From May 24 to 26, the Leipzig Trade Fair opened its doors to transport ministers and experts from the transport industry from all over the world. Since 2008, the International Transport Forum (ITF) has been held annually in Leipzig – a summit that is part of the OECD (Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation). The aim of the summit is to promote the exchange between different players of the transport policy sector of different countries. This year, the topic of the Forum was “Transport Enabling Sustainable Economies”. Students of the “Friedrich List” Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences at TUD did not miss the opportunity to participate in the most important forum of the transport industry.

Insights into the transport industry

The summit meeting offers excellent insights in combination with transport studies at TU Dresden. Therefore, on May 26, 2023, a small delegation of the “Friedrich List” Faculty made its way to Leipzig to attend the ITF. Eight students from the diploma program in Transportation Engineering and the Master's program in Transportation Economics, as well as Dr. Michael Krieg, Managing Director of the Faculty, were able to travel to Leipzig.

At the beginning of the event, Sharon Masterson, manager at the ITF, talked in detail about the International Transport Forum. Critical questions from the students, for example about the role of the railway as a mode of transport, were also answered. Afterwards, representatives of various Saxon projects presented their work. Among others, Prof. Steffen Ihlenfeldt from the Fraunhofer IWU presented the fuel cell as an alternative form of propulsion. In addition, Dr. Martin Benedict spoke about the ERZmobil project, an on-demand shuttle designed to improve public transport services in the Saxon town of Zwönitz. This was followed by a tour of the exhibition together with Martin Dulig, the Saxon State Minister for Economic Affairs, Labor, and Transport.

The conference concluded with a plenary session on "Transport Enhancing Economic Growth: Local and Regional Perspectives.” Among others, transport ministers from Saudi Arabia, Chile, and South Africa took part, as did the mayor of the city of Leipzig, so that the students were presented with a wide range of perspectives on issues relating to the sustainable transformation of transport.

At the summit, TUD’s transportation students had the opportunity to learn about practical projects and hear voices from other countries on current transportation policy issues. The forum was an enriching look beyond the horizon for all participants.