UITP and mobility actors from Karlsruhe launch new partnership

The founding partners of "UITP-Karlsruhe Mobility Innovation Partnership"

The UITP and leading mobility actors in the Karlsruhe TechnologyRegion have signed a partnership agreement: UITP-Karlsruhe Mobility Innovation Partnership.

The partnership will see the Karlsruhe TechnologyRegion gain a more strategic integration into the worldwide UITP partner network and will benefit its innovation projects in the future.

So far the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) has not entered into a Mobility Innovation Partnerships of this form with any other regions.

UITP Secretary General, Mohamed Mezghani, said: “The city of Karlsruhe has a well-deserved international reputation as an area of great innovation in the mobility field. UITP has always recognised the importance of cooperating with leaders in technology and by launching the UITP-Karlsruhe Mobility Innovation Partnership with Karlsruhe TechnologyRegion, we’re continuing that commitment. Our newest liaison office and regional training centre will be the interface between UITP and TRK and will further connect our members to Karlsruhe as the leading tech hub, offering them opportunities to develop skills and knowledge.”

Many years of close collaboration are the basis of this partnership between TRK and UITP; their affiliation is closely linked to Karlsruhe Trade Fair Centre, home to IT-TRANS. TRK member companies have already presented their digital mobility solutions at a joint stand fair at IT-TRANS, which has taken place in Karlsruhe since 2008.

Britta Wirtz, Managing Director of Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress GmbH, commented: “IT-TRANS brings the global elite of the public transport industry to Karlsruhe every two years and thus laid the foundation for our close relationship with our co-organiser UITP. The Mobility Innovation Partnership is an important building block that will further heighten Karlsruhe’s international visibility and its competence in the areas of mobility and IT.”

In addition to bilateral cooperation with UITP, the partners from the TRK presented themselves jointly at the UITP World Congress in Montreal in 2017. They will also participate at the World Congress in Stockholm in June 2019, where their presence will include a joint stand, a delegation headed by Karlsruhe’s Lord Mayor Frank Mentrup, and a session in the congress.

Besides the TechnologyRegion Karlsruhe GmbH and the Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress GmbH (KMK), the founding partners of the UITP-Karlsruhe Mobility Innovation Partnership are: INIT, PTV GROUP, Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (Karlsruhe Public Transport Association, KVV) with Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (Albtal Transport Corporation, AVG) and Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe Transport Company, VBK), Kand IT-TRANS, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) with Profilregion Mobilitätssysteme Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe High Performance Centre for Mobility Research), Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, the FZI Research Centre for Information Technology, and the Karlsruhe Chamber of Industry and Commerce.