the primary goal related to transport infrastructure is the effective and efficient delivery of appropriate urban and rural transport infrastructure in South Africa.

Mr James Burgess, TMC Forum Coordinator at ERTICO, presented the TMC Forum  and how TMC can be used in new markets as a key technology for broadcast traffic information. He discussed the case study of the DYNASTY project, in which a successful demonstration of TMC was carried out in Beijing, and which could be applicable to demonstration and roll-out in other markets.

Joint statement
The day’s highlight was the signing of the “European Commission – South Africa joint statement on road transport research cooperation” by Mrs Luisa Prista and Mr Mmboneni Muofhe. Building on the dialogue and identification of surface transport R&D started under SIMBA and the 6th South Africa-EU JSTCC’s reconfirmation of the parties commitment to promote cooperation in this field, the Joint Statement and accompanying Action Plan aims to provide impetus and a roadmap for enhanced South Africa – EU surface transport R&D cooperation.

Day 2
The second day included more presentations followed by breakout sessions on public transport, traffic monitoring and management & city planning, environment and infrastructure asset management.

Akram Ahmedi, representing FEHRL, presented the organisation’s activities. He named the key themes that have resulted from SIMBA activities, such as road safety, heavy vehicles and roadwear, alternative and recycled construction material, pavement management systems and asset management. He also added that public transport was a good way of maximising road space particularly in SIMBA countries and air cleaning and pollution abatement systems were important.

Alessandro Coda of ACEA/EUCAR presented the EU automotive industry’s priorities for research collaboration with SIMBA countries. The objectives of the cooperation are to increase market entry and penetration for EU OEMS, to exchange technological know-how and to strengthen the competitive position of the EU economy.

Mariana Andrade of ERTICO gave a presentation on European ITS priorities for international cooperation. She noted that the objective of ERTICO’s international cooperation activities are to improve mobility worldwide through the promotion of EU standards and technology. This also means allowing the opportunities for the latest technologies to be available in Emerging Markets as many of the countries concerned are looking for cutting edge technologies. The major priorities of the ITS community for international cooperation have been identified as ITS for Public Transport, Integrated traffic management, Real time traffic information, Incident detection and emergency response and Electronic Toll Collection.

An additional area which is of growing importance is ITS for the environment which is new in Europe, and could be an interesting area for collaboration with SIMBA countries.

Dr Marianne Vandershuren, University of Cape Town, then presented the work being undertaken by the Urban Transport Research Group. It involved ITS modelling for highway corridors (BUS/HOV, variable speed limits, ramp metereing) and public transport corridors. There were some interesting results related to mean target headway, mean reaction time, awareness and aggression.

Mr Jan Coetzee, Managing Director of SAICE, then gave some feedback on the World Cup 2010 Workshop that had been held the previous day. He noted that transportation has still to be sorted out for 2010, and detailed planning must be coordinated with safety and security. The logistics tasks of serving FIFA’s family of 15,000 people must also need to be addressed.
 
Breakout sessions boost dialogue and cooperation
As the last agenda item, breakout sessions discussed developments and cooperation possibilities in the areas of public transport, traffic monitoring and management & city planning, environment, and infrastructure asset management.

For public transport, discussions centered on the main issues currently affecting South Africa, such as security and safety, reliability, price, and the large differences between urban and rural areas. In order to progress these issues, it was proposed that activities should start with small demonstration projects.

The session devoted to traffic monitoring and management & city planning touched on how ITS technologies can help the safety of non-motorised transport. In addition, participants discussed issues related to automated law enforcement, ITS training, city planning and TMC.

The environment breakout session noted the challenges facing South Africa, including a current lack of integration at policy, planning and implementation, regulations, and economic limitations. It was noted that both technology and infrastructure choices have implications to the environment. A number of potential projects and initiatives were discussed, including a case study about greening of the inner city. Lessons learnt from the EU could also be applied in South Africa.

Last but not least, the Infrastructure Asset Management session also focused on a number of potential project themes - including infrastructure design, preservation of natural resources, road safety and sustainable technology – which could employ both European and South African expertise.

All of the breakout sessions named key stakeholders, and champions were nominated to organise and promote further actions for the initiatives.

The next steps for SIMBA in South Africa include establishing Working Groups, closer technical meetings, defining actual requirements/feasibility studies in the SIMBA countries and working towards pilots/demonstrations.

SIMBA will continue with its National Events over the course of the autumn, returning to Brazil (4-5 October 2007 in Sao Paulo), China (8 October 2007 in Beijing) and India (21-22 November 2007 in New Delhi) in order to present progress from the Priority Workshops and focus on future activities. For more information on these exciting events, please visit the SIMBA website.

Documents and presentations related to the South Africa National Event  are available for download on the SIMBA website, www.simbaproject.org.

For more information, please contact ERTICO Project Manager Mariana Andrade

Chairs, organisers and speakers of the successful SIMBA South Africa National Event	ERTICO - ITS Europe CEO Arnold van Zyl presents the legal representatives for the signature of the joint statement	Signature of the EU-South Africa Joint Statement and Action Plan on cooperation in surface transport RTD