-The International Network of Abertis Chairs has already awarded this year's prizes to the best research projects in Spain, France, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Italy, whose national awards as well as the international distinction were presented today in the Italian city of Padua.

-The Abertis Chair Awards foster the connection between universities and business and strengthen comprehensive training in mobility management, transport, research, innovation and development in the field of planning and operation of transport systems with a view to social, economic and environmental sustainability.

19 October, 2023.- Today in Padua, Italy, the Abertis Foundation presented the 12th Abertis Chair International Award for the best Sustainable Mobility Research project, which recognises innovation, commitment and efforts dedicated to promoting a future with cleaner, more efficient and safer mobility.

This recognition identifies the best research study presented by master's and doctoral students from universities in Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Chile. Abertis selects the international winner from among each country's Abertis Chair Award winners at a ceremony that is held in a different country each year. This time, and for the first time ever, the ceremony's venue was the Italian city of Padua, to mark the presentation of the Abertis Chair Award Italy.

The awards ceremony was attended by the president of the Abertis Foundation, Elena Salgado, who stressed that "through our International Network of Abertis Chairs, we aspire to stimulate, generate and disseminate new knowledge and technologies in our fields of activity to put them at the service of society, at a time when mobility presents great challenges that affect all aspects of our society, where it is essential to address these challenges from multiple perspectives".

In this 12th edition of the International Award, the winners were the researchers Loïc Bonnetain, from France, for his thesis Potentialité des Données de Téléphonie Mobile pour l'Estimation de la Mobilité Urbaine à Large Echelle and Federico Orsini, from Italy, for his research work based on conflicts for the analysis of road safety. In the Master's thesis category, the award went to Gabriel Andrés Nova Sepúlveda from Chile.

The winners received the award during a ceremony held inside Palazzo Bo', the historic seat of the University of Padua.

Gonzalo Alcalde, Chairman of A4 Holding, Abertis' subsidiary in Italy, stressed that "we are very honoured that this year's edition of the Abertis Chair international awards competition has taken place in Italy and even more pleased that among the winners are so many deserving students, researchers and doctoral students who represent the university excellence of the network that Abertis has decided to support and implement over all these years. A4 Holding continues to spearhead the support and development of research, innovation, technology transfer, dissemination and scientific creation in the mobility, transport and infrastructure management field, and believes that many steps forward can be taken thanks to the ingenuity and skills shown by university students in this field, without losing sight of the technological challenges of the new frontiers of what must be an increasingly sustainable and responsible mobility".

At the closing of the event, it was announced that the presentation of the Abertis Chair International Award in 2024 will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico.

20th edition of the Abertis Chair Award in Spain

Meanwhile in Spain last week, the 20th Abertis Prize for sustainable mobility research was awarded to Alessandra Boggio-Marzet, for her doctoral thesis, "Strategies to improve efficiency and sustainability of last-mile delivery in urban settings: a holistic perspective", while José Benito Pérez López won the runner-up prize for his doctoral thesis, "Statistical analysis and discrete choice econometric models with spatial correlation in transport and urban economy: application to residential location prediction models".

In the Master's thesis category, the first research prize was awarded to Andrés Reyes Díaz for his work "Life cycle analysis of electric and hydrogen buses to improve decision making", and the runner-up prize went to Miguel Meléndez Useros, who presented his work on "Estimation of the friction coefficient between tyres and road".

Awards that bolster ties between universities and business

The Abertis International Chair awards these prizes both to bolster the ties between universities and business, and also to strengthen comprehensive training in mobility and transport management, research, innovation and development in the field of transport system planning and operation, all with a view to social, economic and environmental sustainability.

"For us, this ceremony represents our commitment to society and our firm belief in the power of education and research to transform the world as we know it," explained the president of the Abertis Foundation, Elena Salgado, during the awards ceremony.

About the Abertis Chairs International Network

Aware of the importance of links with the academic world for social and economic progress, Abertis promotes training, research and knowledge transfer between universities and business. The Abertis Chairs International Network contributes to generate and disseminate new knowledge and innovations in the different fields of activity, making them serve society as a whole and the technical and educational community, and caring for and helping the talent that universities are capable of bringing to the surface and channelling.

The Abertis Chairs network is made up of those established in Spain (Polytechnic University of Madrid), France (École des Ponts-ParisTech), Puerto Rico (University of Puerto Rico), Chile (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) and Brazil (University of São Paulo). One year ago, two more countries joined the Network, namely Mexico, with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and Italy, with the University of Padua.

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