New cooperation formalised during the Executive Transport Forum 2016

Melbourne, Australia, 14/07/2016 -  On June, 28th, the PTV Group, represented by Dr.-Ing. Thomas Schwerdtfeger, Managing Director PTV MENA Region DMCC and founder of PTV, and Professor Iven Mareels, Dean of the Melbourne School of Engineering at the University of Melbourne, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on the subject of smart cities and smart mobility. The collaboration focusses on academic work and research, as well as on a number of initiatives and projects, such as the National Connected Multi-modal Transport (NCMT).

In the era of digital revolution, everything is inter-connected by communication. The advent of big data and analytics influence the shape of mobility and open new doors for high-tech solutions. To highlight the amazing opportunities that emerge from these changes and to be aware of the challenges, the industry and the academic world need to move closer together to benefit from each other. PTV Group and the University of Melbourne agreed on a long-term partnership to work together closely on the named topics.

“The city of Melbourne, as well as the University of Melbourne, are currently involved in different projects to show the world, that Melbourne is prepared for the future of transport,“ comments Miller Crockart, Vice President Traffic Sales and Marketing, on the latest news. “With the ITS World Congress coming up in October, the city of Melbourne is hosting one of the most important events in transport sector of the year. It’s the right time to get engaged and to have significant impact on future technology.”

Along with the vehicular evolution, new digitized mobility models are emerging such as the concept of shared mobility that will revolutionise not only the way of how people and goods will be moved – they will also change society as a whole. In doing so, cities are being made aware to the potential of such new mobility concepts and the changes they will bring.

Professor Iven Mareels is looking forward to working together closely: “By signing the Memorandum of Understanding, both parties agree on a collaboration that is oriented towards forward-looking technology. I strongly believe that we can bring innovative ideas to life using the best parts of our worlds – professionals that are keen on experiment and test and software that is the worldwide standard in software-based transport planning, traffic engineering and traffic simulation.”

The Executive Transport Forum is hosted by the University of Melbourne. The committee meets twice a year to discuss transport issues and initiatives in Australia and Victoria in particular. In addition to PTV Group other well-known companies, including VicRoads, Telstra, Bosch Australia and Siemens Australia and others, are members of the forum to shape the transport structure of the continent and to prepare it for future influences.