The Transport Technology Forum has announced the theme of its special virtual annual conference this year, as it focusses on the challenges the transport industry is facing following the Covid-19 crisis.
The three-day online event will be split into six different sessions, with participants encouraged to pick and choose which they take part in, with the promise all content will be available on demand in easy bite-sized chunks after the event.
After an opening keynote session on Wednesday 3 March, a session will concentrate on funding and procurement within the highways and transport industries, while on Thursday 4 March there will be examples of successful transport technology projects supported by Innovate UK and a specific session focussed on the needs of London Councils.
On the Friday the TTF’s award-winning work analysing changes in transport patterns related to Covid-19 will frame the debate for a session on how these increasingly significant changes will affect authorities’ delivery of transport solutions in the future, and how technology can help in that. This will be followed by a closing session with further keynote speakers.
On the Wednesday and Thursday evenings, in lieu of social events, an hour’s informal discussion with a series of guests will take place which will be audio-only to allow listeners to get on with other things without being tied to a screen. Nicknamed “TT-FM” it will be something very different from normal “traffic news”
“Experience of our working lives since March have shown that people don’t consume content online in anything like the same way they do at physical events,” explained Darren Capes of the Department for Transport who manages the TTF. “We’ve therefore chosen subjects in which the TTF can really make a difference, and are delivering them so people can choose to join live and take advantage of the interaction on offer, or pick up on key sessions later when it suits them.
“We know that it’s unlikely there’s anyone who’ll be interested in every part of every single session, but we’re confident they’ll find plenty there that will help them in their working life. The interactive radio-style show in the evening offers us a chance of relaxed reflection of the key subjects, but doing it audio-only reduces our screen time and lets people get on with other things while listening, such as cooking or going for a walk. We think we’ve come up with an innovative way to deliver key content to the community in these ongoing challenging times.”
Further details of the event will be released over the coming weeks. You can sign up for your place here.
