ITS America, IBM, Spencer Trask, & Partners Launch Congestion Challenge for Traffic...

ITS America, IBM, Spencer Trask, & Partners Launch Congestion Challenge for
Traffic Solutions

Best Ideas Sought to Solve Congestion and Improve Mobility, the Environment
and Public Safety

WASHINGTON, June 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Intelligent Transportation
Society of America (ITS America), in partnership with IBM (NYSE: IBM) and
Spencer Trask Collaborative Innovations (STCI), today announced a new global
challenge to identify innovative ideas for combating transportation
congestion. Additional partners include AAA, the American Highway Users
Alliance, the Environmental Defense Fund, ITS Sweden, and the California and
Virginia Departments of Transportation. The announcement was made during the
ITS America Annual Meeting & Exposition.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

The ITS Congestion Challenge is the first global competition to identify the
best ideas to reduce congestion and mitigate its impact on the economy and
environment. The competition is open to entrepreneurs, commuters,
transportation experts, researchers in all fields, universities, and citizens
around the world. All ideas will be reviewed, discussed and rated by an open
global community. The best ideas to solve the problem of traffic congestion
will be selected and the winner will be announced during the 16th World
Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems in Stockholm, Sweden, September
21 - 25, 2009. The winner will receive a cash investment of $50,000 USD in
addition to development and implementation support so that the winning idea
becomes a real-world solution.

"The average metropolitan commuter in the U.S. spends nearly a full work week
stuck in traffic each year. This wastes precious time and fuel and impacts
the environment, road safety, quality of life, and economic productivity at a
cost of more than 1% of GDP," said ITS America President and CEO Scott
Belcher. "We cannot allow congestion to grind cities, suburbs and supply
chains to a halt every morning and afternoon when we have innovative tools,
technologies, and strategies available to manage our transportation systems
and utilize our infrastructure more effectively."

"Rapidly increasing urbanization and expanding population density is creating
unique, and in some cases very serious, transportation challenges throughout
the world," said Gerry Mooney, IBM General Manager, Global Government and
Education. "The intent of the ITS congestion challenge is to generate new
ideas to reduce congestion. This will lead to smarter transportation
solutions."

Winning ideas are expected to incorporate some of the following attributes:

Speed & Efficiency - enhance transportation system efficiency, use technology
to reduce delays and transport people and goods more reliably.

Behavioral Impact - provide travel alternatives and choices to reduce
congestion.

Safety - prevent accidents, improve incident response and provide more timely
and accurate transportation information.

Sustainability - lower energy use and emissions, actively manage traffic and
reduce congestion.

Economic Competitiveness - wireless applications, mobility tools and other
cost, efficiency and productivity improvements.

"The platform we will be using for this challenge harnesses a powerful
collaborative ecosystem incorporating proven innovation practices that have
been shown to find unique solutions for today's pressing problems," notes
Michael J. Turillo Jr, Vice Chairman of STCI.

For additional information on the challenge and to enter submissions,
interested participants should visit http://www.itsa.org/challenge.
Participants will be able to post solutions, collaborate in an open community
to improve entries and vote for the best ideas to reduce congestion and
mitigate its impact. Winners will be announced during the 16th World Congress
of ITS in Stockholm in September 2009.

ITS America
The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) was
established in 1991 as a not-for-profit organization to foster the use of
advanced technologies in surface transportation systems. It is the leading
advocate for technologies that improve the safety, security and efficiency of
the nation's surface transportation system. Members include private
corporations, public agencies, and academic institutions involved in the
research, development and design of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
and technologies to enhance safety, increase mobility, and sustain the
environment. For additional information on ITS America visit www.itsa.org.

IBM
IBM is building intelligent transportation systems around the world to help
cities manage traffic congestion, improve urban environmental conditions and
increase economic competitiveness. These systems leverage business
consulting, advanced transportation analytics, research, supercomputing and
new sensor networks. Recent projects include smart transportation initiatives
in China, The Netherlands, Stockholm, Brisbane, Singapore, Dublin, London and
Russia. For more information on IBM visit www.ibm.com, and to view a video on
IBM's smarter transportation initiatives, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fCjXMCMjgw

Spencer Trask Collaborative Innovation Inc. (STCI)
STCI accelerates the creation of new products and new ventures. This dynamic
engine powers global networks using collaborative technology to co-create and
capture value from customers, suppliers and innovators. STCI clients and
partners launch and harvest collaborative innovation projects with the
guidance of our world-class leadership team.

Spencer Trask & Co.
Spencer Trask is the leading collaborative venture firm. Our network of
co-investors and business leaders provides visionary entrepreneurs with
financial and intellectual capital. We change the world. Join us.
www.spencertrask.com

Press Contacts
Sabrina McGowan
ITS America
202.721.4205
smcgowan@itsa.org

Lia P. Davis
IBM Media Relations
202.285.5333
lia.p.davis@us.ibm.com

Erika McCarthy
STCI Communications
212.418.8560
emccarthy@spencertraskco.com

SOURCE ITS America; Spencer Trask; IBM

Sabrina McGowan, ITS America, +1-202-721-4205, smcgowan@itsa.org; or Lia P.
Davis, IBM Media Relations, +1-202-285-5333, lia.p.davis@us.ibm.com; or Erika
McCarthy, STCI Communications, +1-212-418-8560, emccarthy@spencertraskco.com