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Exciting news for UTSG Members but also important information for non- Members At the opening plenary session of the 12th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, that took place in San Francisco early in November, Dr Stephen Ladyman, MP Minister of State for Transport UK gave a presentation at the conclusion of which he invited delegates to attend the next 13th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems. This will be hosted by ITS (UK) and will be held in the Excel Exhibition Centre from 8–12 October 2006 in London. The theme of the 2006 Congress is Delivering Transport Excellence and acknowledgement has been made to the importance of innovation and academic research. Towards the end of Dr Ladyman’s opening address, he said “ITS is key to the UK Government’s transport vision, and I suspect it will be vital all around the world. And I want the UK to be seen as a leader in ITS and pivotal in building the partnerships needed to understand and deploy it. We very much look forward to demonstrating that achievement and ambition, both here (that is at the 12th Congress) and at the 2006 ITS World Congress and, if I can have another advertisement – in London we want to encourage a new generation of ITS experts by holding an International University ITS challenge. A competition for the best depiction of how ITS will benefit transport in 2015. More details later.” The competition is likely to take the form of a short computer video/Powerpoint presentation that describes a research output that will make a difference to transport systems beyond 2015. The ITS Congress 2006 is a golden opportunity for the UTSG to showcase its research excellence. Whilst details of the competition are still evolving, I urge everyone to begin to think of ways in which their research can be entered into the competition. Another piece of GOOD NEWS, is that the best Scientific paper will be awarded with a prize funded by the Transport for London and given that all Scientific papers are peer assessed there will be good return on investment. In the meantime, I would like to remind everyone that the deadline for draft papers has been extended to 6 January 2006. Even at this late stage, I would like to encourage members of the UTSG to submit a Technical and/or Scientific papers as detailed on www.itsworldcongress.com. Many of the abstracts submitted to and papers that will be presented at the UTSG Conference in 2006 are consistent with the themes of the ITS UK Congress so may I suggest that people look carefully at their work and seize on this golden opportunity to disseminate their research results. It may only be necessary to change the emphasis of the UTSG paper at this stage, and if selected improved at a later date next year. I am particularly anxious that the role Intelligent Transport Systems plays in reducing the impact of traffic and transport in the environment features more at the 2006 Congress. At the San Francisco Congress, whereas the environment was mentioned in many of the presentations, there were only three sessions that were devoted to environment issues. Finally, the UTSG is looking at ways to raise the profile of transport research in the UK at the Congress by having an exhibition stand, and we are looking at the possibility of demonstrating our innovation (for example, instrumented cars, access laboratory, pedestrian tracking etc) by requesting financial support from the EPSRC, more details about this will be given at the UTSG Conference in January. I am looking forward to seeing you then. In the meantime have a Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year. Regards Margaret