The IRF Annual Conference 2021 Edition 

October 26, 2021
|In IRF News
|By Mao Macatangay

The International Road Federation (IRF) annual autumn conference was hosted online on 20 and 21 October under the theme “Innovation: Charting Pathways to Sustainable Mobility”.  

More than 1’000 participants from 100 countries and over 50 speakers from leading organisations and companies in the roads and mobility sector gathered online for two days to learn, share knowledge and expertise, and build partnerships.  

“The extraordinary mobility changes we are witnessing wouldn’t be possible without proper infrastructure, yet, transforming mobility requires more than just technology and infrastructure. Transforming mobility requires innovation, on all fronts” the opening remarks of IRF President, Mr. Bill Halkias, as he welcomed everyone during the Opening Session which included Massimo Schintu (President of ASECAP), Neil Pedersen (Executive Director of the Transportation Research Board), Angelos Amditis (President of ERTICO), Liu Wenjie (Secretary General of CHTS & BRITA).  The message was echoed by Dr. Nancy Vandycke, Head of the SuM4All Partnership, in which IRF is actively engaged. “We need to go back to the drawing board and set up our minds free.  New data, technologies and partnerships can improve our chances to “reset” our systems and improve future decision-making in transport.  That’s why we welcome gatherings like this one and we thank IRF for this opportunity” she said. 

The conference was articulated around four thematic sessions taking a deep dive into: Investments in Road Safety; Digitalisation in the Road Sector; Embedding Sustainability in Infrastructure Projects: and New Trends in Road Transport. To see the full programme, click here. 

Two special sessions were also included in the programme: the “IRF Innovation Updates” welcomed different IRF Members to present their innovative projects; and the IRF Start-up Label session offered this year’s finalists the opportunity to pitch their solutions and present how they are revolutionising the mobility sector. Learn more about the IRF Start-up Label finalists here. 

The Conference concluded on the 21st of October with a special announcement: the hosting of the next IRF World Congress in Istanbul in 2024. The announcement video is now available online. 

This conference would not have been possible without the support of IRF Gold Sponsors, Hellastron and 3M, our Silver Sponsor, Together for Safer Roads, and China Highway and Transportation Society which provided Chinese-English simultaneous interpretation throughout the whole conference. 

All recordings and material of the conference are now available on the event page. 

Event Page

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