1^st High-level Meeting of 29^th ITS World Congress Held Successfully

China ITS Industry Alliance

The first high-level meeting of the 29^th World Congress on Intelligent Transport System (hereinafter called ITS World Congress) was successfully held online in Beijing, Tokyo, Nanjing, and Suzhou simultaneously on November 28^th, 2022. As approved by the State Council of People’s Republic of China, Suzhou Municipal People's Government, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Transport, and Research Institute of Highway of Ministry of Transport are the hosts of this World Congress, and Suzhou Municipal Department of Transport, China ITS Industry Alliance, and Suzhou Industrial Park Management Committee are the co-hosts. The 29^th ITS World Congress will be held in Suzhou from October 16 to 20, 2023 under the theme of “Driving Towards Intelligent Society-Quality Life”.

Following the 28th ITS World Congress, crowned with great success, in Los Angeles, USA in September, 2022, Mr. Qingwen Wu, Mayor of Suzhou Municipal People's Government, officially took over the chairmanship of the 29th ITS World Congress. Thus, since Beijing hosted the 14th ITS World Congress for the first time in 2007, Suzhou has officially launched the preparatory work for the ITS World Congress for the second time.

Picture 1: Mr. Qingwen Wu, Mayor of Suzhou & Chair of 29^th ITS World Congress,

Mr. Akio Yamamot, Secretary-General of ITS AP

Mr. Qingwen Wu, Mayor of Suzhou Municipal People's Government and Chair of the 29^th ITS World Congress, Mr. Akio Yamamoto, Secretary-General of ITS Asia-Pacific, Mr. Yaochu Ling, Deputy Director of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Transport, Mr. Bin Li, Deputy Director and Chief Engineer of Research Institute of Highway of Ministry of Transport attended the meeting and delivered addresses. The meeting was moderated by Mr. Xiaojing Wang, Chair of China ITS Industry Alliance. The host city gave an update on the preparatory work of the 29^th ITS World Congress. The relevant players carried out an in-depth discussion, focusing on how to jointly overcome the impact of Covid-19 and how to practically promote the preparation of the World Congress. A consensus on follow-up plans had been reached by the end of the meeting.

Picture 2: Mr. Bin Li, Mr. Yaochu Ling and Mr. Xiaojing Wang

Mr. Qingwen Wu said that Suzhou will be fully committed to promoting the preparations for the World Congress with the support from the hosts and co-hosts. The official website is expected to be launched around December 20, 2022, and other activities, including call for papers, exhibition and sponsorships, will also be released to the international ITS community successively. With the joint support from the three organizers, namely ITS AP, ITS America and ERTICO, and with the tremendous support from Chinese hosts and co-hosts, Suzhou has the confidence and ability to present a prestigious ITS event to the world.

Picture 4: All Participants