"If we want to turn mobility into a true service, we need a mindset that is innovative, forward looking and forward thinking and we also need constructive cooperation across borders," said Ms Anne Berner, Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications, at the Aurora Symposium on intelligent transport systems and services that was held in Muonio, Finland, on 1 February 2016.
She met her minister colleagues from the neighbouring countries at the Symposium. Minister Berner sees considerable potential to promote digitalisation in cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic countries.
"Both dialogue between the countries and various forms of cooperation between businesses and the administration are needed. The businesses create the markets, but it is the task of the administration to enable innovations and facilitate market entry with up-to-date legislation, for example," Minister Berner says.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications is currently making preparations for a Transport Code, which will promote digitalisation and make it easier to view the transport system as a whole.
The ministerial meeting was attended by Mr Kristen Michel, Minister for Economic Affairs and Infrastructure of Estonia; Ms Anna Johansson, Minister of Infrastructure of Sweden; Mr Tom Cato Karlsen, Deputy Transport Minister from Norway; Mr Soren Wille, Deputy Secretary of State from Denmark; and Mr Peter Gašperšič, Minister of Infrastructure of Slovenia.
"It is important that the digitalisation process in transport services is in line with the ones in our neighbouring countries and we can thus provide the customers with the best possible service."
A world-class Arctic ecosystem for intelligent transport systems and services and automated driving is being developed in the Finnish Lapland. New MaaS (Mobility as a Service) services are also being developed within the Aurora project.
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