Christian Scharnhorst
Vice-Chair of the CCAM Administration Board
Bio:
Christian Scharnhorst held various positions as head of department since 1997, thereof more than ten years in medical industry and more than twenty years in automotive industry. In 2001 he joint Bosch having business responsibility for components and systems of innovative powertrain solutions before heading the department for Automotive Marketing at corporate level between 2014 and 2019. Since then, Christian is working in the leadership team of Bosch for Automated Driving having the responsibility for development of Highly Automated Driving strategy and run cooperation projects with major Chinese start-ups. Christian specialized in deep understanding of international Automated Driving markets including corresponding eco-systems, business modelling, go-to-market concepts, and cooperation models. In 2022 he was elected Vice-Chair of the Administration Board of the CCAM.
Presentation Title:
Vehicle automation – which desire can be fulfilled?
Abstract:
Urbanization is a prevailing mega-trend boosting technological innovations and supposed to improve our quality of living. Coincidently, we witness disruptions in the mobility sector driven by legislation and societal needs. Automation is next to zero-CO2 concepts both on the agenda of municipal-administrations as well as companies striving to supply sustainable solutions. While highly automated vehicles are in the focus since long scaling turned out to be more challenging than anticipated. However, more and more solutions will appear and ultimately meet the expectation of improving peoples wellbeing. In my presentation I will share perspectives from CCAM and my role as Vice-Chair of the board as well as from Bosch with my responsibility as Member of the Management for Automated Driving.
Lech Suwala
Professor, Technische Universität Berlin
Bio:
Prof. Dr. Lech Suwala is full Professor of Urban and Regional Economics at Technische Universität Berlin, Germany. Prior to that, he held visiting professorships for Spatial and for Innovation management at Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan, and Jagellonian University, Cracow, Poland; after working at the Institute of Economic Geography at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, among other positions. He is an economist, planner and geographer with working experience in both science and industry, he has advised governments, ministries, municipalities, and learnt from manifold stakeholders (e.g. development aid agencies, NGOs, indigenous collectives) in roughly 50 countries all over world. Lech Suwala’s expertise includes spatial creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship research, local and regional planning, and development trajectories of firms, cities and regions.
Presentation Title:
Combining Smartness and awakening the Sleeping Beauty? Berlin‘s Zukunftsorte and the new Berlin-Brandenburg Regional development strategy
Abstract:
Despite being the third largest industrial agglomeration in the world before World War II, Berlin and its metropolitan region was economically hollowed out after the partition and even after the reunification of the city with many abandoned and alienated commercial, industrial, and educational spaces in a compact urban fabric. Manifold political and economic attempts have been made in the last 30 years after the reunification to awake this sleeping beauty, often with humble success. The Germany Capital Region of Berlin-Brandenburg is (still!) a unique example and a huge real-life lab for the development of a smart regions beyond conventional wisdom. The article portrays economic trajectories, planning and innovations policy efforts of the recent past in general, and the strategies of Zukunftsorte and the new Berlin-Brandenburg Regional development of the metropolitan region in particular. It will be shown how these ingredients have the potential to create a genuine smart metropolitan region beyond mainstream economic exploitation strategies and with unparalleled spatial configurations of the built environment.
Felix Metzger
Project Manager, Technology and Innovation department at BVG
Bio:
Felix Metzger is a project manager in the Technology and Innovation department at BVG, Germany's biggest public transport company. He is responsible for projects in the field of autonomous driving and has been assessing the contributions the technology can make to the mobility transition. BVG has already been working on the topic for more than six years and has gained a lot of hands-on experience with it. Before Felix joined BVG in 2020, he was responsible for the realization of research projects as Head of PMO at StreetScooter, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL Group that develops and produces electric delivery vehicles.
Presentation Title:
Autonomous vehicles as an opportunity for the transition to sustainable transport
Abstract:
The concept of autonomous driving has fascinated the academic and industry sectors for a very long time. Its introduction will be more than just the integration of a new technology. Instead, it holds the potential to rethink mobility, whether in urban or rural areas. Together with other mobility trends, such as shared and connected mobility, new options are opening up that can be leveraged to achieve a transition to more sustainable transport systems. In Berlin, hands-on trials of integrating autonomous vehicles into public transport have already been ongoing since 2017. Many projects have been carried out with a range of partners, such as the state of Berlin and leading scientific institutes. Most recently, a pilot operation was completed in the Shuttles&Co project, in which important insights into operational challenges and citizen acceptance were gained. These findings play an important role in the design of future larger-scale projects in Berlin.
Porie Saikia Eapen
Senior Director, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York
Bio:
Porie Saikia is a Registered Architect in NY, RIBA Chartered Architect UK, CIOB Chartered Construction Manager, UK. Porie is also the International Ambassador of the CIOB - the world's largest and most influential professional body for construction management and leadership. CIOB has a Royal Charter to promote the science and practice of building and construction for the benefit of society and has been doing so since 1834. Her industry recognition is evidenced by various elected and selected positions as president, board member, governor, trustee and advisor in the design and construction industry globally. Porie has been awarded the FJ Gerstner Medal by CVUT in Prague & Nelson Rockefeller Excelsior Award in New York and has been made Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB). Currently as the Senior Director, Environment, Energy, Sustainability & Industrial Hygiene policies, compliance & initiatives at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York (MTA NY), Porie is responsible for taking forward the vision for sustainability leading its Climate Adaptation program, Carbon Action priorities, Energy Efficiency initiatives, Renewables programs as well as environmental policies, compliance and mandates - with MTA’s trillion-dollar asset and $54b capital program.
Presentation Title:
Smart Cities and Sustainable Mobility
Abstract:
Urban transport demand increases as income and population rise. As the demand for high quality connectivity is increasing, the world urban population is expected to increase by 50% by 2050 with its lifestyle dependent on mobility. Transport is a sector which heavily relies on fossil fuels which supply about 95% of its energy demand. With recent progress in vehicle and battery development, electric vehicles (EVs) are at the centre stage of the transport decarbonization narrative. Smart Cities are made of vibrant local communities and socio-economic inclusion, with public health benefits. They are also resilient and adaptive to the current climate change environment. Ms. Saikia will discuss how mass transit is at the core of not only sustainable mobility but sustainable and smart urban development.
Carlos Ferregut
Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at El Paso
Bio:
Dr. Ferregut is a Professor of Civil Engineering and Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He built his professional and academic career conducting research on a number of projects dealing with the reliability of a variety of structures, such as ship structures, Arctic pipelines and offshore structures, aerospace structures, drilled piers in expansive soils, and highway pavements. He also was involved in the development of expert systems for damage assessment, safety factor calibration of welded joints, the development of artificial neural networks models to detect structural damage and to predict the remaining life of structures and the probabilistic fracture analysis of space structures. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation, NASA, The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Federal Highway Administration, The Air Force Office for Scientific Research, Wright Patterson Research Laboratory, The Texas Department of Transportation, Pipeline Research Council International, the US Department of Education, The Boeing Company, The Department of State and others. The administrative positions he has held at UTEP include Chair of Civil Engineering, Director of the Civil, Industrial, Mechanical, and Materials and Metallurgical Engineering Division, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, Director of Global Engineering Programs and Interim Dean of Engineering. Dr. Ferregut’s interest in educating UTEP engineering students to be competitive in a globalized economy has led him to establish, together with his engineering colleagues, several study abroad programs in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Dr. Ferregut is a Founding Director of Geometrica Inc., a company that has designed, manufacture and built several of the largest geodesic dome structures around the world.
Presentation Title:
When Fifteen Years Pass: A Story of CTU and UTEP Successful Collaboration
Abstract:
For the past 15 years, CTU’s College of Transportation Sciences (Fakulta dopravní) and UTEP’s Department of Civil Engineering have established a highly successful academic and research collaboration. The collaboration began with a seminal meeting in 2008 between professors from CTU, namely Dr. Peter Moss, Dr. Ladislav Bína, and Professor Václav Skurovec, and professors from UTEP, including Dr. Kelvin Cheu, Dr. Carlos Chang, and Dr. Carlos Ferregut.This presentation will outline the evolution of this partnership and showcase the joint activities that have been conducted for the benefit of students and professors at both universities. What began as casual meetings between well-intentioned colleagues has developed into a robust partnership that is now an integral part of the academic offerings at both institutions. As we look towards the next 15 years, we are confident that our collaboration will continue to flourish and achieve even greater heights and a new phase of maturity.
