OVERALL CONCLUSIONS OF THE
FIRST MAJOR CONFERENCE ON TRANSPORT RESEARCH IN GREECE

Athens, 21 & 22 February, 2002

Co-Organizers:
· Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers
· Hellenic Institute of Transport (National Centre for Research and Technology Hellas)

The First Major Conference on Transport Research in Greece was held with great success in Athens, at Holiday Inn Hotel on the 21st -22nd February 2002. The Conference organised by the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (SES) and the Hellenic Institute of Transport (ΗΙΤ).

Almost 200 conventioneers (most of them transport engineers) from all the academic and the research community (both from the E.U. and the U.S.A.) as well as every interested body in the topic of transportation participated in this Conference, whose main objective was the presentation of methodologies and findings of recent research in the domain of transport, with emphasis on research activities in Greece.

View of the one of the two halls of the Congress during the parallel session 2A. In the first row from the right the M.I.T. Prof. Ben Akiva, the General Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs Mr. I. Chrisoulakis, the Professor Emeritus of NTUA Dr. Frantzeskakis and the representatives of the two political organisations, New Democracy and Coalition of the Left and Progress can be seen.

About 51 papers were presented during the conference sessions, including all the finest research results of the past 3 years. Additionally 3 speeches were made from the keynote speakers, including a speech from the Director of Maritime Policy, DG TREN. The Conference ended with a round table discussion on how close is transport research in Greece to the industry and the "needs" of the users. In this discussion managers and head staff from the most important Greek transport companies participated.

At the opening session, the Chairman of the Scientific Committe Director of the Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT) and Professor of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Prof. G. Giannopoulos pointed out that the funding allocated to research in Greece as a percentage of national gross product is the lowest in the E.U. In particular, private funding for applied research covers 1/5 of the average of the other countries of E.U. The funding prospects in the transport research for the next decade are unfortunately very low. The prospects for Greek involvement in big research programs of the 6th Framework Program of the E.U. (2002-2006) are quite low, though new conditions that help the big research institutes with great financial strength apply. Another reason is the entrance of the 12 linked countries to the E.U. with the same funding conditions and terms. On the other hand, the necessary infrastructure for applied research in the field of transport is being developed nowadays, an infrastructure that will promote a more effective and stepped-up activity in the field of transport research. A significant part of this infrastructure is the Hellenic Institute of Transport, based in Thessaloniki, Greece whose aim is to actively support transport research throughout Greece.

The Director of HIT Prof. G. Giannopoulos is speaking in the first full session. At the presiding board (from the right) Mr. Psaraftis, Managing Director of Piraeus Port Authority, Mr. Dokoumetzidis, Transportation Engineer and former President of the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers, Professor Emeritus of NTUA Dr. Frantzeskakis and Prof. Ben Akiva can be seen.

Speaking in the same session, the worldwide known transportation engineer, Professor of M.I.T./U.S.A. Μ. Ben Akiva reported on the progress in the field of applied transport research in the U.S.A. during the past 30 years (1968-1998). He mentioned the most interesting fields, such as telematics applications in transport and especially the "human-machine interface", a way of user exploitation of the advantages of new technologies, such as new simple models of travel demand forecasting, network optimization, development of virtual laboratories for traffic simulation and new transport economic theories.

The Professor Emeritus of NTUA Dr. Frantzeskakis reported on the today's structure of the Hellenic Services and Carriers on the field of transport and related their impacts on the delays and the development of the transport infrastructure in Greece.

During the Conference a Honour Distinction was given to the Director of Maritime Policy (V1) DG TREN Mr. Fotis Karamitsos, whose contribution to the research development on the field of transport during the 90's was enormous. During the years 1989-2001, Mr. Karamitsos was responsible of the DG TREN XIII, the financing organisation for telematics research application in the transport field. His positive contribution is obvious, not only in Greece but in the whole of the E.U. Therefore, the Hellenic Institute of Transport and the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers decided to honour Mr. Karamitsos with a honorary plate. After his announcement by the Director of HIT, Prof. G. Giannopoulos, Prof. Akiva spoke to the audience in a full session about "The Policy for Research in the E.U. and its relation to the other E.U. policies and especially the transport policy".

From the honor distinction of the Director of Maritime Transport of DG TREN, Mr. F. Karamitsos. The President of Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers, Dr. G. Giannis, Mr. F. Karamitsos and the Director of HIT, Prof. G. Giannopoulos can be seen in the right hand side of this picture

At the end of the Conference a round table discussion took place with the subject "How close is Transport Research in Greece to the industry and the needs of its users?".

In this discussion managers and head staff from the most important Greek transport companies and organisations participated, like Mr. Lampropoulos Managing Director of EGNATIA S.A, (Chairman of the Panel), Mr. I. Maniatis President of the Organisation of Public Transport in Athens and former General Secretary of the Ministry for Transport and Communications, Mr. Al. Skampardonis Authorized Professor of the University of California at Berkeley, Mr. Kikiras, former President of ATTIKO METRO S.A., Mr. Α. Κountras, representative of INTRACOM S.A., Mr. C. Tokamanis, head staff of the DG RESEARCH of the E.U., Mr. K. Ioannidis President of the PROODOS S.A. Transport Company and Mr. I. Paradeisopoulos head staff and representative of the Director of the Hellenic Railways Organisation.

From the discussions during the coffee brakes of the Congress. In the middle Dr. T. Nathanail, Vice President of the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers and President of the Organizing Committee (Managing Director of TRD S.A.).

The main conclusion from the discussion that followed was that, research in the field of transport is in a stage of establishment and attending to be acknowledged as a major factor for solving the major problems of the transport field in Greece. The main problem is the absence of the necessary implementation infrastructure of establishments and Ministries so that the results are included in the policies and actions taken by policy makers. Both sectors, researchers and politicians must work together and in parallel, so that the former give more practical dimension of results concerning the user needs and the latter ask the researchers to give practical, reliable and straightforward applicable results.

The co-ordinators and the all the conventioneers acknowledged the important role of this first major congress on transport research in Greece and agreed to organise the second one in two years and then biannually.