As the industry prepares for the 26th ITS World
Congress in Singapore, ITS Asia-Pacific secretary
general Hajime Amano, gives his opinion on the
outlook for the region, sustainability… and ‘flying cars’
1993,” recalls Amano. “Since then, I have
been involved in field tests of ERP and
ETC projects in Hong Kong, China and
Japan. I have also been a member of the
International Program Committee, then a
member of the Board of Directors of ITS
World Congress.
“In the early years, ITS was seen as
simply an application area of information
and electronic control technologies.
However, societal aspects have become
more and more important in recent
years for emerging areas such as
connected and automated driving
and Mobility as a Service.”
Asia-Pacific outlook
The ITS World Congress returns to the
Asia-Pacific region in 2019, as it does
every three years as part of its ongoing
10 Hajime Amano is
celebrating a decade
as secretary general
of ITS Asia-Pacific
September/October 2019 Traffic Technology International 019
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com
Hajime Amano is the longest
serving of the three major ITS
organization chiefs, having held
his role as secretary general of ITS
Asia-Pacific since 2009.
This makes him a familiar face to anyone
who has attended ITS World Congresses
over the last decade. He takes part in official
ceremonies and contributes to panels and
plenaries, as well as always being ready for
a chat when he finds time to walk the
exhibition hall, his warm smile welcoming
old friends and new acquaintances alike.
But Amano’s experience of ITS started
years before he began his leadership roles –
appropriately enough the focus of his first
project was this year’s World Congress host
city, Singapore.
“I participated in a feasibility study of
electronic road pricing (ERP) in Singapore in
Interviewed by Tom Stone
| Hajime Amano
Above:
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‘world tour’. It lands at a time when, more
than ever, authorities are turning to
technology in an attempt to solve
transportation challenges.
“Some of the Asia-Pacific countries are
rapidly growing in terms of economic
activities and population,” says Amano.
“They are struggling to overcome
transportation challenges, such as
road traffic fatalities, congestion and
environmental sustainability, which other
countries began addressing over half
a century ago.”
But while developed nations may have
a head start in terms of technology
deployment, Amano sees an advantage for
developing nations in Asia, in that they
can now skip outdated systems and go
straight to advanced solutions.
“State-of-the-art technologies are
readily available for all countries and
emerging economies can be early adopters
because they don’t have any existing
legacy systems,” he says. “In that sense,
we all have common challenges in
deploying ambitious systems.”
And of course, as secretary general of
ITS Asia-Pacific, Amano is in a prime
position to enable ambitions in the region
to be realized. But that doesn’t mean he
can adopt a one-size-fits all approach.
“Each one of the members of ITS
Asia-Pacific is at a different stage of
development and we have a lot to learn
from each other,” he says. “Diversity is an
important advantage for ITS Asia-Pacific
members. Rapidly developing countries
Emerging economies
can be early adopters
because they don’t have any existing
legacy systems
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