ERTICO-ITS Workshops “Bringing Intelligence into Mobility”
Date: 15 June 2009
ERTICO-ITS Europe, a public -private partnership organisation of Intelligent Transportation Systems stakeholders across Europe held its General Assembly and a series of high level ITS workshops on 11- 12 June 2009 in the Château du Lac, Genval, Belgium.
The workshops featured prestigious guest speakers representing the European Commission and other international organisations, including Jack Short Secretary General of the International Transport Forum. One of the main goals of the workshops was to present and discuss current and future activities by the European Commission, to ensure the effective and coordinated deployment of ITS systems and services to bring intelligence into mobility. The ERTICO partnership was impressed by the proposed activities and gave a clear commitment for active support.
Dr. Prof. Gunter Zimmermeyer, newly elected Chairman of the Board commented: “I am honoured and proud to take over the responsibilities of Mrs. Monica Sundström to drive the future of ITS in Europe. I strongly believe that in these challenging times, ITS represents the opportunity to drive forward our businesses and our economy. In this context, all stakeholders from all modes of transport should cooperate together to achieve an optimal and sustainable use of all transport modes.”
Mr. Thierry Van der Pyl, Director at the European Commission Directorate General for Information Society and Media, emphasised the need to work together and focus on the deployment of ITS systems and services: “Public-private partnerships will be a central element of the Economic Recovery Plan proposed by the European Commission. We all need to work together to push deployment. Every Member State needs to include ITS as a key component of all infrastructure developments.”
Mr. Fotis Karamitsos, Director at the European Commission Directorate General for Transport presented the current status of the ITS-Action Plan and its associated Directive.
Mr. Karamitsos explained: “Despite 20 years of efforts in R&D, obstacles to large deployment and use of ITS for road in Europe still exist. The current business model for ITS deployment based on private initiatives has clearly shown its limitations. We need an integrated Community action combining legal action, standardisation and financial support. This approach has been implemented with success in other transport modes : ERTMS in rail , VTMIS in maritime and RIS in inland waterways. The ITS Action Plan and Directive Proposal constitute jointly today's EU response to the challenge of accelerating the coordinated deployment of ITS in road transport."
In the context of the ITS Action Plan and the EasyWay programme, ERTICO and its partners are invited to contribute to the expert groups, specific actions, consultations and will have a role in the newly established ITS Advisory Group.
Mr. Andras Siegler, Director at the European Commission Directorate General for Research emphasised the continuous need of advancing research in ITS: “ the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development for Road Transport currently puts a priority on sustainable urban mobility. As part of the Green Car Initiative, one of the focus areas for future opportunities in FP7 will be on the electrification of road and urban transport. In this context, I believe that mobility will be substantially transformed. ”
Mr. Hermann Meyer, CEO of ERTICO-ITS Europe presented the vision, mission, strategy and goals of the ERTICO-ITS Europe network: “ERTICO – ITS Europe is bringing intelligence into mobility for people and goods across Europe. We are working together in a public-private partnership towards zero accidents, zero delays, reduced impact on the environment and fully informed people, where services are affordable and seamless, privacy is respected and security is ensured.”
NOTES TO THE EDITOR:
About ERTICO – ITS Europe:
ERTICO – ITS Europe represents the interests and expertise of around 100 Partners involved in providing Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS). It facilitates the safe, secure, clean, efficient and comfortable mobility of people and goods in Europe through the widespread deployment of ITS.
ERTICO – ITS Europe was founded at the initiative of leading members of the European Commission, Ministries of Transport and the European Industry. ERTICO is the network of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services stakeholders in Europe. ERTICO ITS Europe connects public authorities, industry players, infrastructure operators, users, national ITS associations and other organisations.
The ERTICO Partners and a dedicated ERTICO team of highly skilled professionals work on a portfolio of activities to accelerate the development and deployment of ITS across Europe and beyond.
In the past, ERTICO – ITS Europe has played a leading role in advancing:
• the TMC standards,
• an open framework for telematics services,
• next generations of preventive safety systems,
• the technical framework for interoperable tolling in Europe.
• global implementation of ITS together with ITS America and ITS Japan
ERTICO-ITS Europe newly elected Supervisory board
Supervisory Board Chairman: Gunter Zimmermeyer (Robert Bosch)
Vice Chairman: Jean Mesqui (ASFA)
Chief Executive Officer (ex-officio): Hermann Meyer
Members of the Board
Industry
Christian Rousseau (Renault)
Klaus Kompass (BMW Group)
Helmut Matschi (Continental Automotive GmbH)
Marco Monticelli (FIAT/IVECO)
Liévin Quoidbach (Navteq)
Gunter Zimmermeyer (Robert Bosch)
Public Authorities
Jordan Giddings (UK Department of Transport)
Dean Herenda (Slovenian Ministry of Transport)
Evelinde Grassegger (Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Austria)
Infrastructure Operators
Jean Mesqui (ASFA)
Yves Lagoude (Thales e-Transactions)
Günther Weber (Vodafone)
Users
Johann Grill (ADAC)
Miquel Nadal (RACC)
Others
Michael Nielsen (IRU)
Pictures of the event are available upon request.
For further information, please contact:
Alina Cornea
Communication officer
+32 400 07 00
a.cornea@mail.ertico.com