Skip to main content

Siemens launches Mobility IDEA contest

Siemens Road and City Mobility announced the launch of its Mobility IDEA (Improving Design and Engineering for All) contest, an initiative to find innovative ideas to help solve five of the toughest challenges facing the traffic industry. Contest winners will be invited to participate in a product prototyping workshop with Siemens technology experts. Siemens will also reward the top three universities by number of submissions with a traffic control software grant worth US$150,000 to help train future traffi
September 4, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

189 Siemens Road and City Mobility announced the launch of its Mobility IDEA (Improving Design and Engineering for All) contest, an initiative to find innovative ideas to help solve five of the toughest challenges facing the traffic industry. Contest winners will be invited to participate in a product prototyping workshop with Siemens technology experts. Siemens will also reward the top three universities by number of submissions with a traffic control software grant worth US$150,000 to help train future traffic engineers.

Using the IDEA contest website, powered by Mindjet’s SpigitEngage platform, members of the general public, including university students, will be asked to submit ideas for one of five scenarios that address a specific challenge faced by the traffic industry.

“According to recent statistics compiled by Nationwide Insurance, the average urban commuter is stuck in traffic an estimated 34 hours every year and we waste 1.9 billion gallons of fuel. The only way we’ll see a significant reduction in congestion and fuel consumption is to develop technologies that make our traffic systems more efficient,” said Ben Collar, head of US Research & Development for Siemens Road and City Mobility.

“Innovation is Siemens lifeblood, but we also understand that sometimes the best ideas don’t always happen inside our own walls. Technology is best cultivated when we can gather ideas from the bright minds of today and encourage the brilliant engineers of tomorrow to help improve our traffic systems with intelligent software.”

The contest will be open from 3 September to 16 November, with finalists announced on 12 December. Ideas can be submitted through the IDEA Contest website, where users can contribute new ideas, improve on current submissions by incorporating live feedback, comment and vote on other submissions, and use social media to share ideas. Once the contest has closed, submissions will be evaluated by a jury of traffic industry experts and winners will be notified directly. All submissions are eligible for top prizes.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The future looks bright for ITS
    June 4, 2015
    Professor Eric Sampson talks about the past successes of ITS, its potential for the future and the challenges the industry faces. If anybody should know when Intelligent Transport Systems started that person is Professor Eric Sampson, a visiting professor at both Newcastle and London City Universities. Having spent 40 years working for the UK’s Department of Transport and other public administrations, Professor Sampson now supports the European Commission on ITS systems and advises ERTICO ITS-Europe and ITS
  • More openness - the simple answer to transport's data issues
    October 22, 2018
    Public transit agencies create a lot of data – but using it constructively to solve transportation issues has been a problem. Ben Winokur and Luke Segars think they have the answer: greater openness. Today, more people are connected through smartphones than ever before - and they’re using them for more than texting and calling. People are searching for jobs on their devices, dating, shopping and even managing their finances. But Forbes reports that only a select few companies leverage all the technology at
  • SwRI sponsors ITS America with $1,000 student essay competition
    February 14, 2018
    Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is inviting U.S. students to take part in an essay competition to share their visions for the future of transportation with a $1,000 (£720) prize and a trip to ITS America 2018, in Detroit, from the 4-7 June. It is aimed at providing students an opportunity to apply their knowledge in a thought-provoking manner. The topic, ‘How do you envision disruptive consumer technology will affect transportation systems over the next 10 years?’ is open to transportation, engineering
  • Managing Seattle’s congestion with Siemens intelligent software
    May 18, 2016
    The City of Seattle, Washington, is to implement Siemens’ Concert, an integrated traffic management platform that connects both Siemens and third-party systems across the city including traffic control centres, intersection controllers and parking guidance systems. The Concert platform will integrate Siemens’ TACTICS traffic control system as well as the city’s existing dynamic message sign management system the local travel time system and the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) freeway sys