ITS World Congress, held yearly in a different country across the world, is perhaps the key global smart transportation technology event and trade show, attracting each time thousands of visitors from businesses and governments from around 100 countries. This year’s Congress, the 27th in its history, is held in Hamburg, Germany, and despite the ongoing global pandemic is proving to be a considerable success. The Congress allows for an in-depth exchange on the latest technologies, innovations and experience between countries with the common aim of improving transportation efficiency and addressing various challenges facing the industry around the globe. Latest products, models and prototypes are presented to the public; representatives from companies and governments can immerse themselves in a dialogue to improve their understanding of ways for better cooperation and collaboration going forward.
Dr. Shih Yi-Fang with Members of the Delegation, Dr. Huang Wen-Jing and Mr. Nelson Fan
The Congress is also a great opportunity for each country to showcase to the entire world its own achievements in the field of intelligent transportation and mobility and Taiwan is no exception. This year, the delegations is headed by Dr. Shih Yi-Fang – CECI Chairman and the President of the Intelligent Transportation Society of Taiwan. Dr. Shih became 11th President of the Intelligent Transportation Society of Taiwan in 2020 and immediately set out a number of new priorities for the Society, among which is hosting the ITS World Congress 2026. As part of this commitment, Dr. Shih will also be leading Taiwan delegation to the next year’s Congress, to be held in Los Angeles, United States. A successful bid for the ITS World Congress 2026 is expected to generate about $30 billion of new opportunities for the country, as well as present a unique chance to fully demonstrate the many accomplishments created over the past years through continuous engagement between local enterprises, the government and the public in the field of ITS.
Taiwan has long set its sights on global leadership in smart transportation technologies, which brings into closer cooperation with many countries in the world, very prominently with this year’s host country Germany. Taiwan’s delegation is thus taking this opportunity to promote engagement between both countries, and Taiwan's representative to Germany Mr. Shieh Jhy-Wey, also attended the Congress to show support and solidarity with the delegation.
Members of Taiwan Delegation with Mr. Shieh Jhy-Wey
Speaking about the Congress, Dr. Shih Yi-Fang stressed the importance of demonstrating Taiwan’s innovative abilities and achievements to the world, as well as making another step towards the crucial task of bringing 2026 ITS World Congress to Taipei, where it will undoubtedly become a great success.
One of the highlights of Taiwan delegation’s participation in ITS World Congress 2021 was the selection of two articles by CECI’s engineers as candidates for the APAC Best Technical Paper Award, with one of them by Mr. Lin Ming-Le on the intelligent dynamic signal control application on arterial roads in Taiwan was honored with the award.
Like many other major events organized in the past few years, ITS World Congress 2021 has not been fully immune to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Precaution measures were strictly implemented by the organizers; Taiwan’s delegation set out for German well prepared, with Dr. Shih ensuring that all members had been fully vaccinated and provided with everything else needed to travel and return home safely.