Conference on the digitalization of travel and traffic information

The conference, which was aimed at raising awareness of the importance of digitalization and exchange of traffic data among stakeholders that are key to creating a single European transport area, brought together participants from Croatia – data providers, service providers, academia and industry – as well as representatives from the European Union and the Western Balkan countries. Special emphasis was placed on the experiences and plans of the NAPCORE project and the National Access Points in Europe in the field of data collection, standardization and use.

The conference attendees were addressed by Ivica Budimir, CEO at Hrvatske ceste d.o.o., Gordana Kovačević, MSc, president of Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Assoc. Prof. Marko Šoštarić, PhD, dean of the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, and Tomislav Mihotić, State Secretary at the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure.

All keynote speakers highlighted the importance of this project for the digitalization of traffic and travel data, which is a key component of the European Union’s digital transport infrastructure. Gordana Kovačević noted that the use and sharing of data in strategic sectors is key to realizing the digital vision of the EU and that it enables the development of new technologies and solutions as well as new business paradigms, which contributes to the development of the economy and society. Kovačević also referred to the European data strategy, one of the goals of which is to create a single market for traffic data in which the free movement of data is enabled within the EU and between the public and private sectors, which will benefit all citizens and passengers across Europe. Kovačević emphasized that projects such as NAPCORE show how the synergy of the public sector, the ICT industry and other stakeholders brings benefits to citizens and the economy throughout the EU.

NAPCORE (National Access Point Coordination Organization for Europe) brings together more than 30 mobility data platforms across Europe and was launched to ensure better coordination among them. Ericsson Nikola Tesla is responsible for providing expert support in the project and making proposals for the implementation of new functionalities of the National Access Point system of the Republic of Croatia in accordance with the results of the work of particular working groups and subgroups of the project. Krešimir Vidović, Solution Architect for Intelligent Transport Systems at ENT, gave a presentation during the conference, and Saša Vojvodić, Msc, Services Business Area Manager at ENT, participated in a panel discussion on the strategy and future of NAPCORE and NPT.