About

About the Samson International Smart Mobility Summit

The 9th annual Sheila and Eric Samson International Smart Mobility Summit will take place on the 01 – 02 of November this year in Tel Aviv – Israel.

The Samson Smart Mobility Summit is one of the leading global platforms for discussion on the future of mobility. It gathers the most distinguished decision-makers, preeminent business leaders, innovators, policymakers, and academia to explore the trends shaping mobility in the 21st century.

The Summit will highlight the themes of innovation in transportation and the evolution of smart mobility solutions and business models. We will explore the challenges, opportunities, and implications of efforts worldwide, examining research and innovation and discussing how policymaking, global coalitions, and smart investments can create value for the smart mobility ecosystem worldwide.

The core issues that will be discussed this year will be:

  • Revolutionizing Traffic Management: Harnessing Innovative Technologies to Reduce Congestion and Road Accidents
  • Innovative Sustainable Sources of Energy for Mobility: The Road Ahead to Level 5 Autonomy
  • Taking to the Skies: The Promise and Challenges of Urban Air Mobility
  • Efficient and Connected: The Role of Intelligent Mobility in Building Smarter Cities
  • Cyber Security for Intelligent Mobility Systems
  • Big Data: Accelerating the Transition to Intelligent Transportation
  • How Public Policy Can Foster Innovation and Drive the Adoption of New Mobility Technologies
  • Scaling Up and Going Global: A Peak into Leading Israeli Companies’ Successes and Challenges

Israel’s Prime Minister and the Minister of Transportation and Road Safety will launch the Event on November 1st, 2023.

The year’s two-day summit will also include satellite events, such as:

  • Official reception and Cocktail, exclusive to invitees only, on November 2nd, 2023.
  • Urban Air Mobility Workshop
  • Exclusive roundtable discussion on the future regulation of autonomous vehicles.
  • Pre-scheduled B2B meetings dedicated to presenting Israeli startups in the field (We invite you to inform us regarding delegations and guests and their requests and wishes, and we will do our utmost to schedule relevant meetings).
  • Guided Tours at the Summit’s exhibition, focused on interruptive technologies and innovations in smart mobility.
  • Additional workshops, meetings, and other events hosted by various organizations, corporates, and startups during the smart mobility.

About the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety’s

Innovation and smart mobility unit

The Ministry of Transport and Road Safety’s Innovation and Smart Mobility Unit is a platform where governments, researchers, corporations, and entrepreneurs promote smart mobility and exhaust its potential in Israel and abroad.

The Smart Mobility unit promotes smart transportation and leverages its potential for the Israeli market and beyond by developing, introducing, and implementing cutting-edge solutions.

The unit leads the smart mobility ecosystem by promoting the following:

  • R&D, Innovation, and entrepreneurship
  • Implementing solutions within the local mobility and transport sector
  • Identifying, mapping, and tracking innovative projects
  • Establishing ministerial policies and regulation
  • Gathering and analyzing national data that will become a national database for smart mobility (the Igra Project).

The Smart Mobility unit was formed in 2023 under the Prime Minister’s office and has been an integral part of the Ministry of Transportation and Road Safety since 2021 as a reflection of a growing recognition of the importance of smart transportation and its potential to improve mobility, efficiency, and sustainability.

The Samson – Prime Minister Award

for innovation in alternative energy and smart mobility for transportation

 As part of Eric and Sheila Samson’s enormous vision for global transportation free of oil, they founded the world’s largest prize: The Sheila and Eric Samson Annual Award, totaling one million US dollars.

Between 2013 and 2021, scientists who made critical advancements toward this goal were awarded for their achievements during the past Smart Mobility Summits. One of the Samson Award winners in 2015, Prof. John Goodenough, became the Nobel Prize laureate in 2019.

Between 2015 and 2021, the Ministry of Science & Technology led a rigorous selection process for the laureates based on recommendations submitted by university presidents and industry-leading CEOs in Israel and abroad. The laureates were selected by a committee of international experts who submitted their recommendations to a board of trustees.

Given the growing worldwide success and interest in smart mobility issues, the International Smart Mobility Summit will, from now on, be carried out under the auspices of Sheila and Eric Samson. At the same time, the Ministry of Transportation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, will provide grants for research in the field of smart mobility as part of the existing mechanism in the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology and funded from the budget of the Smart Mobility Initiative.