Intelligent Transport Systems organisations and professionals representing industry, government and the research/academic community were recognised by their peers in Australia’s 2014 National Awards.
Initiated by ITS Australia in 2010, the National ITS Awards program was expanded this year and received a record number of entries. The winners were announced at a celebration dinner in Brisbane on 28 November:
- Industry Award: Intelematics Australia for the Toyota Connected Vehicle Programs, a world market leading approach to in-vehicle connected technology. This winner will be nominated by ITS Australia for consideration for the worldwide ITS Achievement Award, to be presented at the ITS World Congress 2015 in Bordeaux France, before an audience of over 10,000 industry professionals.
- Government Award: Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland Public Safety Business Agency, Queensland Fire and Emergency Service, Queensland Police Service and Transmax for the successful Emergency Vehicle Priority system in Samford Road, Brisbane. This TMR led project is a traffic signal pre-emption solution which has displayed measureable emergency vehicle arrival time savings and has clear, ongoing and possibly lifesaving safety benefits. This award also will be nominated by ITS Australia for consideration for the worldwide ITS Achievement Award, to be presented at the ITS World Congress 2015 in Bordeaux France.
- Research Academic Award: NICTA (National ICT Australia) for the Advanced Data Analytics in Transportation Project by the Machine Learning Research Group led by Project Director Dr Fang Chen. This entry demonstrated a particularly innovative application of existing knowledge to the field of ITS and had great potential to provide future practical benefits for ITS to produce transport models that are more accurate. This work will be commercial, useful and durable.
Young Professional Award: Joint winners were:
- Amira Galli, ITS performance and improvements consultant, VicRoads.
- Luke Madigan, senior electrical engineer, Department of Transport and Main Roads Queensland.
Both recipients win free flights, accommodation and registration to the ITS Asia Pacific Forum 2015 Nanjing China from 27 to 29 April 2015, with the opportunity to present a paper.
Data applications shine
Group Manager ITS at Jacobs and Chair of the National ITS Awards Judging Panel Gino Dompietro said a notable trend in this year’s selection of leading entries from industry and government was the increased focus on the use of data to improve the ITS task.
“Many of the best solutions targeted data – either sourced from the field, mined in back offices or created fit for the purpose – to inform innovative applications and services that use ITS to improve safety, mobility and the environment, or help create new ITS applications altogether,” said the ITS Australia director.
“Some of the best and most useful applications also improved on existing deployments of ITS for tackling old problems, such as congestion, crashes, diminished urban amenity, etc, in new and better ways.
“Many of these, including the winning entries, were delivered in partnerships between industry and government. This is a positive development upon which to build future cooperative ventures.
“Applications were received in almost equal numbers from government, research/academic and industry organisations. Another very pleasing feature of this year’s competition was the large field of entrants in the Young Professional category."
“These are all healthy signs that the sector is not only expanding, but that ITS is gaining wider acceptance as a career choice across our community. The safety, environmental and efficiency benefits of ITS technologies are being recognised,” said Dompietro.
In addition to the awards selected from industry sourced entries, the ITS Australia Board of Directors may nominate an individual for the Max Lay Lifetime Achievement Award. This Award recognising eminent service to Australia’s ITS industry is named for its inaugural recipient Dr Max Lay, AM.
The 2014 recipient of the Max Lay Lifetime Achievement Award is Australian transport executive Ken Daley, who is widely credited with having coined the term “eTAG”. An engineer with a career spanning 41 years, he was a pioneer of tolling interoperability across Australia.
Australia’s one eTAG for toll roads in all jurisdictions is greatly admired globally as a major achievement in electronic tolling. A former president of international development for Transurban, Ken Daley is now director of KF&A Consult.
Dompietro said the 2014 National ITS awards set a benchmark for the local ITS industry. “This year’s competition attracted a larger more diverse range of nominations. The winners have demonstrated great skill and creativity,” he said.
“ITS Australia is grateful for the support of the organisations that made the 2014 National ITS Awards possible. They included silver sponsor, the Queensland Government Department of Transport and Main Roads, and bronze sponsors Juvana Pty Ltd patriot preformed detection loops and Skidata Australasia access solutions.
“The development and deployment of ITS technologies is helping to make communities more liveable. Through this annual Awards program we hope the community gains better understanding of the value and productivity that ITS adds to our transport infrastructure,” said Dompietro.
