Skip to main content

Prince Constantijn calls on ITS sector to support start-ups

Entrepreneurs need collaboration and support from established ITS companies to solve smart mobility issues, urged a member of the Dutch royal family, speaking at the official opening of Intertraffic 2018. His Royal Highness Prince Constantijn van Oranje said: “When we think about smart mobility and MaaS, at some point we turn to start-ups.” The Prince, who is special envoy for the Dutch government’s StartupDelta initiative, suggested that entrepreneurs were not coming up with ‘crazy’ ideas – rather, they w
March 20, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Entrepreneurs need collaboration and support from established ITS companies to solve smart mobility issues, urged a member of the Dutch royal family, speaking at the official opening of Intertraffic 2018.


His Royal Highness Prince Constantijn van Oranje said: “When we think about smart mobility and MaaS, at some point we turn to start-ups.” The Prince, who is special envoy for the Dutch government’s StartupDelta initiative, suggested that entrepreneurs were not coming up with ‘crazy’ ideas – rather, they were presenting solutions to what he sees as ‘crazy’ transport problems.

“We think it’s normal to sit in traffic for hours, polluting the planet,” His Majesty said. “So flip it round: they are coming up with pragmatic solutions for our very stupid mobility systems. For this miracle to happen, we need communication.”

His Royal Highness encouraged show visitors to go and talk to entrepreneurs who are exhibiting at Intertraffic’s ITSUP event in Hall 9.  

Related Content

  • Smarter mapping makes for more informed decisions
    December 2, 2016
    Following his keynote presentation at the 2016 ITS World Congress in Melbourne, ITS International caught up with Esri founder Jack Dangermond. It is getting close to half a century ago that Jack Dangermond and his wife Laura founded the Environmental Research Systems Institute – known today as Esri - of which he remains president.
  • Panasonic in Colorado: Rocky mountain way
    December 3, 2018
    Panasonic is at the heart of a C-V2X project which began last year in Colorado. The company’s smart mobility boss Chris Armstrong tells Adam Hill how it is working out Colorado needs traffic and transport solutions – and fast. The US state’s population has grown 50% in the last 20 years and another 50% hike is predicted in the next 20. It also spends more than $13 billion in roadway crash costs each year. In 2015, 546 people died in traffic-related crashes, and more than 3,000 were seriously injured.
  • Asfinag makes case for ITS-G5 over 5G
    March 15, 2019
    Asfinag’s Manfred Harrer and Peter Meckel talk to Jason Barnes about the organisation’s first steps towards C-ITS deployments - and why ITS-G5 will be the underpinning standard For quite a number of years, it was assumed that the connectivity required for cooperative ITS (C-ITS) applications and autonomous vehicle (AV) operations would be catered for by a bespoke communications solution/protocol. This would provide localised ad hoc communication in a manner similar to Wi-Fi, and the dedicated bandwidth/n
  • Tech advances create MaaS without compromise
    August 29, 2019
    Advances in technology make it possible for authorities to compile and maintain MaaS platforms cheaply - and without relinquishing control to third parties. Colin Sowman finds out more… It is increasingly clear that local authorities’ reluctance to implement Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is based on politics and finance. However, the technology underpinning MaaS is evolving rapidly and is presenting new solutions. At its heart, the political resistance comes down to the divide between the ethos of public