Skip to main content

Canada’s ITS sector looks to boost exports

A mission to Hong Kong and Shenzhen in China marks the start of a series of export visits planned within ITS Canada’s new International Business Development (IBD) strategy, the only one open to all members, including SMEs, across the country’s transportation industry.
December 11, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Association chair Chris Philp.
A mission to Hong Kong and Shenzhen in China marks the start of a series of export visits planned within 74 ITS Canada’s new International Business Development (IBD) strategy, the only one open to all members, including SMEs, across the country’s transportation industry.


The association is receiving funding from Global Affairs Canada, which promotes SMEs abroad, to cover up to half of members’ travel costs.

Association chair Chris Philp told ITS International: “Many of our members must market abroad to remain sustainable.” He anticipates a “significant increase” in numbers of Canadian software firms making transportation-related apps for mobile devices and in-vehicle applications.

Since these companies typically don’t market their products along geographic lines, but sell through channels such as app stores, automotive OEMs and public transportation agencies, the association aims to strengthen links with global supply chains in target areas.

It is emphasising sustainable elements in ITS technologies that are important for rapidly developing economies with congestion and environmental issues. There will also be a continued drive into the US, the Canadian industry’s largest single market.

In the reverse direction, 8082 ITS France and national economic development agency Business France staged a May 2017 briefing in Paris on ITS opportunities in Canada.

This highlighted the country’s 2015 legislation enabling a national ITS architecture which is designed to ensure full compatibility of ITS products and services in integrated systems.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Mexico City seeks solutions to improve air quality
    December 6, 2017
    David Crawford ponders prospects for one of the world’s most congested and polluted cities. In 1992, the United Nations named Mexico City as the world’s most polluted urban centre. In the first half of 2016, following the updating of pollution alert limits to meet international standards, Mexico recorded 115 days where ozone concentrations exceeded the acute exposure health limit.
  • ARTBA president: what happened to the hoverboards?
    October 28, 2019
    What keeps Dave Bauer up at night? David Arminas caught up with the head of ARTBA at his Washington, DC office during daylight hours Dave Bauer doesn’t really have many sleepless nights. He might sleep, though, with one eye open, just in case. “We have become a much more divided country politically,” says Bauer, president of ARTBA – American Road and Transportation Builders Association. “Whether you are thinking about federal government, or state or local government, there’s a hostility now in our politi
  • UITP reveals promising growth in public transport modal share
    June 10, 2015
    Back in 2009, the public transport sector set itself a goal: double its market share worldwide by 2025 to make cities more liveable and more productive. Today, in 2015, on the occasion of the biennial UITP World Congress & Exhibition in Milan this week, UITP presented a report to illustrate the urban policies that are moving cities closer to that goal. In a report presented at the plenary session of the World Congress, UITP research points to a general increase in public transport modal share thanks to
  • Big wheels keep on turnin’
    August 21, 2018
    Many of the great and the good in the global mobility sector gathered at this year’s Movin’ On event in Montreal. Measured regulation of technologies and safety issues were major themes, reports David Arminas. *Bibendum is the original name for the Michelin Man, the symbol of the Michelin tyre company Autonomous vehicles, platooning, smart intersections and safety – these were the talking points over two-and-a-half days of the Movin’ On event in Montreal, Canada. Everyone in the mobility sector is at the