About the event
The International Road Federation (IRF), the China Highway and Transportation Society (CHTS) and the Southeast University of China will jointly host the 2025 International Smart Transportation Symposium (2025 ISTS) from 30 October to 1 November 2025 at the InterContinental Hotel in Shenzhen, China.
The Symposium will focus on forward-looking and critical technologies in smart cities and smart transportation and their integrated domain. The symposium will be featured with thematic presentations, high-level discussions, exhibitions, achievements releases, international competitions, and paper submissions, the event will invite government representatives, international organization leaders, global industry leaders, institutions, and renowned experts to exchange insights on industry hotspots, cutting-edge topics, and innovations.
There is an ongoing call for papers as part of the 2025 ISTS to summarise the most recent research achievements and guide theoretical innovation and academic research.
Topics of interest for paper submissions include (but are not limited to):
- Development, Policies and Planning of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)
- Innovative Application of “AI+” Emerging Transportation Technologies
- Infrastructure’s Intelligent Upgrading
- Traffic Management and Decision-Making Support
- Optimisation of Mobility Services
- Intelligent Logistics’ Transportation
- Safety and Emergency Management
- Green and Sustainable Transport Development
- Low-Altitude Transportation Management and Application
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About the event
The Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) 2025 is a major annual event in Barcelona for urban innovation, taking place from 4-6 November 2025. It brings together leaders from governments, companies, and organisations to discuss and showcase solutions for creating smarter, more sustainable, and efficient cities, focusing on areas like mobility, energy, governance and infrastructure. The congress is a global platform for collaboration, networking, and exploring the latest market-ready urban solutions.
Under the Congress, IRF will host an introductory course on Road Safety Engineering on 4 November, offered in both English and Spanish. Additionally, on 6 November a session on Co-Creating Inclusive Cities: Advancing Societal Readiness in Urban Mobility will be taking place in English.
Register to the Congress and connect with us!
The 2025 Edition of the Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress (TMWC), under the umbrella of the Smart City Expo World Congress, is the unique event to accelerate sustainable and intelligent urban mobility, a gathering of experts and leaders of the mobility and transport industry where to exchange ideas and foster business.
Co-located with the Smart City Expo, Tomorrow.Building World Congress and Tomorrow.Blue Economy World Congress, these events are bound to bring together the most powerful international network of urban innovators.
Organised within the framework of the Smart City Expo World Congress, Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress is a leading global platform for sustainable and intelligent urban mobility. It will convene over 25,000 professionals, 600 speakers, and representatives from 800 cities to exchange knowledge and drive action towards greener, safer, and more efficient mobility.
Introductory Course on Road Safety Engineering
During the Congress, the IRF will host an introductory course on Road Safety Engineering on 4 November, offered in both English and Spanish.
The session emphasises the crucial role of road safety engineering in addressing the global crash crisis, aligning with the 2030 Agenda and the UN’s Second Decade of Action. It discusses the need for safe infrastructure, road audits, and inspections, as well as the Safe System approach. It also advocates for strengthening institutions, professionalising auditors, and establishing international standards, particularly in developing countries.
Confirmed speaker:
Francisco Javier López DelgadoPG Dip(Civil Eng) BEng MSoRSA FASEVIPresidente de ASEVISenior Road Safety Specialist (UNOPS & World Bank)
Francisco Javier López Delgado is a seasoned road safety expert with extensive experience in project management, auditing, and consulting. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering and has completed various training courses, including Road Safety Audits Training Course and Road Safety Auditors Training Courses.
With native or bilingual proficiency in Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, French, and Russian, he provides guidance on road safety strategies and implementation. He has worked with various organizations, including UNOPS, ASEVI, World Bank Group, and European Agency for Reconstruction.
The Course is open to all so if you have registered to the Congress, you are already eligible to attend.
Co-Creating Inclusive Cities: Advancing Societal Readiness in Urban Mobility
How can cities ensure mobility innovation is trusted, inclusive, and ready for scale?
Four CIVITAS projects (MOBILITIES FOR EU, SUM, GEMINI, and metaCCAZE) share concrete methods and experiences: from designing urban mobility labs and governance models, to co-creation activities with citizens at local and regional levels across Europe.
This session brings together four major CIVITAS New Mobility Services (NMS) Cluster projects to explore how cities can strengthen societal readiness through co-creation, inclusive governance and collaborative experimentation. With a focus on practical experiences and transferable lessons, the session highlights how cities are engaging communities, aligning stakeholders and designing mobility systems that are socially responsive and ready for scale.
The session will conclude with a moderated discussion featuring all the speakers. The dialogue will explore common challenges and transferable lessons, and respond to the session’s guiding question, offering forward-looking reflections on how cities can foster societal readiness and scale innovation more effectively.
IRF Member Exclusive: Visitor Registration Discounts Available
IRF is offering limited free tickets and discounts for IRF Members. Please contact membership@irfofficial.org for details.
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About the webinar
The IRF Circle of Excellence webinar, set on 4 November, Tuesday, at 14:00 CET, offers a space for thematic exchange and peer learning. Anchored in the IRF’s role as a convening platform, this initiative supports ongoing dialogue around transformative projects and solutions shaping the future of road systems and mobility, building upon the momentum on the IRF 2025 Awards.
Building Green and Resilient Roads for a Changing Climate
Green roads that advance decarbonisation and resilience are at the heart of the global sustainability transition. Accounting for nearly 74% of transport emissions, the road sector remains the heaviest contributor to greenhouse gases worldwide.
While commitments to decarbonisation are expanding, emissions have steadily climbed by around 2% each year over the past decade. By 2023, they not only recovered from the pandemic slowdown but reached new highs of approximately 6.2 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent. These figures underscore the urgent need to accelerate the decarbonisation of road systems through clean technologies, renewable energy integration and data-informed infrastructure management.
While climate risks continue to intensify, efforts to make road infrastructure more resilient have struggled to keep up. The resulting damages have grown dramatically — with economic losses rising about sevenfold since the 1970s to an estimated USD 1.6 trillion by 2010. More than a quarter of the world’s road and railway infrastructure is already exposed to at least one natural hazard, threatening mobility, livelihoods and essential services. Building resilience in the road sector therefore requires more than physical strength; it calls for smarter systems, predictive data tools and sustainable operational models that enable rapid recovery and long-term reliability.
Alice Yiu
Moderator
Fabrice Breton
Matthew Bond
Subu Kamal
Sun Zhaoyun
Suresh Gurumurthy
With COP30 taking place in less than two months in Belém, Brazil and the launch of the United Nations Decade of Sustainable Transport (2026–2035) scheduled for 10 December 2025, this first IRF Circle of Excellence webinar brings together the global road community to explore how innovation and practical experience can advance this shared agenda. The Draft Implementation Plan of the Decade (circulated by UN DESA in October 2025) calls for “integrating resilience into transport planning, infrastructure and operations” and adopting a “holistic approach” that also strengthens institutional capacity, workforce skills and contingency systems.
It further highlights that “infrastructure choices can either lock in unsustainable pathways or lay the groundwork for sustainability and resilience,” urging governments and stakeholders to apply long-term planning, research and foresight to break with unsustainable trends and meet the needs of a rapidly changing world. These calls to action align closely with IRF’s mission to champion roads that are green, safe and resilient — roads that enable climate-smart mobility while protecting communities and economies from growing risks.
This session features award-winning initiatives that embody these principles in practice. From China’s spatiotemporal big data system and India’s climate-informed digital road asset management platform to Greece’s solar-powered motorway and Australia’s bushfire resilience framework, the projects demonstrate how innovation, digitalisation and foresight are transforming the road sector’s response to climate and sustainability challenges. Complementing these systemic approaches, India’s Devihalli Hassan Tollway illustrates how sustainability can be embedded at the project level through water conservation, renewable energy deployment and electric-vehicle integration.
The Circle of Excellence webinars will be conducted quarterly throughout the year and asking people to stay tuned for more.
IRF Circle of Excellence
Each IRF Circle of Excellence series will spotlight award-winning projects, provide a moderated space for technical and peer dialogue, offer IRF members a platform to pitch aligned initiatives and serve as a vehicle to connect flagship IRF activities and amplify collective learnings.
In 2025, more than 100 applicants from around the world submitted entries showcasing advances across 12 categories.
The announcement of the IRF 2025 Awards winners took place alongside the International Symposium “Navigating the Future of Traffic Management” (29 June – 03 July 2025), held in Athens, Greece.
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]]>About the event
The IRF 2025 Annual Conference will be held this year on 2-4 December as a 3-day online experience, gathering experts from the sector from all over the world. With the theme “Reimagining Roads for Inclusive, Safe, Green and Efficient Mobility”, the Conference brings IRF members and partners together each year to share knowledge, spark practical solutions and drive transformative change in how mobility systems are designed, managed, and experienced.
For more details about the Annual Conference by clicking on the relevant sections:
The Conference provides a platform for global, multi-stakeholder dialogues that tackle the most pressing challenges and opportunities in sustainable transport. The programme will conclude with pitches from the IRF Start-up Label finalists and the announcement of the 2025 winner.
Confirmed sessions and speakers
The IRF 2025 Annual Conference will bring together leaders and experts to explore how road systems can drive sustainable development in line with global goals. Sessions will highlight the role of roads in enabling equitable access, improving safety and public health and supporting resilience in the face of climate and operational challenges. Discussions will also focus on making cities more efficient, integrating digital and automated technologies and embedding sustainability across the entire road value chain.
Reimagining Roads for the Decade Ahead
As the backbone of global mobility, roads connect people, economies and opportunities. Yet the road sector now stands at a pivotal moment where the choices made today will determine whether transport systems become enablers of sustainable development or barriers to it.
This opening plenary sets the tone for the Conference by reimagining how road infrastructure can deliver on the promise of the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport (2026–2036). It will explore how roads can act not only as conduits for movement but also as catalysts for climate action, resilience, social inclusion, and economic transformation — advancing both the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.
As a “departure point” from the Decade’s launch on 10 December 2025, this session will feature key stakeholders from the road sector to reflect on what the Decade means for their mandates and commitments. Discussions will focus on how to scale up financing, innovation, and partnerships to turn the Decade’s vision into practical outcomes on the ground.
Dmitry Mariyasin
Mogens Abel-Bache
Nicolas Peltier
Roads as an Enabler for Equitable Access and Mobility for All
This session sets the tone for the Conference by highlighting how road infrastructure can be a driver of equity and inclusion—enabling access to education, healthcare, livelihoods, and social participation for all. It will examine how roads can be reimagined as enablers of opportunity and social justice and how equitable design approaches can help close access gaps across geographies and social groups.
Roads are not just conduits for vehicles; they are lifelines that enable access to education, healthcare, jobs, and social participation. Equitable road systems ensure that both rural and urban populations, including women, children, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups, can travel safely, affordably and with dignity.
Abbie Noriega
Akhilesh Srivastava
Bronwen Thornton
Efficient Roads for Smarter Cities
Cities depend on roads to keep people and goods moving, but rapid urbanisation has stretched many networks to their limits. Smarter urban road mobility is about designing systems that manage demand, ease congestion, and make space work harder across multiple modes. Dedicated bus rapid transit lanes, traffic management tools, and digital innovations can unlock capacity and keep cities moving efficiently.
This session will explore how urban road networks and services are being reshaped to meet rising demand while minimising congestion and inefficiency. It will highlight lessons on integrating roads with public transport systems, allocating road space for high-capacity modes and applying technology and policy levers to better manage traffic. The discussion will emphasise roads not just as infrastructure, but as dynamic systems that can help cities function more smoothly, sustainably, and reliably.
Karen Van Cluysen
Tu My Tran
Safer and Healthier Roads for People and the Planet
Roads are at the heart of one of the most pressing public health challenges of our time. Each year, road traffic crashes claim over 1.2 million lives and injure millions more, disproportionately affecting young people and vulnerable users such as pedestrians and cyclists. At the same time, road transport is a major contributor to urban air pollution, linked to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular illness, and premature deaths. The intersection of safety and public health shows that how we design, manage, and use roads directly shapes the wellbeing of people and communities.
This session will examine how safer and healthier roads can be achieved through integrated approaches that combine infrastructure planning and design, speed management, and better enforcement and education. It will highlight how investments in safe road systems also yield co-benefits impacting vulnerable groups — children, women, and those in low-income communities — requiring us to rethink where we prioritize investments. By linking road safety and public health, the discussion will underscore the urgent need for a holistic approach that makes roads a driver of wellbeing for both people and the planet.
Patrick Kinyanjui
Young Professionals Summit: Next Generation on the Road
The Young Professionals Summit serves as a dynamic platform to connect emerging leaders in the transport and road sectors with IRF’s global community of road actors. It will highlight the crucial role of youth in shaping sustainable road systems and dive into how the road sector can evolve to align more closely with the values and aspirations of young professionals.
Made up of emerging experts, the conversation explores themes such as innovation, technology and innovations for the future of road systems and purpose-driven careers, as well as the skills and mentorship needed to thrive in a rapidly transforming transport landscape.
Alireza Soltani
Laura Daniela Gomez
Olanike Christiana Babalola
Oliva Nalwadda
Ray Cádiz Macalalag
Building Resilient Roads: From Infrastructure to Operations
Roads are expected to keep communities and economies connected no matter what disruptions come their way — from floods and heatwaves to traffic surges, funding shortfalls, or sudden operational shocks. Building resilient roads means thinking not only about strong infrastructure, but also about smart operations, reliable financing, and climate readiness. Structural resilience ensures roads are designed and built with durable standards and materials. Operational resilience keeps traffic flowing during crises through redundancy and intelligent systems. Economic and financial resilience helps sustain maintenance and services even in tough times, while climate resilience prepares networks for the growing risks of extreme weather.
This session will explore how these dimensions of resilience come together across the lifecycle of road systems. It will highlight practical approaches — from engineering innovations to new financing models — that can help road networks withstand shocks, recover faster, and deliver reliable mobility under changing conditions.
Danilo Ebbinghaus
Digital and Automated: The Next Era of Roads
Digitalisation is reshaping how roads are built, managed, and used — opening the way for vehicles, infrastructure, and people to be seamlessly connected. From vehicle-to everything (V2X) communication and AI-enabled traffic management to automation and data-driven mobility services, Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) represents the frontier of road innovation. These technologies have the potential to improve safety, reduce congestion, and make road systems more efficient, but they also raise new questions about investment, interoperability and public acceptance.
This session will look ahead to how CCAM can transform the road sector in the coming decade. It will explore how digital tools and automation are evolving, what opportunities they bring for smarter and safer mobility, and how governments, industry, and cities can prepare for rapid technological change.
By focusing on the road sector’s role in shaping and governing these innovations, the discussion will highlight how roads can evolve alongside the world’s new tech to deliver more connected, cooperative, and sustainable mobility systems.
Bin Ran
Ibon Arechalde
Siddartha Khastgir copy
Delivery Mechanisms for Sustainable Roads
The road value chain spans the full lifecycle of road infrastructure, encompassing planning and design, financing and procurement, construction and materials, operation and maintenance, logistics and services, technology and innovation, and end-of-life management. It begins with governments, engineers, and consultants shaping feasibility studies and standards; continues through financing by public, private, and multilateral actors; and moves into construction and the sourcing of key materials.
Once built, roads rely on agencies, operators, and SMEs to manage traffic and maintain assets, while also enabling freight and passenger services critical to daily mobility and commerce. Increasingly, digital solutions, automation, and data platforms are transforming operations, and circular practices — such as recycling asphalt and reusing aggregates — are redefining how roads are managed over their lifespan.
This session will explore how to embed sustainability across every stage of the road value chain. It will examine how procurement and financing models can incentivise greener practices, how innovation and circular approaches can reduce environmental impacts, and how the transition can create fair, future-ready jobs. The discussion will highlight practical ways to strengthen local industries, make supply chains more resilient, and ensure road investments deliver long-term value for people, economies, and the planet.
Closing Plenary
The closing session will zoom out from the detailed discussions of the past days to bring all themes together into a bigger sustainability story for roads. The session will ask: What do we do with all this?
The discussion will build continuity by linking the conference to IRF’s expected outcomes in the year ahead under the framework of its new 5-year strategy.
Annual Conference Programme
The programme opens with a plenary session on Reimagining Roads for the Decade Ahead, setting the stage for discussions on inclusive access, resilient infrastructure, and the role of roads in advancing sustainability and well-being. The Young Professionals Summit highlights the perspectives and innovations of the next generation of transport leaders.
Sessions will delve into key themes such as digitalisation, automation, sustainable delivery mechanisms, smarter cities and the intersection of health, safety, and mobility. The event will conclude with the IRF Start-Up Label session, showcasing forward-looking ideas that are shaping what’s next for roads and mobility.
Sponsors of the IRF Annual Conference 2025
Gold Sponsor:
Umovity, established through the combination of PTV Group and Econolite, is a globally leading platform for Intelligent Transportation Systems and mobility technology. With uniquely integrated capabilities across software, hardware and field services, Umovity delivers end-to-end mobility solutions to cities and regions worldwide.
Its portfolio includes software for traffic planning, simulation and real-time traffic management, alongside advanced traffic hardware such as controllers, cabinets and sensors. By uniting these capabilities, Umovity empowers communities to build safer, smarter and more sustainable mobility systems. For more information, visit www.umovity.com.
Bronze Sponsor:
Egis collaborates with industry leaders and innovators to explore the impact of new transport modes, technology and climate change on road networks. With technical expertise and a proven track record, Egis can deliver complex projects on time and within budget.
With over 4,500 kilometres of motorway operated around the world, Egis is well placed to provide valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities the community faces. Whether the challenge involves connecting cities, maintaining complex infrastructure or collecting tolls, Egis looks to meet the current needs of stakeholders while preparing for tomorrow’s challenges.
For more information, visit www.egis-group.com.
SALFO is an internationally renowned Engineering and Management Consulting firm, providing cutting-edge expertise in road design and transportation.
For over 30 years, SALFO has been a leader in Greece and expanded its global reach. Transportation projects are at the heart of our business, with more than 2,500 kilometers of motorways successfully completed, as well as various rail and metro projects in GCC and internationally.
SALFO operates as Lead Designers, Design Reviewers, Independent Engineers, and Technical Advisors. Its services also encompass Value Engineering, Project Management and Construction Supervision.
With a presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia spanning over 12 years, SALFO has further demonstrated its expertise in highly specialised projects, including the establishment of the National Road Safety Center in Saudi Arabia and the development of the New Saudi Highway Code Manual for the Ministry of Transport.
For more information, visit /salfo.gr/.
Be one of the sponsors for the IRF Annual Conference. Show leadership in innovation and sustainable mobility, gain visibility through the IRF network, help advance the global mobility agenda and connect with potential clients and partners.
Here are some of the benefits you can get:
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Intertraffic Amsterdam will be back in 2026 gathering experts and leaders from the smart mobility, traffic technology, and infrastructure sectors. The event offers an opportunity for participants to discover new innovations, engage with industry leaders, and help define the future of transport.
The last Intertraffic gathering, held in 2024, focused on “smart, safe, and sustainable mobility for all.
Intertraffic Amsterdam, the world’s leading trade event for infrastructure, traffic management, smart mobility, safety, and parking concluded an inspiring 2024 edition with a focus on smart, safe, and sustainable mobility for all. With a vastly extended summit programme and the largest show floor in history, it was the global meeting point for senior professionals and policy makers in the mobility sector. Intertraffic Amsterdam is one of RAI Amsterdam’s flagship events and took place from 16 to 19 April 2024.
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About the event
We are glad to inform you that the International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) and National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) are co-organizing the 8th IRTAD International Conference, titled “Better Road Safety Data for Better Safety Performance” which will be held in Athens, Greece, on 15-17 April 2026.
The objectives of the Conference are to discuss improvements in the quality of data systems and data analysis in IRTAD and other countries by fostering knowledge transfer among participants, with particular emphasis on road safety performance. The Conference is open to all and is primarily for the attention of road safety researchers, data analysts, those involved in collecting safety data and developing databases, and all those using the results of research to advise decision makers on road safety matters.
Researchers can submit their abstracts until 30 October 2025.
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About the event
The 11th International Conference on Sustainable Transportation in Africa (ICTA 2026) will take place in Windhoek, Namibia, from 7 to 9 July 2026. Organised by the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the African American Transportation Professional Networking Group (ATNG) the conference will explore the theme “Sustainable, Safe and Smart Transport, Logistics and Tourism for Economic Growth.”
Call for Papers
ICTA 2026 invites academics, researchers and professionals from the transport and logistics sectors to submit abstracts by 30 September 2025. Contributions are expected to address key topics such as intelligent transport systems, connected and autonomous vehicles, urban mobility, asset management, and the use of artificial intelligence in transport. The event will also examine sustainable road construction and maintenance, as well as the transfer of technology across the region.
This edition of the conference offers a platform for sharing research and practical insights into advancing sustainable transportation across Africa.
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