IRF and the FIA Smart Cities Global Start-up Contest Announce New IRF Start-up Label Winner: Valerann
The International Road Federation (IRF) and its recently launched IRF Start-up Label collaborated with the FIA Smart Cities Global Start-Up Contest to identify and support Valerann as a winner of the IRF Start-up Label.
The IRF Start-up Label is a recently launched IRF initiative designed to support high-potential mobility start-ups, help them showcase their credibility, and further build trust with their clients, investors, and employees.
In 2021, the International Road Federation partnered with the FIA Smart Cities Global Start-up Contest to give one of the 18 finalists of the Season 5 Contest the possibility to obtain its IRF Start-up Label.
IRF took part in the jury of international experts comprising representatives of FIA Smart Cities Partners, FIA Member Clubs and other organisations, and selected Valerann as the recipient of the label. Valerann is an innovative cutting-edge Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) SaaS company that empowers control centres and road operators around the world by providing Lanternn by Valerann, an intelligent traffic management platform.
As a winner of the label, Valerann will benefit from IRF’s official endorsement for three consecutive years. During the first year, they will gain professional mentoring on a topic of their choice provided by IRF experts. Valerann will also be invited to participate in IRF networking events, providing them exposure to relevant stakeholders. During the second and third year, the IRF will assist with bespoke actions aligned with the start-up’s priorities.
For more information, please contact the International Road Federation at info@irfnet.ch.
About IRF
The International Road Federation (IRF) is a global, independent, not-for-profit organisation with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Active since 1948, IRF is a membership-based organisation, representing leading corporate and institutional players drawn from the road and mobility sectors worldwide. Its mission is to promote the development of roads and road networks that enable access and sustainable mobility for all. Its approach is centred on key strategic components of knowledge transfer & information sharing, connecting people, businesses, and organisations, and working on policy & advocacy.
About the FIA
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) is the governing body for world motor sport and the federation of the world’s leading mobility organisations. Founded in 1904, with headquarters in Paris and Geneva, the FIA is a non-profit organisation. It brings together 244 Member Organisations from 146 countries on five continents. Its Member Clubs represent over 80 million road users and their families. The FIA promotes safe, sustainable and accessible mobility for all road users around the world.
About the FIA Smart Cities Initiative and the Global Start-up Contest
Created in 2017 as part of the FIA Smart Cities initiative aiming to help cities define new models for more sustainable urban mobility, the FIA Smart Cities Global Start-Up Contest selects each year 18 finalists and four winners among promising mobility-focused start-ups from the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Powered by MassChallenge, it gives the finalists a platform to grow their network and visibility by connecting them to key mobility stakeholders in multinational corporates, government, and public institutions.
Serbia: Large Infrastructure Projects Delivered
The year behind us is the year of construction of large infrastructure projects, design, rehabilitation of both state roads and local roads, in a word, Serbia is a great construction site. The COVID-19 pandemic did not stop works, construction...
In Serbia, the construction of large infrastructure projects is currently underway, as well as designing or construction of more than 1,200 kilometers of highways and expressways.
PE "Roads of Serbia" rehabilitated 682 kilometers of state and 547 kilometers of local roads in 2021.
1. Construction of highway E-763, Belgrade-South Adriatic, section: Preljina – Požega, total length of 30.9 km
Section from Preljina to Požega will be connected to the already built Highway E-763, from Surčin to Preljina. The section from Preljina to Požega is very demanding, due to the topography and geological conditions and as well as to the need to relocate the existing technical infrastructure. A sub-section of the E-763 highway, from Preljina to Pakovraće in the length of 11 km will be opened to traffic by the end of January 2022.
2. Construction of the Bypass around Belgrade, section: Bridge on the Sava river near Ostružnica - Bubanj Potok (Sectors 4, 5 and 6) - total length 20.4 km
Sector 4, section: Bridge on the Sava near Ostružnica - Orlovača interchange, in the length of 7.7 km, was completed and opened to traffic in April 2021.
Sectors 5 and 6, sections from Orlovača interchange to the Bubanj Potok interchange, are under way in length of 12.7 km and are expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
- Sector B 5: Orlovača interchange - Straževica Tunnel (Left Lane) – 3.1 km
- Sector B 6: Straževica Tunnel - Bubanj Potok interchange (in full highway profile) - 9.6 km
The construction of the Bypass around Belgrade will connect the branch of Corridor 10 b, E-75 (state border with Hungary, Horgoš - Novi Sad - Belgrade) with Corridor 10, E-70 (state border with Croatia, Batrovci - Belgrade), state road of I B category No 26 and Route 4, E-763 (Belgrade - Požega – state border with Montenegro at Boljare) and again with a part of Corridor 10, E-75 (Belgrade - Niš - Preševo – state border with the Republic of North Macedonia). Upon completion of the Belgrade Bypass, the basic network of city roads will be significantly relieved.
3. Construction of the Highway E-763, Belgrade - South Adriatic, Sector 1: Belgrade - Ljig, section: New Belgrade-Surčin, total length 7.9 km
The section from New Belgrade to Surčin is a connection between the city of Belgrade and the Highway E-763 ("Miloš the Great"), thus making a whole city roads network completely functional and connecting it with Highway E-763, creating the shortest link between Belgrade and the Adriatic Sea.
4. Construction of the highway from Belgrade to Sarajevo and the bridge over the Sava River, near Sremska Rača, total length 18 km
The Belgrade-Sarajevo highway is the first highway that will directly connect the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and it is of great importance for connecting in the region.
At the beginning of January 2022, the left bridge construction of the bridge over the Sava River near Sremska Rača was overhauled, and thus the steel bridge, in the entire highway profile, was brought to its final position.
Both steel structures, left and right, each weighing 2,700 tons, were delivered from Turkey. In course of 8 month constructions they were assembled, mounted, protected and longitudinally dragged into the final position.
This 1310-meter-long bridge is part of an 18-kilometer-long highway that will connect the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e. the Republic Srpska.
5. Design and construction of the state road I B category No 27, Loznica-Valjevo-Lazarevac, section Iverak-Lajkovac (connection with the Highway E-763, Belgrade-Požega) - total length 18.3 km
The expressway is the connection of the city of Valjevo with the highway E-763 Belgrade - South Adriatic and represents a transverse connection in the road network of the Republic of Serbia and will connect parts of Bosnia and Hercegovina with the Highway E-763 and further Corridor 10, with Bulgaria and Greece.
ICT Gets Industry Excellence Award for Engineering Services and Consultancy
New Delhi : Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats (ICT) a leading Infrastructure company having operations in more than 45 countries across the globe has been conferred with ‘Industry Excellence award for its engineering and consultancy services’ conferred by the Institute of Engineers, the apex body of engineers in the country.
Mr K K Kapila, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) ICT, received the award from Dr Mahendera Nath Pandey, Union Minister for Heavy Industries at a function organised by the Institute of Engineers as part of its centenary celebrations. Mr Kapila is also President Emeritus of Geneva-based International Road Federation (IRF) working for better safer roads worldwide.
“We are delighted to be recognised for our engineering consultancy in India and abroad. This honour will encourage us to enhance our global reach, It is our endeavor to build core competence in various engineering disciplines to compete globally in providing services for meeting the urgent sustainable infrastructure development needs of the developing world and thereby contribute to the overall economic growth and the general well-being of mankind”said Mr K K Kapila, CMD, ICT.
“We build an equitable world for our future generations, and we consistently hone our focus towards sustainability. We partner with our Clients to find the best possible solutions for their projects; solutions that help them to achieve their goals. We are committed to providing efficient, timely services and tailored solutions to our Clients, which help them in making their organization successful. Our commitment towards quality never wavers.” he added.
Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats (ICT), an ISO-9001:2008 Certified Company incorporated in the year 1987, ranked among top 100 consultancy companies in the world, has operations in more than 45 countries across the globe. It is a leading international consulting organisation specialising in highways, structures, airports, urban and regional infrastructure development, water supply, water resources development and management, traffic and transportation, ports and tourism, institutional strengthening and capacity building and socio-economic and environmental impact assessment.
Unwanted Paint Priming the Way in Road Construction
The humble can of household paint is at the heart of an Australian research mission to divert 90 percent of the country’s unwanted paint out of landfill and vital waterways and into our budding circular economy.
“The circular economy revolution isn’t going to just happen – Australia needs to get out there and make it work,” Paintback’s General Manager of Research and Development Dr Salwan Al-Assafi said.
Paintback is the official product stewardship program for Australian paint, which is supported by paint manufacturers and funded by a 15c-per-litre levy on paint products, which helps to fund important research into innovative uses for the reclaimed paint.
It aims to recover 90 percent of unwanted paint and packaging it collects and transform them for use in Australia’s circular economy – where products are re-used or repurposed for other manufacturing or industry processes to keep them circulating instead of being discarded permanently.
“Thanks to Australians, there is already a local circular economy for paint, but we want to expand it by creating new products, putting them back into circulation and creating new markets for Australia’s unwanted paint,” Dr Al-Assafi said.
“We want the humble household paint to become a showcase for the circular economy.”
To do this, Paintback has partnered with the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) - the National Transport Research Organisation. Together they are researching how reclaimed water-based paint can have a beneficial use in road infrastructure applications.
ARRB Principal Professional, Sustainability and Material Performance, Dr. James Grenfell said the project would investigate the use of reclaimed water-based paint in the following applications:
- Rejuvenation type products involving bitumen emulsions
- Stabilisation of granular materials
- Dust suppressants
- Non-structural concrete for low-risk road applications
“There is the strong potential that this project will develop materials solutions and blends that can be up-scaled and produced at the plant scale with a view to being introduced into general infrastructure construction and rehabilitation works,” Dr. Grenfell said.
Last year alone, Australians returned 9.3 million kg of paint and pails to Paintback, which runs more than 160 permanent collection points across the country to collect the paint and ensure it is disposed of safely or converted for other uses, like creating an alternative fuel for kilns, or extracting water from latex paint for use in industry.
Paintback research shows that, while one in three Australians have old or leftover paint at home, more than half (54 percent) of them didn’t know there were organisations to help them dispose of paint safely. Given that 5% of paint purchased each year ends up surplus to requirements, this isn’t just an issue for the environment, it’s a big opportunity as well.
“If we can make Australia’s unwanted paint a hero of our circular economy, we help protect the environment, reduce the amount of paint in landfill, and support local innovation,” Dr Al-Assafi said.
Find out more about Paintback here.
Find out more about ARRB's research labs here
