The Ministry of Transport and Communications has received a significant recognition award for its achievements in promoting advanced transport policy and legislation.

The ITS Hall of Fame award was presented to the ministry in the ITS World Congress 2017 in Montreal on Thursday, said a press release.

Finland is a pioneer in “Mobility as a Service” thinking. Mobility is turning into a comprehensive service that can better meet the needs of the users.

This is the concept that the transport and communications ministry has successfully promoted.

The ministry gained recognition for its act on transport services that covers all regulations on transport markets.

The act promotes digitalisation of transport services and is the first in the world to enable uniform and mobile travel chains. A key part of the legislative reform is the opening up of data.

Transport and Communications Minister Anne Berner is delighted about the recognition.

“I want to thank the international ITS network for this significant recognition. The award is a strong signal for us that we are doing the right things to advance the future transport services. Digitalisation affects the entire society, including transport. The act on transport services is truly unique, even countries that are technologically more advanced than we are have shown great interest in it. ITS Hall of Fame award shows us that we in Finland are respected and are doing things that have global importance,” Berner said.

Finland is also praised for the excellent arrangements for the ITS-Europe event in Helsinki in 2014.

The ITS Hall of Fame awards annually highlight the successes of the most outstanding ITS deployments. The awards are granted to Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe in three categories: industry, local government, and personal lifetime achievement.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications was nominated for the award by the European ITS network and the winner was selected by the supervisory board of ERTICO-ITS Europe.