Intertraffic Amsterdam 2024: The Countdown Begins

Speeding up

Intertraffic Amsterdam 2024: The Countdown Begins

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After being forced into a four-year hiatus between Intertraffic Amsterdam iterations, it’s scarcely believable that our 2022 show took place a year ago.

The undoubted success of Intertraffic Amsterdam 2022 (in terms of the attendance, atmosphere, seminar programme and exhibition halls) is in the past and now provides the inspiration behind the planning and strategic thinking about next year’s event. Over the next 12 months we’ll be running regular updates to keep readers informed of the latest developments and innovations that visitors to the RAI from 16-19 April 2024 will experience.

THIS IS A CALL

The forensically detailed Call for Sessions & Demonstrations has opened and can be found on the Intertraffic website, but by way of a softer introduction to our countdown to 2024, Director Joyce de Winter and Programme Coordinator Esther de Waard give us the lowdown on how the sessions will be tailored and focused so that visitors can make the most of their four days in Amsterdam. Next year’s programme will be packed with user experiences, strategies, trends and intelligent technology enabling smart traffic, smart vehicles, seamless travelling and sustainable transport and addresses innovative technology improving urban parking, road safety, road infrastructure and smart and liveable cities.

Intertraffic: Over the next 12 months we’ll look at how the conference and seminar programme will be composed and will highlight the most pressing issues in the industry. Can you talk about the thinking behind that slight shift in emphasis away from solutions only?

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Esther de Waard (EdW): Yes, we have structured the call around the industry's biggest challenges by exhibition segments, namely infrastructure (both physical and digital), traffic management, smart mobility, road safety and urban parking and we have added typical smart and liveable city subjects. Over the last few years we've seen the transition from the challenges that road operators and technology vendors have typically had when it comes to data sharing and digitalization. That’s still a trend and still a subject we want to discuss, because everybody's still in this transition. So we really want to discuss the matters and how to facilitate this is to offer the tools and to facilitate the transition they are in and share experiences on how to become more data-driven. Data collection for smart services, smart asset management, intelligent roadside equipment, digital twins for example.

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Public private cooperation will be a subject, how road operators cooperate with service providers when it comes to providing in-car services, or car manufacturers working together with road operators on road safety for instance. But another subject that is immensely important is the Green Deal that everybody has to prepare for. Or what to think of safety & mobility objectives of Vision Zero that is still urgent all over the world.

So one of the main trends we have identified is how to keep cities safe and accessible for everyone, but also how to stimulate the major shift towards sustainable mobility in urban areas, creating zero-emission and car free zones but also including the environmental impact of traffic management solutions.

Joyce de Winter (JdW): What visitors will see on the show floor, for example, is companies offering solutions for the mobility transition. This could encompass digitalization, vehicle automation, more sustainable ways of travelling, offering interoperable mobility solutions that lead to a seamless travelling and parking experience, equitable and inclusive mobility, increasing Traffic Safety – Vision Zero, electrification & smart grids, climate-resilient roads and roadside equipment to name but a few.

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Intertraffic: Tell us about the content programme – that promises to be the biggest and best yet.

JdW: We've seen with the last couple of editions that the Summit programme we are offering has reached an exceptional level, has become more interactive aimed at user experiences, best practices, strategies, trends and intelligent technology. And of course, we work closely with a lot of stakeholder organisations and governments and cities and we are doing it all in a mixture of ways. So it could be an outdoor demonstration with vehicles where visitors can experience new technologies in real traffic conditions. It could be a keynote speaker from the US, an interactive presentation, an innovator pitch or a debate with road operators, technology vendors and service providers, for instance.

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CONTENT IS KING (AND QUEEN)

Intertraffic: The content programme seems to be very fluid and typically well-thought out, but with a greater emphasis on interactivity

EdW: Yes, I would agree. We offer multiple subjects per day. So it's not like the Tuesday is traffic management day, or the Wednesday is parking day – all five of the segment pillars are addressed across the week in four theatres: three larger theatres and one open stage. Even if you are not attending all four days which I would highly recommend, you can still experience a variety of subjects.

Intertraffic: In previous years you’ve been involved in the Call for Presentations, but for 2024 it’s a Call for Sessions and Presentations. What was the thinking behind that change? It’s not just semantics.

EdW: The thinking was that if you just issue a call for Presentations it implies that we're only offering presentations when it comes to policymaking or technology features. This is not the case: we want to offer more interactive settings, such as panel discussions and debates, discuss more policy or urban planning related issues, tackle urban and societal challenges where we need more public private cooperation and learn to understand each other’s motives. Besides giving stage to new technologies and new features also offer room for mobility inclusivity and behavioural issues and ways on how to create safe and liveable cities. That’s why we call it a session because it's more general that way.

So it's not as though the Tuesday is traffic management day, or the Wednesday is parking day – Everyday there is a variety of subjects.

Intertraffic: The show takes place at the RAI from 16-19th April, which sounds quite some distance away but in international event terms is just around the corner. Will you be publishing deadlines for submissions soon? What will readers need to do if they are interested in coming up with some session ideas or if they want to participate in one? What are the important dates that they need to know in terms of deadlines and the Summit programme being announced?

EdW: The deadline for submitting contributions is mid-July and in September we'll start composing the Summit programme. We’ll leave some time slots open for late entries but aim to finish everything in October or November. Compared to previous editions we announce the programme at an earlier stage with increased visitor awareness and promotion well ahead of the event, highlighting speakers, promoting sessions and subjects.

The call for sessions will be announced in April. The deadline for submitting contributions is mid-July and in September we'll start composing the Summit programme

USER-CENTRICITY IS THE KEY

Intertraffic: Do you have a message for exhibitors that are looking to put on sessions next year? What should they focus on?

JdW: Something that exhibitors need to bear in mind is that apart from high technology and high level sessions we're looking for sessions that are focused on policy making, best practices, user experience, on user-centric solutions that are not too technical and not too commercial. What could be better than having your solution presented by a satisfied customer, a city or road operators that uses your technology. It really needs to be a newsworthy subject and to appeal to broader target groups, and where possible to be interactive. It’s not just about your product, but which of challenges does it solve? Interact with the audience, give them the opportunity to raise questions. Of course, what we can do is extend the branding: we offer special packages for that including slots for keynote presentations. All the information can be found on the website and our exhibitors are informed personally.

Share your story

Do you have an innovation, research results or an other interesting topic you would like to share with the professionals in the infrastructure, traffic management, safety, smart mobility and parking industry? The Intertraffic website and social media channels are a great platform to showcase your stories!

Please contact our Sr Brand Marketing Manager Carola Jansen-Young.

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