The Global Mobility Call discusses how to make mobility sustainable also in rural areas

The first edition of Global Mobility Call, the international congress on sustainable mobility organised by Ifema Madrid and Smobhub, has concluded with a great boost for a more sustainable, efficient and inclusive mobility. Through its different forums, this event held between 14 and 16 June, has consolidated the new ecosystem of institutional and business actors of the new mobility.

Over the three days, the Global Mobility Call was organised around the main mobility challenges: New Urban Planning, Economic Development and Regulation, Sustainable Transport, Technology, Data and Innovation, and Society of the Future. The latter integrates three major movements with an impact on society: New Generation, Rural Challenge and New Economy. In addition, there was also a forum dedicated to Latin America.

Zabala Innovation has been a strategic partner of the event as the organiser of the Rural Challenge, which, through various sessions, has sought to promote initiatives to improve mobility and economic change in less developed rural areas. Zabala Innovation professionals participated in the different sessions as moderators: the journalists Susana Garayoa and Ana Lumbreras, the leader of the Transport knowledge area, Sergio Úbeda, and the head of business development, Daniel Agudo.

This rural forum has had the support of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) which, through the General Secretariat for the Demographic Challenge, has coordinated the Rural Challenge.

The Rural Challenge

The institutional opening of the Rural Challenge, moderated by Susana Garayoa, was hosted by Ms. María José Rallo, (Secretary of State for Transport – MITMA), Mr. Francesc Boya (Secretary General Demographic Challenge, MITERD), Mr. Ignacio Hernando (Minister of Development of the Junta de Castilla La Mancha), Mr. José Luis Soro (Minister of the Department of Territory, Mobility and Housing of the Government of Aragon) and Mr. José Luis Soro (Mayor of Cangas del Narcea – President of the Commission of the Regional Government of Aragon) and Mr. José Víctor Fernández (Mayor of Cangas del Narcea – President of the Rural Development and Fisheries Commission of the FEMP).

The rural forum also discussed the structuring of rural mobility through the Autonomous Communities in two sessions in which the Plan of Initiatives for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience was discussed.

Participants (I):

• Ms. Eva Mª Sanchez-Montero (D.G. Transportes de la Junta de Extremadura)
• Ms. Roser Obrer Marco (D.G. of Public Works, Transport and Sustainable Mobility of the Generalitat Valenciana)
• Moderator – Sergio Úbeda (Leader of the Transport knowledge area – Zabala Innovation)

Participants (II):

• Ms. Mercè Rius i Serra (D.G. of Transport and Mobility of the Generalitat de Catalunya)
• Mr. Miguel Ángel Creso (D.G. of Territorial Planning of the D.F. Gipuzkoa)
• Mr. José Luis Fernández-Quejo del Pozo (D.G. de Transportes y Movilidad de la Comunidad de Madrid)
• Moderator – Daniel Agudo (Head of Business Development – Zabala Innovation)

• Seppo Ahola (Kemin Digipolis OY, Finland).
• Anna Reichenberger (Regional Management of the Styria Metropolitan Area, Austria)
• Lei Chen (RISE, Sweden)
• Moderator – Ana Lumbreras (Communication in European Projects – Zabala Innovation)

The session on Collaborative rural mobility projects in cross-border regions was moderated by Juana López Pagán (MITECO), with the participation of Mr. Francesc Boya (Secretary General Demographic Challenge, MITERD, Spain) and Isabel Ferreira (Ministry of Development of Inland Regions, Portugal).

Other sessions in the framework of the Rural Challenge were:

ITF study – “Innovations for better Rural Mobility” by Lucie Kirstein (ITF-OCDE).

SMARTA: analysis and solutions for a stressed rural transport system in Europe. Demographic challenge, connectivity and infrastructures by:

• Brendan Finn (MemEx, SMARTA Project Manager)
• Eva Martínez, Major of Vallirana Municipality, Spain
• Schiefelbush, Centre for New Public Transport Concepts at NVBW, the state mobility agency of Baden Wüttemberg, Germany
• Angelo Meuleman
• Claudio Mantero, Project coordinator and site manager in CIVITAS DESTINATIONS

SENATOR, part of the Global Mobility Call

The SENATOR project, of which we are partners, also participated in the event, presenting itself as an example of an innovation project that seeks logistics solutions to improve the quality of life in cities and reduce emissions.

The panel of experts at the Global Mobility Call 2022 session was made up of Ángela Núñez from Correos, Breogan Sánchez from the Zaragoza City of Knowledge Foundation, one of the SENATOR pilot cities, and Aoife O’Connor from An Post, the Irish national postal service. The session will be moderated by Susana Garayoa of Zabala Innovation in the New Urban Planning Forum.

The initiative will test its effectiveness in the real world, in Zaragoza and Dublin, which will function as urban living laboratories. These SENATOR pilot cities were selected to be part of the EU Mission for 100 climate neutral and smart cities by 2030. The project will be tested in these cities to analyse the feasibility of the logistics control tower and measure its economic, environmental and social impact.

Global Mobility Call in facts

Global Mobility Call has brought together more than 4,500 attendees in person and 13,000 on its digital platform Live Connect, from 40 countries, with more than 1.3 million views of the live programming.

In addition, 250 journalists have covered the more than 100 multi-sector dialogues, where more than 300 panelists, public and business representatives, entrepreneurs, academics and experts have presented proposals, ideas, reports and reflections on the rapid change processes of mobility.

At the institutional level, throughout the three days, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, participated in the closing day of the event on 16 June; the Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, in the inaugural session on 14 June and the closing session on 16 June; the Ministers of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, and of Energy Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Rivera, opened the sessions on 15 and 16 June, respectively; the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, closed the session on Wednesday 15, and the Regional Minister of Transport and Infrastructures of the Community of Madrid, participated in the closing session of the first day on 14.