An International virtual conference in the Smart Mobility field was held this week, using a virtual platform for the first time. Israel’s EcoMotion 2020 event presented again this year the latest technological developments of the Smart Mobility world and discussed the inevitable changes in the world due to the Coronavirus, with a long list of participants, innovations and projects.
The event held over 3,000 on-line participants. Among them senior executives of companies such as: SOMPO, Volvo, Mobileye, Volkswagen, NIO, Zoox, Bosch, BP Ventures, EIT Urban Mobility, Renault Nissan Mitsubishi, Continental, BWV, Rosenberger and others.
Commenting on the success of this year’s event Orlie Dahan, EcoMotion Executive Director, said: “Moving thousands of people to one platform is not an easy task, but the EcoMotion Community proved its power again. Communication is one of the important tools in order to deal with uncertainty like we have today. We found an innovative solution in times when no one could fly or meet, and big conferences couldn’t take place. I was moved to see Hakan Samuelsson, CEO of Volvo Cars, on the live chat answering Start-ups questions, and I’m positive that the EcoMotion event, with its panels, fireside chats and B2B meetings, helped construct a new bridge into the upcoming future. Summing up the numbers proves that this virtual event, in terms of meetings, connections and participating countries, was even more successful than past years. We are now considering to expand the use of the EcoMotion Virtual Platform and introduce a new way of communicating on and offline, as if to create our own EcoMotion “LinkedIn”.”
As a part of the EcoMotion Week, Netivei Israel launched an innovation branch, which will invest 10 million shekels a year towards creating solutions for the challenges of development and management of transport infrastructures. CEVT has announced the opening of an innovation center in Tel Aviv, which will be managed by former EcoMotion CEO, Lior Zeno. Easy Mile has announced its inauguration in Israel and is starting to market their autonomous vehicles in collaboration with Camino. Porsche has shared their collaboration with the Israeli Tactile Mobility.
Meir Arnon, EcoMotion Week Chairman added: “EcoMotion did it again, attracting global smart mobility and automotive industry players and entrepreneurs into a daylong sessions that were absolutely valuable to the participants. See you May 2021 in Tel Aviv!”
Dr. Anat Bonshtein, Chairwoman & Director, Smart Mobility Initiative (PMO) also stated: “With impressive participation from all over the world, the success of our first virtual EcoMotion conference only reinforces the fact that the global community sees Israel as a source of innovation and knowhow in the field of smart mobility. It was exciting to see top players from all over the world taking part in this day to learn and share their insights and visions. This event was a virtual place for the ongoing global discourse regarding the future of smart mobility and a showcase of Israel’s amazing innovative technologies and strength”.
EcoMotion is a joint venture of the Israeli Innovation Institute, the Smart Mobility Initiative (in the Prime Minister’s Office) and the Ministry of Economy. “I was excited to see so many Israeli and global players taking part in the first ever EcoMotion virtual event. In these times of global crises, EcoMotion community turned the challenge into opportunity and enable its members to engage even deeper during this difficult times. We, at the ministry of Economy and industry are proud to take part in such a unique initiative to strengthen the Israeli and global community and effect the smart mobility revolution,” explained Naama Kaufman Fass, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Economy.
As in every year, a startup exhibition was held this year with 175 Israeli and international startups which presented their technologies and solutions via the virtual platform. Among them were: Via, Arbe, NoTraffic, Otonomo, Neteera, Karamba Security, VayaVision, Trieye, UVeye, AutoFleet, AutoTalks, Enroute, Driivz, Innoviz, Fortellix, Hailo, Axilion, Actasys, Anagog.
EcoMotion 2020 – the Figures
3,000 participants from 52 countries (last year’s physical event hosted 44 countries), over 1,000 international companies – 211 of them participated in three different virtual exhibitions, 170 Start-ups exhibiting, 52 speakers, 22 lectures, 10 countries that want to open their markets to EcoMotion startups. Over 2,200 B2B meetings requested, 1,000 already confirmed and 547 completed! Almost five times more than the face-to-face event!
Among the main speakers at the conference: Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson, Prof. Amnon Shashua – President and CEO of Mobileye, Nikolai Ardey – Executive Director Volkswagen Group Innovation, NIO CEO – William Li, Daniel Ramot – CEO Via, Aicha Evans- CEO Zoox and Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann former CEO of Continental, VW China and Opel. Jarlath Sweeney
