We’re thrilled to announce our keynote line-up for TRANSPORT Smart Class, Midlands 2022, along with their presentation topics:
“Bettering Oyster Outside the London Area – How We Finally Do It” – Over the last 10 years, Transport for West Midlands have been developing the largest and leading smart payments and ticketing solution outside of London, which works across the same, more complex, de-regulated public transport environment that the rest of the UK faces. Recent progress has taken capabilities to a new level: practical solutions have started to be made available for areas beyond the West Midlands to adopt and the next two years will unlock even more exciting opportunities.
Proposals developed by Transport for West Midlands with Midlands Connect and Nottingham City Council pave the way towards the holy grail of smart ticketing! This joint keynote presentation from Mike Waters – TfWM’s Director of Policy, Strategy & Innovation – and Matt Lewis – Head of Swift at TfWM – will share lessons, set the ‘how this unlocks other key outcomes’ and chart a path forward which others can join to enjoy the same benefits.
“Transforming Mobility in Coventry with Urban Airport and Coventry Very Light Rail”– Coventry is a city making ground-breaking strides in transport innovation. Drawing on decades of expertise in automotive manufacturing, strong academic institutions and innovative businesses, Coventry is becoming a testbed for some of the UK’s most forward-thinking transport projects.
Two such projects, Urban Airport and Coventry Very Light Rail, will be the subject of this keynote presentation, given by Coventry City Council’s Transport Innovation Manager, Sunil Budhdeo, and Senior Rail Programme Manager, Nicola Small.
The Council is working with Urban-Air Port Ltd to demonstrate the world’s first Urban Airport at a strategic location in Coventry: Air One. Rapidly deployed and with a small footprint, Air One could be used in cities throughout the UK to provide environmentally friendly drone operations with authorisation from civil aviation authorities.
Coventry Very Light Rail is yet another world first that is seeking to drive down the costs of urban light rail through the development of a new, battery powered vehicle and a breakthrough track form that takes advantage of the latest materials science. The system could make urban light rail a possibility in smaller and medium-sized cities throughout the UK.
“Delivering at Speed and at Scale, Without Leaving Anyone Behind” – Midlands Connect’s Head of Strategy, Richard Bradley, will explain in this keynote how long-term planning for major infrastructure is being transformed to capture all of the Midland’s communities and geographies, with a delivery focus that puts the Midlands at the centre of the green industrial revolution: “Adapting our traditional travel market analysis for our rapidly changing world seems to be the ‘secret sauce’ for kick-starting enhancements to infrastructure and de-risking supply-chains”. Richard will explain how this market analysis can enable sustainable business models motivated by societal benefits as well as profit.
His presentation will describe how short-term delivery is becoming essential for learning-by-doing and scaling alternative fuels, emerging technologies and digital systems. This includes regional demonstrators in the future of rural mobility, digital and technology driven solutions that get the most out of the road network and evolving our use of hydrogen for moving heavy loads long distances. Richard will reveal Midlands Connect’s collaborative and scalable approach to delivering a resilient network for recharging electric vehicles and refuelling with alternative fuels. He will also illustrate how new approaches to delivery can enable a paradigm shift in behaviour, including the importance of building trust by monitoring the region’s performance.
TRANSPORT Smart Class, Midlands 2022 takes place in person on Thursday February 24th at the historical Nottingham Council House.
Nottingham Council House, an old public local landmark, with Tram shot at Twilight
TRANSPORT Smart Classes show key buyer side stakeholders how they can deploy the latest digital technology-enabled solutions, data-driven strategies and best practices to tackle their transport sector challenges (e.g. around congestion, traffic flows, air pollution and emissions, noise, first and last mile mobility, customer experience, cost effectiveness, connecting transport networks, managing and maintaining assets & infrastructure) and deliver a transport system that will allow passengers and citizens to travel efficiently, safely and with minimal impact on the environment. Core themes range from on-demand transport and MaaS applications, EVs and e-mobility, micromobility, predictive traffic management, journey time monitoring, smart parking and enforcing CAZs and LEZs, to active travel and behavioural change, analysing people movements, new ways of visualising data, connected and autonomous vehicles, intelligent street lighting, real-time transport modelling, smart ticketing and fare collection, and ITS in a Covid and post-Covid world.
TRANSPORT Smart Class, Midlands 2022 will host our speakers discussions on how the latest digital innovations can help overcome the transport and mobility challenges faced by burgeoning city-regions of the East and West Midlands, and beyond. In addition to our inspirational Keynotes, the event will feature: Rapid fire innovator presentations delivered by leading technology experts and thought leaders, each representing a priority transport and mobility innovation topic and associated fields of application; Deeper-dive roundtable consultations with speakers and specialists to hone delegates’ smart strategies and address some of their specific transport and mobility challenges; Further networking opportunities with peers and pioneers over breakfast, drinks and cooked lunch, and all at no charge!
Qualifying delegates include commissioning, procurement, trialling and partnering leads, senior influencers, strategic decision makers and planners from local authorities (e.g. city, borough, metropolitan, district, county and unitary councils); public and private transport operators; regional transport partnerships, sub-regional transport bodies, combined authorities, integrated transport authorities and passenger transport executives; highways authorities and road operators; government and supporting national transport agencies; fleet operators, vehicle manufacturers, parking operators, prime contractors etc. Those with relevant credentials can Register here for a free place and join us for what promises to be an insightful half-day of collaboration and knowledge exchange!
Up to 5 innovators/solution vendors can participate at a Smart Class in an “Innovation Sponsor” capacity: Check out our Event Sponsorship page for full details on “Smart Class Innovation Sponsorship Packages” or contact us by phone or e-mail if you’d like to discuss this option further. Peruse our Testimonials page (or the individual Smart Class event pages on our website) for feedback from previous delegates, sponsors and supporters!
Feature Image Source: Skitterphoto on Pixabay
