Glasgow will be hosting the largest annual event of ITS professionals in Europe during the first week of June. In addition to the picturesque scenery, world class architecture and a vibrant nightlife and shopping scene, the city will be bustling with over 2,500 ITS professionals coming from around the continent to meet, discuss, and learn from each other.
Glasgow has a rich and varied background in ITS, being one of the very first to deploy several intelligent transport solutions and has since been constantly developing these solutions year after year in hope of becoming one of the smartest cities in Europe today. Over decades, Glasgow has transformed itself into a smarter, safer, and more environmentally friendly city with smart street lights able to record pollution levels or below the surface road sensors detecting traffic flow.
What better destination for the European ITS community get together?
Whether you come from a background of policy, research or business, or consider yourself an amateur transport enthusiast, we invite you to join us in Glasgow 6 to 9 June for the 11th ITS European Congress. The theme of this year’s Congress is “Delivering Future Cities Now”; with focus on increasing connectivity, bringing new services to users and improving communication, in a sustainable way.
After a highly successful call for papers the European Program Committee met in Brussels at the beginning of March to finalise this year’s Congress programme. The selected papers have been organised into over 100 sessions in accordance with the 5 key topics ranging from automation through sustainability and environmental impact to satellite services and user centric service initiatives.
“The Congress is designed to provide insight into the real life ITS solutions of today and showcase the ideas of tomorrow with an interactive and wide array of programmes and activities”, Didier Gorteman, Director of Congress and Chair of the European Programme Committee, explained. “In addition to the session discussions, demonstrations will give participants the chance to experience technological advancements first-hand while the exhibition will provide the opportunity to stumble on some of the ingenious ideas revolutionising transport today”, he continued.
The growing list of exciting events include a Mayor Summit on Wednesday 8 June, where leaders of European cities big and small can discuss and share knowledge on deploying ITS solutions in urban environments. Building on the success of previous years, a special student programme is also under way where the organisers are preparing events appealing to the younger generation in addition to offering special discounted rates for students.
For those looking for a more hands-on experience, several technical visits are planned on 7 and 8 June including a visit to the Glasgow Operations Centre (GOC), a state-of-the-art integrated traffic and public safety management control room; a tour of the Traffic Scotland National Control Centre (TSNCC); and the United Kingdom’s largest bus depot.
Glasgow will surely match up to one of the most anticipated social highlights of the Congress with a gala dinner held in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. In addition to a spectacular dinner and entertainment, visitors will have a chance to visit the extensive collection of over 8000 objects providing a rich insight into the history and arts of Scotland.
The 11th European ITS Congress 2016 is organised by ERTICO – ITS Europe in partnership with the European Commission, and hosted by Glasgow City Council and Transport Scotland. Visit Scotland, the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC), ITS United Kingdom and the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau strongly support the event.
Registrations are now open, with exceptional early bird rates until 18 April!
