Opening Ceremony and Plenary Session
The official Opening Ceremony of the ITS European Congress 2026 marked the start of three days dedicated to innovation, collaboration and progress in integrated, safe and seamless mobility solutions.
The ceremony featured welcome addresses from the Organisers, the Host, and leading institutional and industry representatives, framing the key themes and priorities that guided the discussions.
Following the Opening, a high-level Plenary Session titled “One Journey: How Do We Make Mobility Truly Seamless?” brought together senior leaders to explore why travel still feels fragmented and how intelligent systems can finally deliver safe, connected and seamless mobility across modes and borders.
One journey: How do we make mobility truly seamless?
Despite decades of progress in ITS, why do travellers still experience mobility as a series of disconnected steps? This plenary asks one fundamental question: Can intelligent systems finally make mobility safe, connected, and seamless across all modes and borders?
Bringing together leaders from public agencies, technology firms, and research institutions, the session challenges participants to rethink what “integration” truly means in a data-driven, human-centred ecosystem. Participants will discuss what stands in the way of connecting diverse modes into one coherent network.
The plenary discussion explored how data interoperability, real-time traffic management, and multimodal integration can be woven together to create a unified mobility fabric. The session highlighted emerging opportunities for interoperability between traditional and new mobility solutions, including shared, electric, and autonomous systems, on the road and beyond. How can Cooperative ITS (C-ITS), Mobility as a Service (MaaS), and automation become part of everyday travel? What governance models and open standards are needed to balance innovation with safety, privacy, and trust?
The outcome: A shared understanding of how ITS can evolve from enabling technologies to the backbone of seamless, sustainable mobility for all.
