The next International Transport Forum Summit: Transport Innovation for Sustainable Development, will take place in Leipzig, Germany on 26-28 May 2021 following a hiatus imposed by Covid-19.
The Annual Summit of the International Transport Forum (ITF) is the world’s largest gathering of transport ministers and the premier global transport policy event.
Every May, ministers with responsibility for transport, business leaders, heads of international organisations, parliamentarians and policy makers, representatives of business associations and leading researchers meet for three days in Leipzig, Germany, to discuss the future of transport through the prism of a strategic topic.
The vital importance of the ability to innovate is one of the major lessons for transport from the coronavirus crisis.
Innovation has been the lifeblood of the transport sector for centuries. Its innate innovative streak was evident in the imaginative, often ingenious ways transport reacted to the immediate health and safety challenges as the Coronavirus spread around the globe.
All the innovative prowess transport can muster is equally essential to tackle the second challenge facing the sector: rebooting stalled transport activity and the economies that depend on it.
Rethinking the broader future of transport is the third challenge, and probably the biggest. How can we “build back better”? How can we make transport systems more resilient and at the same time more sustainable and more inclusive?
React, reboot, rethink – these three innovation challenges will inform the debate in May.
That is why the innovation theme is as relevant and timely for the world’s premier transport policy event now as it was before the Coronavirus crisis. The ITF team is working hard to enrich the programme with pertinent questions and relevant topics related to the post-Covid impacts, as well as notable speakers and innovative formats.
Summit participation has grown to over 1400 participants from more than 80 countries, well beyond the 60 member countries of the ITF. It increasingly attracts business participants, with CEOs joining high-level discussions and companies presenting their work in the Summit exhibition or sponsoring the event. The annual meeting of the ITF Corporate Partnership Board is held as part of the Summit.
