Thought leaders from ITS (UK) have met virtually to discuss how ITS solutions can lead the way to helping in a post-Covid world, with contactless technology, capacity data, and social distancing at the forefront of ongoing planning.
Meeting in the latest ITS (UK) webinar on the industry’s reaction to the coronavirus crisis, ITS (UK)’s new chair, Ryan Hood of TRL, explained how the industry’s inventions will be key to producing solutions that will help us cope with “the new normal” as lockdown restrictions are relaxed.
Hood told the discussion there are clearly opportunities around data and touchless technology, and pointed to how ITS (UK) quickly helped the Department for Transport with data to understand people movement as movement restrictions were introduced.
New vice-Chair Karla Jakeman of Innovate UK added that we won’t be pressing the reset button but that we have a “brilliant foundation in the country to build on”, and will see some real opportunities. “I think that the market has adapted very quickly,” she said. “We’ve seen people with existing innovations adapt them to support the Covid “war effort”. We’ve seen some amazing projects that have come through to Innovate UK”.
ITS (UK) secretary general Jennie Martin also appeared on the panel for this latest webinar and commented that the organisation itself is carrying out a vital role for the Industry at the moment. “We’re gathering a picture of what’s happening to our very different types of members, what their hopes and fears are for the future,” she said.
“And, of course, the Department of Transport are very interested in getting that sort of feedback because they in turn, I’m sure they’re having to write massive numbers of large reports to other parts of the government… and that’s something we can help them with. That’s a key thing that I think ITS (UK) is an organization that can deliver on behalf of the members.”
