Public transport, sharing mobility, sustainability, the energy transition and innovation: both its exhibitors and its extensive conference programme will make the Next Mobility Exhibition, organised by Fiera Milano and due to be held in the Rho district from October 12 to 14, a unique opportunity to get market leaders together with national and international stakeholders.
At a time when – partly owing to funding allocated by the NRRP (over €32.4 billion for LPT alone, according to the Intesa Sanpaolo-ASSTRA report) – mobility is key to Italy’s recovery and economic development, NME is offering a three-day event to take stock of vehicles, solutions, policies and technologies for a sustainable mobility system for people, discuss the state of the art on the market, reflect on how the world of local public transport is changing, consider how to facilitate recovery and development in a sector that has been severely affected by the two-year pandemic, and explore the potential of green transport: gas, hydrogen and electric, but also sharing and innovative mobility.
In the background, a market in great turmoil. Although strongly marked by pandemic-related blockades, Italy’s local and regional public transport sector is key: pre-Covid, it generated a turnover of around €12 billion per year, with over 5.5 billion passengers, 1.8 billion road Km per year and over 124,000 employees (source: Intesa Sanpaolo-ASSTRA report). Meanwhile, the micro-mobility market is growing, accounting for 90% of the total number of sharing vehicles in Italy: 9 out of 10 rentals. Offers (+45%) and registrations (+30%) for scooter sharing services are also on the rise, which are mainly concentrated in large metropolitan areas: Rome, Milan and Turin recorded a higher-than-average number of rentals in 2019, i.e., 21.7 million rentals and 91.7 million km travelled. (Source: Sharing Mobility Observatory)
To date, more than fifty companies have already responded to Next Mobility Exhibition’s appeal, including several vehicle manufacturers such as Industria Italiana Autobus, Irizar e-mobility, IVECO BUS, MAN Truck&Bus, Rampini and Solaris.
There is also space set aside for energy transition leaders with, among others, Kempower, Loop Energy and Nuvera Fuel Cells.
On the IT front there is going to be great participation, with companies such as Greenshare, IVU Traffic Technologies Italia, MAIOR, Nordcom, Optibus Transportation Limited, Padam Mobility, Shotl Transportation and Y. Share.
Operators such as Flixbus and Marino Bus will also play a key role in the event.
At the heart of the exhibition there is an extensive training programme created by the Technical and Scientific Committee chaired by Professor Pierluigi Coppola (Coordinator of the Polytechnic University of Milan’s Air Urban Mobility Project) featuring international associations (UITP – International Association of Public Transport and IRU – World Road Transport Organisation), government ministries, academic institutions such as Bocconi University and the University of Campania, as well as the Conference of Autonomous Regions and Provinces, Trenord and numerous associations representing the various nuances of energy transition: Federmetano, Motus-e, ENEA, UNEM and H2IT (The Italian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association) as well as ANIE E-Mobility.
The committee was founded with the aim of sharing know-how and will make the exhibition a pivotal moment for focusing on short- and long-term targets, taking stock of NRRP-related opportunities and evaluating ways to overcome current critical challenges.
Opening this extensive programme will be a conference entitled “Drivers of innovative and sustainable mobility” centred on research carried out by the Polytechnic University of Milan, offering an analysis and tools to restore demand for public transport, a goal of the Ministry for Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility’s Position Paper which set the ambitious target of increasing modal share by 10 per cent by 2026.
In addition, NME will be an opportunity to present to the public for the first time Italy’s National Centre for Sustainable Mobility: twenty-five universities, as many research centres and 24 large companies, a public-private mix that immediately puts an investment of €394 million for the first three years (2023-2025) on the table, making way for 696 dedicated researchers and 574 new recruits.
Through the contribution of major partners including AGENS, ANFIA; ANIE, ANAV, Federmotorizzazione, Globe Italia, Studio Jacobacci, and Traspol at the Polytechnic University of Milan, this three-day event will provide an opportunity to take stock of the sustainable evolution of mobility.
Bringing the energy transition into the foreground, there are several events centred on infrastructure development, while new means of transport (e-buses, hydrogen and LNG) and smart city development are also given emphasis, with in-depth studies focused on intermodal hubs, Urban Plans for Sustainable Mobility and state-of-the-art analyses of the main international metropolises.
Future scenarios are also highlighted, destined to enable public mobility to evolve in an increasingly environmentally friendly way: autonomous driving, sharing and micro-mobility, smart mobility and innovative mobility.
Last but not least, a space dedicated to awards: NME has been chosen to present Sustainable Bus of the Year, the European award for the greenest bus, as well as the Mobility Innovation Award, honouring the best public transport company.
Finally, a changing world calls for new professions: the focus is on mobility managers, change managers and MaaS managers, all new roles requiring a specific training course. In fact, there are 135 new professions related to developing green mobility.