"Mobility: Future Market, or End of Growth?": Dr. Peter Phleps presented a keynote speech at the SAE World Congress 2014 in Detroit. SAE organizes this largest automotive engineering conference every year with more than 11000 representatives from car manufacturers and suppliers all around the globe.

Should I buy a car, or should I use public transportation and car sharing more often? Millions of young adults have to cope with this decision every year. What are the reasons for decreasing car usage in the younger age group? Experts from science and industry discussed this topic during an IAA-Syposium.

How does the future of mobility look like? Social, economic and technological developments set increasingly complex requirements for the transport system and its efficiency. New technologies can provide an essential contribution for shaping mobility in the future. But technologies alone will not be able to cope with challenges like climate change, lack of resources and demographic changes. Dr. Peter Phleps from ifmo and Prof. Dr. Hermann Knoflacher from Technical University of Vienna joined the podium at a science talk in the Aula der Wissenschaften in Vienna. Moderator of the event was Gabriele Gerhardter, head of innovation and mobility at OEAMTC.

The aim of the conference is to identify where scientific support is needed to strengthen Europe's Eco-Industries as a source of growth and jobs.

Session: “Science contributing to improve air quality”

Speakers:
Gunnar Söderholm, Director at the Environment and Health Department of the City of Stockholm
Irene Feige, Head of the Institute for Mobility Research
David Fowler, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh

Which are the relevant influencing factors for changes among young adults mobility behavior? How did they impact on mobility behavior? The ifmo research project on altered mobility behavior by young adults had already identified socio-economic factors to play a relevant role in this context. This lead tot he question, which other factors were important here. This was the problem statement for this expert workshop. 22 interdisciplinary experts from various types of institutions (department of transport, corporations, academia) participated in the workshop. According to expert opinion, the following factors had a major influence on young adults mobility in the last years: changes in the transport system, proliferation of ICT, changed framework conditions for social interaction, consumption preferences, attitudes and psychological factors.

The freight volume between Eastern and Western Europe will double in the next twenty years.
This is a core finding of the new ifmo study "East-West Freight Traffics 2030“. Because of its foreign trade and its geographical position within the enlarged EU, Germany plays a key role in this development. But what will be the traffic consequences of this development? Which goods will be transported where, using which transport modes? What will the be the future challenges of these developments for Germany? To answer these questions, the Institute for Mobility Research (ifmo) initiated and commissioned a study on “East-West Freight Traffics 2030” from ProgTrans AG. The first of its kind, the study offers detailed findings about the development of freight traffic between Western and Eastern Europe. It provides a retrospective analysis of traffic flows and development forecasts for the year 2030.