The aim of the present article is to summarise the main findings of the second edition of the OCTO Connected Forum 2022, the main event on Smart Mobility in Italy and one of the most important globally. The Forum was held at the Tor Crescenza Castle under the patronage of Roma Capitale, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility (MIMS) and the Ministry for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition (MITD).
The second edition of the OCTO Connected Forum, broadcast on September 16, 2022, brought together the main stakeholders of the mobility ecosystem and representatives of the institutions, over 200 participants, more than 220,000 unique viewers from the live streaming and a very high appreciation level.
This event represented an opportunity to disseminate the results achieved by the development activities of “The Italian Way to Connected Mobility”, given by the progress of the pilot projects that have involved more than 12 stakeholders including public actors and private companies. Moreover, the Forum made it possible to gather various insights from the various key stakeholders of the Italian and international mobility ecosystem thanks to the participation of 47 speakers, 28 partners and sponsors, and 80 companies.
During the event, the second volume of the “Connected Mobility 2025” report was presented, which aims to outline the Smart Mobility scenario, take stock of the value ecosystems connected to it, and encourage the involvement and participation of the various players in connected mobility.
The morning hosted the OCTO Connected Circle, organised in two sessions. The first one was dedicated to the partner companies that are collaborating in the development of the “Italian way to connected mobility”. This session was attended by Alessandro Balboni (Senior IoT Developer, CubeCurve People), Valerio D’Angelo (CEO, Fiven), Francesca Toma (Co-Founder and Head of Business Intelligence Area, Wakala), Oreste Ciani (Public Cloud Sales Manager, IBM Italia), Giuseppe Costantino (Partner, BIP), Paolo Manfreddi (CEO, Leasys Rent-Drivalia; Head of European Markets & Business Development, FCA BANK) and Gabriele Ferrazzano (Head of Development Smart Mobility Services, Eni/Enjoy).
The second session of the morning was instead dedicated to the presentation of the first results related to the implementation of the 14 pilot projects identified by OCTO and The European House – Ambrosetti in 2021, which saw the involvement of 12 national stakeholders. The participants were Claudio Colucci (CEO, Tecno), Edoardo Esposito (Director of Transformation and Innovation, Arriva Italia), Ruggero Rossi De Mio (CFO, SASA), Cesare Paonessa (Director, Agenzia Mobilità Piemontese), Gabriella De Paolis (Quality & Training Manager, Nissan Italia), Massimiliano Mascoli (Head of Insurtech, Business Execution & International Business, Sara Assicurazioni), Davide Dell’Orto (CTO, Dell”Orto), Daniele Fulgenzi (Head of Environment & Climate Structure, ARIA) and Massimo Agostinelli (Public Use Sales manager, Enel X Way Italia).
In the afternoon, the OCTO Connected Forum took place, with the traditional opening of the proceedings by Nicola Veratelli and the presentation of the results of the Strategic Study by Valerio De Molli.
Following this, the Forum was structured into three sessions organised around the areas of strategic interest of the initiative “The Italian Way to Connected Mobility”:
- Connected Mobility as an enabler of the Super Smart Society: the enabling role of connected and smart mobility for the development of Smart Cities and, in a broader sense, of a new model of city living was discussed and explored;
- Mobility-as-a-Service: connected technologies for efficient, safe and sustainable mobility – this session dealt with aspects related to the role of digital and connected technologies in enabling a new paradigm of smart mobility aligned with OCTO”s Vision Zero (Zero Traffic, Zero Accidents, Zero Pollution);
- Ecosystems and Data Spaces: New Mobility Business Models – this session dealt with a key area, namely that of data, considered the enabling element for any future development of a connected and smart mobility and for the definition of new urban planning management paradigms.
A total of 28 panellists, including C-level, professors, and institutional representatives, contributed to the three sessions. From the discussions of these experts, three key messages were identified:
- The spread of the smart mobility paradigm is to be considered the enabler of smart cities. The development of this new paradigm must be accompanied by the creation of a co-operative ecosystem of public and private stakeholders working together with a long-term vision;
- Road mobility is one of the primary causes of the difficulty in achieving sustainability goals. Data sharing and utilisation can be used to improve sustainability levels, e.g., by improving the functioning of sharing platforms;
- Alongside the spread of new technologies, it is necessary to create ad hoc policies and standards to facilitate the exchange and use of data at the European level. In this way, it will be possible to create the necessary preconditions for dealing with the different aspects of a “complex system” such as that of mobility and cities.
The achievement of the objectives and the development of the pilot projects of the “Italian way to connected mobility” will be an “accelerating factor” for the diffusion of a new paradigm of connected and smart mobility.
The work of OCTO, The European House – Ambrosetti and the stakeholders who are collaborating in the development of the pilot projects will continue in the coming months with the aim of concretising the development of the “Italian Way to Connected Mobility” to present its results at the OCTO Connected Forum 2023.
Author:
The European House – Ambrosetti