Rome hosts the Network of National ITS Associations Meeting

Creation date: 05 October 2007

The Network of National ITS Associations met in Rome, Italy, 24-25 September for the second of its 2007 meetings.  With 20 of the 27 members of the Network present, it proved to be an interesting couple of days. 

On the first day the hosts, 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 whole 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 Rome 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.

The Network 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.  Olga Landolfi welcomed the members and outlined TTS Italia’s activities.

The representatives of 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.  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 in the next few weeks, 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.

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 the early Spring 2008. 

For more information, please contact info@itsnetwork.org