UITP Summit to spotlight UITP’s R&I efforts: the impact of third-party-funded projects

The UITP Summit is opening its doors soon in Hamburg, and the innovations and research developed through UITP’s participation in EU and international projects will not be in the shadows!

With a wide range of voices coming together at the Summit, the collaborative spirit will be unmissable! And that’s exactly where UITP thrives. Through its global network of members and long-standing partnerships, UITP channels this collective expertise into a dynamic portfolio of third-party funded projects advancing sustainable urban transport.

The Summit offers the perfect opportunity to illustrate UITP’s leadership in action, showcasing the tangible impact these projects are already making, and how their outcomes can be implemented and scaled across different urban contexts.

Explore what the projects have to offer, and make sure to pen the below activities in your agenda! 

Cities should be walkable, safe, and accessible – where everyone can move freely. But achieving this vision requires integrating walking with public transport. Studies have shown that creating attractive walking environments can expand public transport catchment areas by up to three times, as highlighted in the UITP Policy Brief “Integrating Walking and Public Transport” (available here). However, too often, poor infrastructure, disconnected networks and unsafe environments discourage people from using public transport, especially vulnerable groups. So how can we improve our urban spaces to encourage behaviour change towards cleaner, greener forms of mobility?

That’s the focus of a joint session hosted by the UPPER and NetZeroCities projects: “Integration of walking and public transport for behavioral change”, happening 16 June, from 09:00 to 11:00 at room Osaka 1-2-3, Hall A4 (Conference Area A). The session will explore good practices and integrated strategies for building more cohesive mobility systems that foster behavioural change and support long-term decarbonisation.

Interested in joining? Contact Lottie Stainer at [email protected].

And UPPER has even more in store at the Summit. Coordinated by UITP, UPPER supports the shift towards climate-neutral cities by placing public transport at the heart of urban mobility. Ten cities and regions across Europe are implementing nearly 80 targeted, innovative measures to rethink public transport as sustainable, inclusive, and accessible.

A special session “From innovation and piloting to large-scale learning and replication”, will take place on 16 June from 16:30 to 17:15 at the UITP Stand A1580. Here, UPPER will officially launch its open call for Take-up Cities – an invitation for 10 cities and operators ready to take their public transport systems to the next level.

If this resonates with you and you want to be contribute to the European mobility community, don’t miss the session. Not attending the Summit? Stay connected and follow UPPER’s channels for updates.

The UITP-led eBRT2030 project is defining the next generation of BRT systems and has some answers. Find out by attending the session “Future eBRT Cities User Group Meeting: on the road towards the eBRT systems of the future” on Monday, 16 June 2025, from 09:00 to 12:30 at Room A4.2, Hall A (Ground Floor).

What defines a successful BRT network? Can its principles be applied to diverse urban landscapes? These are some of the questions international experts will explore!

If you are interested in attending, please contact Flavio Grazian at [email protected].

Besides electric solutions, hydrogen also has a role to play in the energy transition. The EU-funded JIVE2 project will present international case studies on fuel cell hydrogen bus deployment and share lessons learned from the JIVE projects experience.

Join the session “What’s next for hydrogen buses? An international outlook to the future” on Tuesday, 17 June from 10:00 to 12:00 at Room A4.2, Hall A (Ground Floor).

If you are interested in attending, please contact Flavio Grazian at [email protected].

Automation in public transport promises many benefits, but implementation remains complex. Co-funded by the EU and the Swiss Confederation, the ULTIMO project is working to deploy economically sustainable, large-scale, and on-demand automated vehicle operations in public transport.

As the project nears the three-year mark, ULTIMO will host a dedicated session to reflect on its key learnings, address the barriers to deploying Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) services, and explore the conditions needed to scale automation sustainably across Europe.

Join the discussion: “Overcoming deployment barriers for automated mobility in Europe” on Monday, 16 June, from 15:30 to 17:30 in room B1GF, Hall B1.

If you are interested in attending, please contact one of our colleagues: John Mcsweeney at [email protected], Bettina Bouete at [email protected], or Dominic Lauwers at [email protected].

UITP’s Urban Mobility Open Payments Forum, launched in 2021, brings together operators, payment schemes and technology providers to enable simple, inclusive and sustainable travel using open-loop payment systems.

During the Summit, the Forum will be active across several dedicated activities. On Monday, 16 June, it will host an innovation guided tour featuring member organisations Hitachi Rail, Scheidt & Bachmann, and Worldline. This will be followed by a cocktail reception, a relaxed setting to continue conversations and connect with fellow participants! The tour begins at 16:00, with the reception to follow at 17:00.

The programme continues on Tuesday, 17 June, with a session on the future of revenue collection systems, taking place at 17:15 in Expo Session A, Hall A2 (ground floor). And on Wednesday, 18 June, from 09:00 to 11:00, the Forum will host a special session titled “Navigating the Future of Revenue Collection in Public Transport” in room Osaka 1-2-3, Hall A4 (Conference Area A). This session is open exclusively to PTAs/PTOs, providing a focused environment to explore strategies for future-proofing fare collection amid evolving technologies and user expectations.

Throughout the event, the Forum’s dedicated stand – A3364 in Hall A3 – will be open to all attendees. Come pay them a visit and discover the latest innovations in open-loop mobility!

If you are interested in attending, please contact one of our colleagues: Andrea Soehnchen at [email protected], or Iryna Moroz at [email protected].

Rail also features prominently on the agenda through two projects supported by Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking: R2DATO and NEXUS.

The R2DATO project will host an expert dialogue on the current state and future of tram automation. Its dedicated session, titled “Unlocking Full Automation Through Strategic Research and Innovation”, will explore the project’s use cases, strategic priorities, and the conditions needed to enable full tram automation across diverse operational settings and facilitate wider market adoption.

What legacy will R2DATO leave for future research and innovation efforts in this field? Join the discussion on 17 June, from 15:45 to 17:45, in the Elphi Room, Hall B1 (Ground Floor).

If you are interested in attending, please contact one of our colleagues: John Mcsweeney at [email protected], Bettina Bouete at [email protected], or Dominic Lauwers at [email protected].

Meanwhile, the NEXUS project is focused on the modernisation of metro systems. With two use cases based in Genoa, Italy, and Sofia, Bulgaria, the project aims to make metro systems more technologically advanced, socially responsible, environmentally sustainable, and operationally efficient. As a newly launched initiative, NEXUS holds significant potential to shape a common vision for harmonised rail operations and accelerate the integration of advanced technologies into Europe’s rail network.

To learn more and meet the NEXUS team, visit the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking stand (A1122, Hall A1) on Tuesday, 17 June, from 11:30 to 13:00, or Wednesday, 18 June, from 10:00 to 11:30.

The EU-funded NAPCORE project is the largest cooperation of mobility data platforms, with over 77 partners across 27 Member States and six other European countries. As this stage of project concludes, NAPCORE invites you celebrate its achievements and contributions to mobility data exchange in the EU! But does every good thing really have to end? NAPCORE might just change your perspective.

While this chapter closes, the journey of EU-wide multimodal data sharing continues, driving forward our collective mission to deliver high-quality, cross-border mobility data. Discover what lies ahead at the session “Along the NAPCORE road: Empowering Multimodal Mobility Data in Europe”, happening Tuesday, 17 June, from 16:30 to 17:30, at the UITP Stand A1580.

As part of the Summit programme, NAPCORE and the EU-funded TEADAL project will come together for a collaborative session focused on strengthening multimodal mobility data in Europe. The session, “Empowering Multimodal Mobility Data in Europe: NAPCORE and TEADAL Project Highlights”, will take place on Monday, 16 June, from 13:00 to 15:00, in room Osaka 1-2-3, Hall A4 (Conference Area A).

During the session, UITP’s new study “EU Identification System for Multimodal Mobility Access Nodes” will be presented, which examines how Member States currently manage these IDs and outlines potential routes toward harmonisation. Additionally, the TEADAL project will showcase outcomes from its pilot mobility data lake implemented in the city of Catania, Italy.

If you are interested in attending, please contact one of our colleagues: Efe Usanmaz at [email protected], or Milnael Gomez at [email protected].

This June, Hamburg becomes the stage for research and innovation in the public transport sector.

Surprised by how much is happening? We’ve made it easy to navigate. Discover the full programme of project side events here.

Important: if you are interested in joining a session, get in touch with the relevant contact listed for that event.

If you’re attending the UITP Summit, we look forward to welcoming you in person! Not travelling to Hamburg? You can still follow the highlights and insights throughout the week via our social media channels.

For more information about the Summit, click here.