[Source: SportAccord] SportAccord today announced it has been awarded exclusive use of the ‘DotSport’ domain extension ‘sportaccord.sport’ following the successful launch of the new .sport digital ecosystem, managed and delivered by GAISF.
A .sport domain name is seen as a positive endorsement of any organisation operating in the world of sport. GAISF’s ownership of the domain protects the integrity of .sport by ensuring that only properly qualified organisations and individuals can use it. These include sports governing bodies to events, companies and clubs.
Nis Hatt, Managing Director of SportAccord, World Sport & Business Summit commented:
“We are delighted to take advantage of this new opportunity and have applied the SportAccord.sport domain extension to key digital platforms and collateral. This will further help to enhance the SportAccord brand across the global sports and business sectors.
“We are proud to be part of this community-led initiative and fully support the values, culture and principles it represents for sport.”
SportAccord joins other organisations who have been awarded the .sport extension including several of the international sports federations, Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games and the
International Testing Agency.
GAISF Head of Digital Pierre Germeau said:
“This digital transformation is proving to be a game-changer, not just for IFs but for all reputable sports stakeholders that work hard to promote the best image of sport. Each domain offers stakeholders a significant and respected online presence, tailored specifically to their individual needs.”
SportAccord is host to the annual general assemblies and official meetings for event stakeholders, with representation from all the GAISF international sports federations, associates and observers in attendance.

SportAccord 2019 will take place in Gold Coast, Australia from 5-10 May 2019 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre and will welcome the sporting business community for the 17th edition of the World Sport & Business Summit.

Host City: What are the rights holders of major congresses looking for from host cities – what are the most important requirements?

Carola van der Hoeff: If you look across the whole world, bidding cities and countries are so different in terms of what they can offer.

The financial support they get from the city, province or country is an important issue.

The cost of the venue is an important aspect, also the price of general things like food and drink, and travel from the airport to the hotels to downtown.

We also look at safety, especially for our participants.

What is especially important for us is to make sure we have a member association in that country, to make sure we have a connection. Without a member association we will never go to that country.

Host City: That’s very similar to major sports and cultural events, where security and robust backing from the hosting authorities are both crucial.

Carola van der Hoeff: We also realise that in Europe there are some cities that can support financially, while there are others that just don’t have this in place. But that does not necessarily mean we will not decide to go there, because there may be other benefits.

For example, Amsterdam is very attractive for participants – it’s easy to reach. And we know that in Europe we have a higher number of participants – that’s based on historical data. So, it’s not just about finance, but it can play a big role.

Host City: What impact does hosting a major scientific congress have on the city?

Carola van der Hoeff: For the city, it’s like a business. Congress participants bring a lot of money, in terms of hotel stays and dinners.

We have 3,500 participants over four to five days in the city; so that gives a lot of exposure.

We also know that legacy is an important item for associations at the moment: what can we do for the city and the country in the specific sector that we are in, i.e. pharmacy.

We have our World Congress this year in Glasgow. If you look at Glasgow it’s important that local people understand what pharmacists can do for them – not only dispensing medicines but also providing advice.

Host City: How would you describe your experience of working with Glasgow as a host city?

Carola van der Hoeff: For the past couple of years, we have been working with the Glasgow Convention Bureau and the support they have been giving us exceeds all expectations.

Their expertise and professional way of working make it very easy to work in Glasgow and to organise our event.

Host City: How far ahead do you have host cities lined up after Glasgow 2018?

Carola van der Hoeff: We are just deciding now on the host for 2021 and about to open the bid process for 2022. We have a bid document that people can get form us.

But for us, it’s very important that if a city wants to bid for a congress they have to engage with our member organisation in their country. For example, for Glasgow we are working with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in the UK, in London.

Host City: Do you have any advice for destinations interested in bidding for 2022?

Carola van der Hoeff: The best advice is always to contact the national association to get a bit more knowledge about the congress and to discuss the requirements. Every congress has specific requirements; it’s important to get to know your client.

Host City: It sounds very much like it’s something that develops through dialogue, which is interesting because it’s the new approach that the IOC is taking for the Olympic Games; they are shaping their bidding process as an invitation and a conversation, rather than simply a submission of a bid document.

Carola van der Hoeff: Yes, for me that’s very important too. I think it’s a good way forward, because it is so important to know what the event is about and to be very clear about what you are bidding for.

Carola van der Hoeff is Chief Operating Officer and Congress Director at International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), the global federation gathering 140 national associations of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists. She is responsible for overseeing the organisation's daily operations and enhancing internal processes to help the non-profit grow and fulfil its mission. Before joining FIP, she worked for more than 16 years as a Professional Congress Organiser.

The FIP World Congress 2018 takes place on 2 to 6 September in Glasgow. 

Carola van der Hoeff is speaking at Host City 2018, the largest meeting of sports, business and cultural events, on 20 to 21 November 2018, also in Glasgow.

I am very excited to be invited to participate in Host City Asia and have the opportunity to share the development of sports in China and Asia with fellow experts and industry peers.

I believe that everyone is very interested in the preparations for the Beijing Olympic Winter Games in 2022. Today, I address the theme of "Past, Present, and Future" to share the preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attached great importance to the preparatory work for the Beijing Olympic Winter Games and pointed out that it is necessary to adhere to the concept of green Olympics, shared Olympic Games, open Olympics, with honesty, and to strive to hold an exciting, extraordinary, and outstanding Olympic Games.

In 2008, Beijing hosted an unparalleled Olympic Games. In 2022, Beijing will become the first city in the world to host both the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympic Games.

China has had an enduring bond with the ice and snow sports since ancient times. Firstly, I would like to take everyone back to the past and review one of the origins of the earliest ice and snow movements. Let’s look at two ancient paintings. The first one is “Altaian Rock Paintings”. The Altai region is located in the northern part of Xinjiang and is one of the earliest regions where ice and snow come each year. As early as 10,000 years ago, the ancient Altaians recorded their skis on rock. This is the earliest known ski. After research, the history of this rock painting has been dated to 10,000 to 30,000 years ago. It can be regarded as the most direct evidence of the origin of human skiing history.

In addition, the Palace Museum's "Ice Play" is a court painting that represents the history of ice sports in China, from the Qing Dynasty of China more than 300 years ago. From "Ice Play", we can see that each person performs various difficult moves like figure skating. From "Altay Rock Paintings" to "Ice Play", we can see that China had its own ice and snow movements long ago. We have a close relationship with ice and snow sports.

Now Beijing, as the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics, is making every effort to promote various preparatory work and is striving to organise and host the Beijing Olympic Winter Games. It will showcase the historical and cultural charm of China, the achievements of contemporary construction and development, and show the world an open and confident country image.

Venues and infrastructure construction

In terms of venues and infrastructure construction, the Beijing Winter Olympics upholds the concept of sustainable development and maximises the use of existing venues for the 2008 Olympic Games. The Beijing Winter Olympic Games includes the three competition areas of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou.

The Beijing competition area holds all ice events. Except for the construction of a new national speed skating hall, all other projects use existing and transformed venues.

Yanqing Alpine skiing and snowmobile sledding projects have started construction.

The masterplan for the core area of ​​the Zhangjiakou District has been determined. The national winter biathlon circuit and shooting range has started construction. The design for the deepening of the platform for the national ski jump centre has taken shape and the earthwork has been completed. The basic construction of the cross-country ski track has been completed.

The three divisions are being connected by the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed rail with an average speed of 350 km/h, taking only 20 minutes from Beijing to Yanqing and only 30 minutes from Yanqing to Zhangjiakou.

The Beijing Olympic Winter Games Organising Committee is now located in an industrial site in the west of Beijing and has become a successful case of the Olympics promoting sustainable urban development. It has won high praise from the international community.

Promotion and cultural activities

In terms of publicity and promotion and cultural activities, on December 15 last year, the “Winter Dream” logo of the Olympic Winter Games and the Winter Olympics Paralympic Games logo “The Leap” were formally released. It is widely believed at home and abroad that the ideas are novel, rich in meaning and strong in communicating China's style and cultural charm. More than 100 media at home and abroad participated in the launch ceremony and more than 1,500 articles were published around the logos. The Beijing Olympics Organising Committee's logo microblog readership exceeded 8.48 million, and the Weibo topic readership exceeded 330 million.

At the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games on February 25 this year, Beijing took over the Olympic Flag as a host city and presented the world with a wonderful and captivating cultural performance. President Xi Jinping and hundreds of millions of people shared the video with the world. Issued as a sincere invitation to Beijing in 2022, this video was actively watched and discussed by Internet users at home and abroad. Within 24 hours, 720 million views were broadcast on the WeChat social network.

This event also became the most attended performance in the Olympic history. A total of 130 million Internet users sent invitations to the world via the "Winter Olympics, Me and Stars” voice interaction app and the "Winter Olympics Send Invitation" WeChat H5 page to reach the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics through the Internet.

We are also actively using new media to explore the Winter Olympics network promotion.

A series of micro-videos created by the Beijing Olympic Winter Games Organising Committee has been formally launched under the brand “Winter Premiere”. 11 micro-videos have been released on the official website, microblog platform and related video websites related to the development of the competition area, sports work, market development and cultural events, with cumulative plays of nearly 10 million.

Public participation and Olympic education

While promoting the Beijing Olympic Winter Games with international events and major events, the Beijing Olympic Winter Games Organising Committee also actively works on the goal of “300 million people participating in the ice and snow sports” proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping.

To promote ice and snow sports in the country and popularise the knowledge of ice and snow sports, we launched the "Share Winter Olympics" action plan jointly with central ministries and commissions such as the Ministry of Education, the State General Administration of Sport, and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. The national guidance documents such as educational plans, social civilisation plans, youth plans and image publishing plans have been released to the public one after another. We have vigorously promoted "ice and snow in the campus." As of now, Beijing and Zhangjiakou have named the first batch of 84 primary and secondary snow and ice sports schools, and have held training classes for primary and secondary school ski instructors. Beijing has held two consecutive sessions of middle school students in winter.

The Games held a series of ice and snow popularisation and promotion activities such as the “My Winter Olympic Dream” National English Junior Reporter Competition, which attracted the attention of young people from both places. We also organised a Beijing Winter Olympics delegation composed of Olympic champions, volunteers, small athletes, community sports enthusiasts and other representatives. We have organised Winter Olympics lectures in institutions, enterprises, communities and schools in Beijing, Zhangjiakou, Heilongjiang and other places. In 2017, the number of direct participation of the Youth Exchange Fun Olympics Experience Camp was 16,000.

Two snow and ice photo solicitations for professional photographers attracted nearly a thousand professional photographers to participate, recruiting 11,000 high quality images of ice and snow. In addition, in Beijing last year, 40 city-level ice and snow events were created, and 13 districts have created ice and snow activities with special characteristics. In 2017, 500 million people participated in these ice and snow activities.

In terms of market development work, five companies including Bank of China, Air China, Yili, Anta, and China Unicom have now been identified as official partners, and a trial program for licensed products has been launched. Commemorative stamps have been officially issued, and licensed merchandise sales have enjoyed a good momentum.

The Winter Olympics Beijing Cycle

After the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics concluded perfectly, we officially entered the Winter Olympics “Beijing Cycle”. In the future, the Beijing Olympic Winter Games Organising Committee will strengthen cooperation with all sectors of the society and go all out to do a good job of various tasks.

The first is to systematically plan the construction and operational management of venues, to learn from the relevant experiences of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Tokyo Olympic Games, to adjust and optimise in time, to study the use of venues ahead of schedule and to promote sustainable development.

The second is to do a good job of organising the competition, to listen earnestly to the opinions of the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, and the individual sports federations, and learn from the experience of running the host city.

Third, it is necessary to detail the guaranteed service tasks during the competition and carefully prepare and coordinate efforts in areas such as transportation, medical care, accommodation, catering, and security to ensure that the standards of the three competition areas are consistent and linked.

The fourth is to promote foreign exchange and cooperation in an all-round manner, strengthen ties and cooperation with international organisations, snow and ice-sports powerhouses, and the host city of the previous Olympic Winter Games to promote exchanges in humanities, economics and non-governmental sports organisations. Soon, we will create the Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympic Games mascots and welcome everyone around the world to participate in the design exchange activities.

Fifth, we must plan the sustainable development of the Winter Olympic Games and integrate the concept of sustainable development into all aspects of preparatory work.

There are less than four years to 2022 and I hope that people from all walks of life will care for and support the preparations for the Beijing Olympic Winter Games. The Beijing Olympics Organising Committee looks forward to working together with everyone to create a wonderful and extraordinary event for the world in 2022. Finally, I wish Host City Asia a complete success.

This transcript of Chang Yu’s keynote address at Host City Asia also appears in the Summer issue of Host City magazine

A study from UK’s largest business electricity suppliers Haven Power has revealed that more than a quarter (27%) of British businesses think renewable energy is just a passing trend, with the hospitality and entertainment industries showing the least commitment.

The research found that businesses in the hospitality and entertainment industry are unlikely to make sustainable changes as they don’t believe it’s a priority to their customers.

Paul Sheffield, Chief Operating Officer at Haven Power, said: “It’s surprising that an industry employing a large number of environmentally-conscious millennials, such as hospitality and entertainment, are seemingly ignoring the environmental agenda, when it is so important to both potential customers and employees. Organisations must recognise that it’s more than just customers who deliver business success, and they may be impacting their ability to attract and retain the best talent.

The survey of utility decision makers showed the biggest barrier preventing business from implementing sustainable change was cost (37%), followed by lack of government support (24%) and uncertainty by energy decision makers on how to discuss with senior management (23%). In addition, more than 80% of respondents feel it is energy providers’ responsibility to educate decision makers on the different types of energy available.

The financial services sector showed the highest degree of scepticism towards renewables, with 40% of respondents saying that it was a passing trend.

Paul Sheffield, Chief Operating Officer at Haven Power, said: “It’s concerning to see the proportion of businesses that still view renewable energy as a passing trend, despite evidence showing that a move to cleaner energy is essential for the environment. It’s clear more needs to be done to demonstrate the wider opportunities and benefits of renewable energy for businesses.”

Conversely, 59% of businesses think renewables are the key to a cleaner future, with three in five keen to start producing their own energy. When asked to list whose responsibility it is to lower carbon emissions, energy suppliers were cited top (58%), followed by the Government (47%) and manufacturers (46%).

The agricultural industry leads all other sectors in both awareness of renewable energy and taking action to procure it. Businesses in the manufacturing industry put their own sector at the top of the list when asked who is most responsible for saving carbon emissions (59%) versus their energy suppliers at 48%.

“Understanding of renewable energy and its benefits varies greatly from sector to sector,” said Sheffield. “We believe that every industry needs to start taking positive steps to reduce carbon emissions and embrace cleaner energy. It’s imperative that organisations of all sizes work together with their energy provider to ensure the future of British business is low carbon. By moving beyond energy being viewed as a commodity, we can help to drive sustainability and profitability. Here at Haven Power we are keen to help businesses understand the wider benefits of renewables.”

Scotland’s reputation as a global leader for delivering world-class events is stronger than ever following the successful conclusion of the inaugural European Championships that saw the country deliver 11 days of sporting and cultural action with co-hosts Berlin.

For all involved, the European Championships has surpassed expectations and has shown what can be achieved when you are brave, ambitious and innovative.

As a new event there was no manual for how the Championships should be delivered, giving us the opportunity to be bold and find different ways of working; and while there were undoubtable some challenges as we navigated our way down this new path, overall the sector really responded by creating a new delivery model that is causing real disruption within the market.

I believe what has been delivered by co-hosts Glasgow and Berlin, in partnership with the European sports federations and the European Broadcast Union, is a model that is the way forward for sport events in the future.   

With a potential total audience of more than 1.03 billion viewers across the continent, and an even wider audience via multiple digital platforms, the event was shown by more than 40 free-to-air broadcasters across 3000 hours.

Early international TV viewing figures across terrestrial channels were strong across Europe. In Germany and France, more than 3 million viewers tuned in on a single day (Sunday 5^th August) to watch the action.

The quality of sport on offer also showed the calibre of the event. From Adam Peaty beating his own world record in the 100m breaststroke, to Grace Reid’s amazing final dive in the 3m springboard final to snatch gold from teammate Alicia Blagg, through to the emergency of new track stars in Dian Asher-Smith and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the European Championships produced world-class performances across the board.

This shows that bringing existing individual events together, under one umbrella, and creating a mutually beneficial multi-sport event that is shown across multiple media platforms, you can achieve greater reach and impact than when done on their own. 

Co-hosting the event with Berlin was also something very special and new. Co-hosting of events has rarely been done but again I think it is something we will see more and more of going forward. It is a great opportunity for cities and countries to come together and bid for events that otherwise might not have been possible on their own.

We’ve shown time and time again that Scotland’s events industry has the capacity and capability to deliver innovative events that offer a first-class experience for all involved. I’m proud of what we have delivered as an industry for the European Championships. This was an opportunity to build on the momentum we have created off the back of 2014 while being bold and trying something new. As an industry we have learnt a lot and can now take that forward in the delivery of and bidding for future events, ensuring Scotland continues to raise its game and maintain its reputation as the perfect stage for events.

[Source: Glasgow 2018] A new era of sport has been ushered in as the first ever European Championships begins in Glasgow.

The inaugural day of sport sees qualifying rounds taking place in Track Cycling, at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, at the SSE Hydro, and Rowing at Strathclyde Country Park.

The European Championships are a major innovation in world sport as seven sports bring their existing events together under one banner for the first time.

The next 11 days will see world class athletes in Aquatics, Cycling, Gymnastics, Golf, Rowing and Triathlon competing in Glasgow and Scotland, while Berlin hosts the Athletics.

With 114,505 tickets now gone and with some sessions full, or with just a few tickets remaining, ticket buyers are being urged to hurry to secure the chance to see their favourite Olympic and Commonwealth stars crowned European champions.

Yesterday the unifying symbol of the Championships, the new Winning Nations Trophy, was revealed for the first time. Perfectly designed for teams to be able to lift and carry together in celebration, this will be awarded to the individual country which has secured the most gold medals at the end of the event.

Other firsts we’ll see in the next few days are:

• Glasgow will create history by becoming the first city to simultaneously host the European Cycling Championships in four different disciplines – Track, Road, BMX and Mountain Bike.
• Gleneagles will host a groundbreaking golf competition; with men and women playing together for the first time and competing for equal prize money.
• It is the first time an event on this scale has been delivered using hotel accommodation for competitors, rather than the creation of an athletes’ village.
• More unusually, it is also the first known time a swimming event will take place on a tennis court – with a 330,000 gallon temporary pool installed at Scotstoun Sports Campus, which hosts the synchronised swimming events.  

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Championships Director Colin Hartley said: “This is the biggest event in the UK since Glasgow hosted the best ever Commonwealth Games in 2014.

“But it’s not just big, it’s truly innovative. By combining these seven sports we elevate the European champions we’ll see crowned in the next few days onto an even higher platform.

“With bigger crowds, a bigger TV audience and more opportunities for people to see their Olympic and Commonwealth heroes, today is the beginning of a new era for sport in Europe.

Jane Allen, Chief Executive of British Gymnastics said: “The 2015 World Championships were declared by FIG as the best ever and raised the bar for the sport so we’re really excited to be back in Glasgow.

“It’s fantastic that the same innovative venue layout and stunning presentation is being used again for the 2018 European Championships and I am sure it is going to be a fabulous week here both for our sport and for the British team.”

Jack Buckner, Chief Executive of British Swimming said: “We are delighted to be part of this outstanding new multi-sport European Championships and I would like to congratulate Glasgow on taking on this significant challenge to host such a ground breaking and complex event.

“We’re going to be using four incredible and unique venues across Scotland and I know they’ll be a great stage for the British Team to put in their best performances.

“This is an extremely important event for British Swimming as we build towards Tokyo 2020 and we have a large team of around 80 athletes here in Scotland across all four disciplines.”

Beth Tweddle Britain’s greatest ever female gymnast said: “It is fantastic to see another world-class event come back to Glasgow which has such a great track record for hosting big events. The World Championships in 2015 were incredible and the fans here in Glasgow are going to be in for another treat with an amazing action packed eight days of gymnastics at The SSE Hydro.”

The Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC) and Tasali Jordanian Trading Institute have agreed a partnership to support the sports movement in the Kingdom.

Tasali Jordanian Trading Institute is a trading agency in Jordan representing renowned food and drink products including Indomie Noodles, sponsors of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the upcoming 2018 Jakarta Palembang Asian Games.

The agreement was signed at the JOC’s Olympic Preparation Centre (OPC) between CEO of Tasali Jordanian Trading Institute, Ihab Al Shorafa and JOC Secretary General, Nasser Majali.

“The Jordan Olympic Committee is delighted to welcome Tasali Jordanian Trading Institute to the JOC family,” said Nasser Majali. “Working closer with the private sector is key to developing sport in Jordan so this is another important and exciting partnership for us.”

Ihab Al Shorafa added: “As a company, it is our mission to keep supporting youth in Jordan and to encourage them to achieve more. This agreement with the JOC shows that we stand behind our young athletes who represent us worldwide.”

Tasali Jordanian Trading Institute is the latest international company to show its support for Jordan sport. The JOC’s other partners and sponsors include Samsung, Shami Eye Center, GloSante, Greater Amman Municipality and Umniah.

[Source: Lima 2019] Thousands of Peruvians today descended onto Lima’s Historic Centre to celebrate the one-year countdown until the Lima 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games.
The event, organised by the Lima 2019 Organising Committee, together with the Peruvian Olympic Committee, Peruvian Paralympic Committee and Peruvian Institute of Sport, was held at Lima’s iconic Plaza de Armas.
Sporting demonstrations were setup across Lima’s Historic Centre in order to familiarise members of the public with sports and para-sports set to take place during the Games. These included basketball, wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball, tennis, golf, archery, Para archery, football, five-a-side football and bowling.
A meet and great zone was also established for members of the public to engage with a selection of Peru’s top athletes and para-athletes who will take part in the Games next year.
The event was attended by a wide range of Peruvian sporting authorities including President of Lima 2019 Carlos Neuhaus and the Head of the Peruvian Sports Institute (IPD) Oscar Fernández.
The event culminated in the unveiling of a Lima 2019 clock which kickstarted the countdown to the biggest sorting festival ever to be held in Peru.
Addressing members of the public at the Plaza de Armas Lima 2019 President Carlos Neuhaus said:
“Today we celebrate an important milestone on our journey to hosting Peru’s largest ever sporting event. One year from now, the best athletes from the Americas will be in Peru competing in what will surely be the best ever Pan American Games and Parapan American Games.
“We are preparing the right Games for Peru and Panam Sports. Our Games will feature world-class and sustainable venues designed for maximum social and sporting legacy. We are building many of these venues in underserved neighbourhoods to ensure the legacy affects these communities. .
“The Parapan American Games will also create opportunities and improve accessibility for people with an impairment across Peru.”
In what was the biggest surprise of the day, a pre-recorded message from Peru’s record goal scorer and captain of the national football team, Paolo Guerrero was screened to members of the public at the Plaza de Armas.
“Hello friends. In one year Lima will host the biggest sporting event on the continent – the Pan American and Parapan American Games.
“As a Peruvian, I feel immensely proud as this is a great opportunity to prove that we can compete at the highest level, always in the spirit of fair play. The Games are also a great opportunity to build modern sporting infrastructure that will be left as a legacy for all of Peru.
“For that reason, I ask you to not put away your jerseys. Keep supporting us and together we can show the world that we can add commitment to our enthusiasm in order to achieve our dreams. Let’s all get ready for the Games.”

Copenhagen, with its long history as a vibrant Baltic maritime hub, is set to play host to the 25th Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) World Congress. With “ITS – Quality of Life” as its main theme, this year’s Congress will explore how transport and mobility solutions can improve the quality of life in our cities by placing users and their needs at the heart of the mobility system. With this aim in mind, ITS experts from across the globe will converge in Copenhagen on 17-21 September to exchange best practices and advance the discussion on how to leverage smart mobility solutions to enhance people’s lives.

At this year’s Congress more than 10,000 participants from over 100 countries will discuss issues related to cybersecurity, resilience planning and smart transport solutions among many other themes. The ITS World Congress programme covers a range of interesting topics, from intelligent transport and the environment to the legal and safety aspects of cooperative, connected and automated mobility.

The 2018 ITS World Congress topics are:

• Mobility services from transport to mobility,
• ITS and the environment,
• Connected and automated transport,
• Next generation goods delivery,
• Satellite technology applied to mobility,
• Transport networks evolution,

Host topic:

• Cross-border mobility solutions.

“This year we will put emphasis on creative thinking, interaction and dialogue through a variety of sessions. Attendees will have access to innovative ideas and concepts from experts presenting in more than 150 dynamic sessions. Our vision is to enhance the interaction between the speaker and the audience, and thereby increase knowledge and expertise shared between our delegates from around the world” – ERTICO – ITS Europe Congress Director, Didier Gorteman, confirms.

Featuring more than 200 sessions and workshops, an exhibition, numerous demonstrations and technical tours, as well as a series of networking opportunities, associated events and social functions, the Congress is an ideal opportunity to learn from peers and share knowledge about the latest technologies and policy developments from across the world. It is also an excellent forum for the forging of new partnerships, offering participants the opportunity to join forces to push for positive change in the mobility sector.

The ITS World Congress 2018 is organised by ERTICO-ITS EUROPE, a public-private partnership of 120 companies and organisations representing stakeholders in the intelligent transport ecosystem, in collaboration with the City of Copenhagen, the European Commission, ITS America and ITS Asia-Pacific. ERTICO believes that the Congress, by providing these stakeholders with a forum to share their experience and learn from each other, makes a key contribution towards ensuring that intelligent transport systems improve the quality of life in cities and better serve the needs of urban transport users.

“The topics of this year Congress cover the most relevant areas in today’s business and policy agendas and are in perfectly in line with our activities and priorities: Connected and Automated Driving, Urban Mobility, Clean Mobility, and Transport and Logistics. As organisers of the largest event on smart mobility and transport digitalisation, we work closely with our Partners to ensure that we drive forward our shared vision towards zero accidents, zero delays, fully informed people, and a reduced impact on the environment. The ITS Congress is a great channel for us to promote this vision as well as to meet our overseas colleagues, understand their current work, see what solutions they have already in place and what their plans for the future are.”, ERTICO – ITS Europe CEO, Jacob Bangsgaard

Sustainability in Action

Copenhagen is ideally suited to host the ITS World Congress. The city regularly ranks at the top of the world’s most liveable cities, thanks to its commitment to sustainability. The city’s green credentials are reflected in some impressive statistics – around 45% of Copenhageners cycle to work, pedalling a combined total of 1.4 million kilometres per day. In fact, there are more bicycles than people in Copenhagen and only 29% of the city’s households own a car. Copenhagen is working hard to become carbon-neutral by 2025, and the ITS World Congress will be an opportunity to learn about the technologies and policies they are using to help achieve this goal.

“The city fuses quality of life at local level with a global outlook. It is internationally renowned for its innovative approach to climate and the environment. It has a reputation as the world’s best city for cyclists. It is a living showcase for Danish architecture. But most of all, Copenhagen is a good place to be. None of this came about by chance. It is the result of years of planning and development based on the needs of Copenhageners,” Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor Copenhagen, said.

During the ITS World Congress 2018, Copenhagen’s streets and squares will be used to display innovative ITS demonstration projects showcasing the latest technical innovations. Also on show will be Danish transport solutions, research findings and technological expertise, as well as products and services from Danish companies, in the hope of encouraging growth in exports of green mobility solutions.

Lord Mayor Jensen added that the ITS World Congress 2018 is a lever to bring together international public and private partners in a close collaboration that will contribute to the advancement of worldwide future ITS solutions. “On a regional level, the goal is that the Congress should strengthen the potential of cross-border partnerships in Greater Copenhagen, and reinforce the wide-ranging alliance within the Nordic Region,” he said.

Spotlight on Multimodality

The 25th ITS World Congress is one of the culminating events in the European Year of Multimodal Transport, during which the European Commission is promoting ‘multimodality’ with a range of initiatives. Major advances are foreseen as a result of this initiative, such as new regulations on multimodal passenger rights and data. It is no coincidence, then, that the ITS Congress has as a clear focus on multimodality and how to forge a path towards truly seamless and effortless mobility and achieve a system that is more efficient, sustainable and user-friendly.

Within this context, a session at this year’s Congress will examine how Mobility as a Service (MaaS) pilots and projects are aligned with the new regulatory environment and whether the proposed regulation takes into account results from field trials conducted throughout Europe. Also at the Congress, the European Commission will provide an overview on the regulatory framework around the deployment of multimodality and will share the progress made in MaaS projects funded by the EC.

Shape the Discussion

For anybody interested in the latest trends in smart and integrated transport, the ITS World Congress represents an ideal opportunity to contribute to and shape this discussion, share knowledge and learn about the latest technologies and policy developments globally. The Congress is an ideal forum to network with like-minded enthusiasts and leading experts with a view to forging new partnerships and pushing forward the intelligent transport agenda.

The Congress programme will be complemented by a 25000 sqm exhibition with the participation of over 400 companies and organisations from all over the world, showcasing their intelligent transport and smart city technologies and solutions. The 2018 Congress will also launch the first-ever exhibition space dedicated to young ventures of smart mobility at an ITS World Congress. The Area-C Startup Connector is an exclusive space for start-ups, giving them the opportunity to present their latest innovations and meet with potential business partners.

Furthermore, delegates of the Congress will have the opportunity to go on various technical visits and view demonstrations of the latest state-of-the-art products and solutions for real-world mobility scenarios, providing answers to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, such as climate change, air quality, urbanisation, congestion and traffic safety.

By providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and best practices from around the globe, the ITS World Congress will make a significant contribution to the promotion of user-centric smart mobility solutions, both in Europe and internationally, supporting the event organiser ERTICO-ITS Europe in its efforts to improve the quality of transport systems for Europe’s citizens.

FISU is the IOC-recognised partner of the Olympic Movement responsible for delivering international sport to millions of students from more than 26,000 campuses around the world, with the help of member federations in 174 countries.

Our vision is to help shape the leaders of tomorrow through their experiences of international university sport: either as spectators, as volunteers or as spectators. And the nature of University life is that every four years or so, our audience is completely new.

In fact, the sports world often thinks of new audiences as only being those in new places, perhaps where a rights holder has not yet hosted competitions. But I would challenge this approach.

New audiences must also be thought of as those young people who, each year, are arriving at the age where they will make decisions for themselves, where they will develop affinities and loyalties independently. These people are not just the future of one sport, or two sports, but the future of every sport. And every year, the universities of the world have an intake of potential players and potential fans that is measured in the millions.

FISU’s showcase events, the ones where we reach the biggest number of students each year, are the Winter and Summer Universiades. And the most recent editions of these were here in Asia: last year we were in Almaty for winter and Taipei for summer.

In the last ten years, there has been a lot of talk about opening up new audiences in Asia and especially here in China.

I am proud to say that FISU has been at the front of successful hosting in Asia for twenty years. Many of our friends here are already old friends. Years before even Beijing’s Olympic bid was successful, FISU was here preparing for the Beijing 2001 Universiade: the first major global multisport Games in China.

Even if China and Asia are not new audiences for us, they are very successful audiences and we are always happy to come back and even to discover new cities!

Our lessons in developing new audiences here have been very valuable to us. For FISU, our work here in China and in Asia has been about long-term investment. And our biggest investment is the one we make in people.

I cannot understate how important it is to invest time in building relationships and developing people. That’s why things like volunteer training are so important to us at FISU. Ten, twenty or even thirty years from now, there will be a student whose experience of volunteering at one of our events led to a career as a leader in business or in politics. And that student will remember just how much hosting one of our events can do for people and communities.

Leaders who have happy memories of the Universiade go all the way up to the IOC President, Thomas Bach. And while it is great for us to have leaders with a positive experience of the Universiade, it is also a great asset for our hosts. Here in China alone, there have been more than 50,000 volunteers with experience of the Universiades and World University Championships. That’s more than 50,000 young people with massively multicultural experience, with experience of successfully delivering huge projects and from learning from the best in the world as they do so.

Of course, it is no longer possible just to use a single tool to reach audiences, whether new or old. Today’s audiences are more fragmented than ever. Advertisers know this very well. They used to be able to count on TV to reach the big majority of their audiences. But now they have to combine efforts across many different channels. They have to follow closely the interests of their audiences and we do the same with our World University Championships. These FISU events, and we will have organised more than 350 of them by the end of this year, can be a perfect vehicle for new sports to develop and find new audiences of their own.

A perfect example is the World University American Football Championship that will bring something new to the nearly 20,000 students who attend Harbin University of Commerce next month. Taking those 20,000 students to experience a new sport and new cultures would not be affordable. But taking a new sport and new cultures to the students in Harbin who are expecting international careers can be a huge part of their education.

I would like to say that hosting events here in China has been a vital part of the way FISU is working on new ways to deliver international University sport, and to bring it to new audiences.

The World University League for 3x3 basketball that has been hosted annually by Huaqiao University is a great example of this.

3x3 basketball has been a great success, especially in Asia. It was first trialled in Macao, it first came to global attention at the Singapore Youth Olympic Games and the first Olympic champions will be crowned in Tokyo.

For us, 3x3 has been an opportunity to bring in not just a new sport but to adapt the model of international university competition.

Traditionally, teams have competed on behalf of their national university sports federations.

Now, however, we are providing opportunities for teams to compete on behalf of their individual universities.

Today’s young people seem to identify less and less with nationalism. Instead they appear to engage more with brands.

So at a time when universities have been looking to establish themselves as global brands, it has made a lot of sense to allow athletes to compete with the names of their universities on their shirts whether they are playing new sports or traditional sports.

We can already see this with eSports too. In 2014, Robert Morris university, not far from Chicago, became the first university to offer scholarships to players of League of Legends.

Tencent held the first International College Cup for League of Legends here just last year and students competed for their universities.

It is here in Asia that we have discovered new audiences for more traditional sports too, and I would encourage all rights holders to show some flexibility out of respect for their hosts. This approach certainly worked for us last year, when we added rollersports to the programme for the Universiade.

While bringing new sports and events to new athletes and new hosts, we’ve also been looking of course at new ways to bring our events to new audiences.

Everyone in this room will be aware of the changes in the way young people consume sport.

While live TV continues to be very important, there are so many new ways to reach audiences. It is critical to take advantage of them.

Digital streaming is something I know the panellists in the next discussion will want to talk about.

But to give you some examples, FISU has found huge success in streaming competitions online via social media. For us, to have more than 100,000 watching a single game of basketball online is a great step forward.

This year’s 3x3 World University League finals is one where we will be developing this approach further, with our own production teams and online broadcasting.

And as of next year, FISU will be looking to apply all that it has learned about engaging students as players, as volunteers and as fans at the first FISU University World Cup Football, which will take place in September in Jinjiang.

The FISU University World Cup Football hosting arrangement is potentially for seven annual editions, which shows this kind of long-term investment FISU is prepared to make in places and people. And I should add that we are always looking for new hosts in which to invest, new places where we can engage students around both traditional and new sports.

It is clear there is a great opportunity for the old and the new to learn from each other. And what better place to do this than in a place that combines tradition and innovation as well as China!

This speech was delivered at Host City Asia in Beijing on 31 May