Australian ITS summit focus on safety, congestion, sustainability

From 18-20 November 2009, the Australian Intelligent Transport Systems Summit will be held in Melbourne. Tim Pallas, Victorian Minister for Roads and Ports sets the scene and explains its objectives.

Co-hosted by the Victorian Government and 858 ITS Australia, the Australian Intelligent Transport Systems Summit (ITS 09), being held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, is expected to attract in excess of 300 delegates with presentations and workshops providing a comprehensive update of ITS technologies under the theme 'connecting Australians'.

As Victorian Minister for Roads and Ports Tim Pallas tells ITS International, the summit will place special focus on road safety, congestion and sustainability.

"These are just some of the challenges facing Victoria, and the Australian transport network," he explains. "Meeting these challenges on a national level requires close consultation from all state and federal counterparts, as well as the systematic implementation of ITS technology." A special feature planned for the summit is a Ministerial Roundtable to progress a national approach to the application of ITS technology. Relevant state, territory and federal ministers are being invited to attend this meeting to streamline dialogue at the policy level.

Milestone event

"The summit is shaping up to be a milestone event for Australian transport planning, infrastructure development and development of the ITS industry," says Pallas. "Never before has a programme as ambitious as this been engineered in Australia." Pointing out that interest in the summit is strong from all sectors - public, ITS industry and academia as well as ministers for roads and transport - the programme, according to Pallas, will assist in promoting a national focus to the event and strong focus on a truly national ITS strategy.

The summit format is designed to achieve a balance between information about the latest developments in ITS as well as discussion and decision-making about executing an ITS strategy for Australia. This involves inclusion of speakers presenting case studies on local and international developments in ITS and innovative use of ITS across various platforms. Following on from speaker presentations will be panel discussions and debates on the appropriate directions for policy and action. The third tier of discussion will involve facilitated workshops with heavy input from delegates.

National ITS strategy

"This Australian ITS Summit will provide a vital interface between leading-edge innovations and the Australian state and federal governments. The summit objective is to build a framework that will deliver a national ITS strategy and vision for the next 10 years," continues Pallas.

"We are moving towards an exciting and more sustainable future of intelligent cities and regions. This will mean more intelligent transport infrastructure, smarter vehicles and more informed travel choices for commuters and public transport users. To help us move closer to this in the future, the ITS Summit will review the innovations in, and experiences with, ITS solutions both overseas and within Australia to assist in the development of an ITS Strategy for Australia and an action plan."

According to Pallas, the action plan is aimed at:

• Managing road congestion and improving transport safety;

• Improving road safety;

• Improving public transport operation;

• Achieving a more efficient freight industry;

• Better traveller information;

• Reducing environmental impacts; and

• Improving security, safety and emergency planning.

"ITS technology helps transport and road users to utilise infrastructure more effectively and efficiently. It is the link that will help state, territory and federal governments meet their transport challenges. That is why it is important to establish a formal means of sharing information, technology and strategy around such issues between states and industry," Pallas says.

The summit will explore the current and required industry capability to deliver ITS solutions. It will reach decisions, or agree a method for reaching decisions, on areas that require a national and consistent approach, long-term directions, and areas requiring standardisation. The aim of the summit will be to capture the above in order to develop a national strategy for ITS development and deployment which will maximise the benefits from public and private investments in ITS as well as stimulate industry investment in essential infrastructure and services. The summit will also aim to use the public spend to deliver low-cost services and private sector job creation and exports whilst proving long-term direction to research in both government and industry. A key aim will be to encourage the adoption of open standards.