Business & Money | Saturday 2 December, 2017 2:49 am |

The Gulf Traffic Exhibition and Conference, which will take place 4-6 of December at the Dubai World Trade Centre, will be looking at ways it can support the ever-growing trend of ‘Smart Technologies’ through a dedicated conference stream, technology suppliers and the official launch of its sister event, Gulf Parking.

 

Taking place on the opening day of the exhibition, the Smart Mobility Conference will be officially inaugurated by Eng. Hassan Al Mansouri, Undersecretary, Ministry of Infrastructure Development, who will deliver an overview of the UAE’s Transport & Infrastructure vision for the coming decade.

 

Speaking ahead of the event next week, H.E Al Mansouri commented; “The UAE, through implementing various projects including road projects, has achieved a high profile and maintained one of the best quality road networks over the past four years. This is achievable with the support of the country’s wise leadership and the efforts exerted by the Ministry in developing the infrastructure.”

 

He also highlighted the important cooperation which is taking place between the Ministry and its strategic partners from the local governments, which has yielded many successes when working towards the ongoing interests of the UAE and its future goals.

 

Chairing the conference is Nabeel Alzaka, Executive Director at Surface Mobility Consultants, who is confident that the industry is moving in the right direction and that some exciting developments are on the horizon;

 

“The concept of a Smart City is about using technology and innovation to improve the lives of citizens through streamlining municipal services. Smart Mobility is the piece of Smart City that specifically relates to the movement of people, goods, and services. Innovation in the context of mobility has shown up today in many forms but generally involve using technologies like better mobile apps to improve tasks in our daily lives such as ride sharing, parking, electronic tolling, vehicle registration, wayfinding, and unified payment methods. But innovation is moving beyond our smartphones as technologies start turning to big market disruptors such as drone CCTV, autonomous vehicles and flying taxis.

 

The setting in the Middle East is a great platform to host innovations in transport technology. The regional and local governments have a large appetite for leading the global movement and the people are receptive to technological change for the better. For countries like the UAE, as Dubai prepares for EXPO 2020 and beyond, the need to provide services for visitors, including transport, is paramount.  From the infrastructure and policy side, the time to act is now to make certain regulations are in place to support progress while ensuring safety and security for all.” said Alzaka.

Keeping on a smart trend but looking at it more from a physical instead of digital stand point, day three of the conference is dedicated to infrastructure development. One of the standout sessions for the day comes from Harj Dhaliwal, Managing Director – Middle East & India, Hyperloop One, who will be discussing how Hyperloop One will become a Middle Eastern reality, woven with other existing modes of transport.

 

Gulf Parking, a brand new standalone exhibition, will launch this year and will run adjacent to Gulf Traffic. Further adding to the brands offering by widening the focus to support other key industry sectors, this new platform will cater to the latest in smart payment and intelligent access control solutions from across the world, creating a new avenue for companies to showcase their latest product range to the traffic and transport industries.  

 

Exhibitors signed up to the 2017 edition include Abu Dhabi Police, Vitronic, Jenoptik, 3M, Adolf Nissen, Orafol, Parifex, Flir, Tagmaster, PTV, Image Sensing, Transcore, Ortana, Transpo Group.

 

Officially supported by the UAE’s Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MoID), Integrated Transport Centre Abu Dhabi, Mawaqif and Dubai Police, Gulf Traffic plans to host over 150 exhibitors and attract approximately 2500 industry peers from 50 countries, both across the Middle East and beyond.