Talking Smart Cities at Traffex and Parkex 2019
Last week, Grid Smarter Cities had the pleasure of talking at both Parkex and Traffex, at a number of sessions during the vibrant exhibition at the NEC Birmingham.
On Tuesday 2nd we had Dom Hyams speaking on the panel around Inclusive Mobility led by Paul Hutton, Editor of Smart Highways Magazine, alongside other panellists including Bryan Matthews (Lecturer at University of Leeds), Helen Aluko-olokun (Policy Business Partner at Guide Dogs) and Mervyn Kohler (External Affairs Adviser, AGE UK).
Discussions focused around inclusion, developments in assistive technology and the future of MaaS. We discussed the importance of solutions being developed with the belief that if you create something that works for those that find things the most difficult, it will work for everyone. We could have spoken for hours on these topics but fundamentally, it was agreed that if we design in a way to cater for all, these systems and solutions need to be made from the ground up ‘with’ and not ‘for’ those that have the added experience of living with disability, to ensure that they are fit for purpose.
Neil Herron spoke on Wednesday on the “Tech Talks” Panel at Parkex, hosted by Anthony Eskinazi (JustPark), with Neil being joined by Richard Balch (Ford Smart Mobility) Dr Richard Fairchild (Autonomous Vehicle deployment at Aurrigo Pods), Gordon Telling (Transport Research Laboratory) and Darren Capes (Department for Transport).
The conversation was varied, but it was clear that all the panellists are aware of the critical need to drive innovation forward to enable and deliver impactful change addressing congestion, air quality and urban mobility.
It was great for Grid to be helping form the foundation of where we are heading in the conversations around Smart Cities, across a wide breadth of topics in our sessions from Urban Mobility and Future Technology, to Last Mile Delivery and Disabled Accessibility.
Well done to the teams at Parkex and Traffex for the great events, and many thanks to those that were present at our sessions. We look forward to helping shape further development in the varied and ever changing transport space.
