ICAT hosts NuGen Mobility Summit

The International Center of Automotive Technology (ICAT), Manesar, is hosting the NuGen Mobility Summit 2019. The three-day conference, which opened today, is the largest automotive technology event in India thus so far. Automotive technology experts from 15 countries including India are presenting more than 120 technical research papers.

The conference was inaugurated by Union Minister of Road Transport and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari. He congratulated ICAT and its director Dinesh Tyagi for organising the NuGen Mobility Summit with a focus on relevant topics of alternate fuel systems and e-mobility, among others. He also reiterated the importance of combining the agricultural sector with the automobile sector and said that bio-diesel can help reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. He also assured India Auto Inc about governmental support through effective policies.

Gadkari and other dignitaries also launched the ICAT NuGen Drive Safe Club Mobile App. The app is an initiative of ICAT NuGen with Drive Smart Drive Safe, a road safety NGO, to recognise and reward safe driving behaviour.

ICAT has been set up with an investment of about Rs 1,200 crore by the government of India to encourage design and development along with R&D. Dinesh Tyagi said ICAT’s focus remains on developing new technological solutions as per global requirements. “Our engineers at ICAT are doing research in this direction,” he pointed out.

Referring to the choice of electric motor over conventional IC engines, he said that there are multiple challenges to achieve this but at ICAT engineers are working seriously in that direction.

In line with the focus of new-generation mobility being green, safe and affordable, the theme of the NuGen Mobility Summit is around e-mobility, hydrogen mobility, connected vehicles and ITS. More than 200 companies including OEMs and component suppliers are displaying their products.  Along with conferences, there are also see live test demonstrations, training sessions, panel discussions and test track demonstrations.

According to Tyagi, experts working in major international scientific and research organizations and testing laboratories of America, Europe, Japan and other Asian countries are attending  the Summit to share their experiences and knowledge related to the development of smart and green technologies. He said the purpose of the Summit is to meet the needs of OEMs, professionals, researchers, academic experts, vehicle system suppliers, test equipment suppliers, quality managers, product planners, equipment developers and SAE members associated with the automotive sector.

The three-day event will have a sharp focus on future vehicle technologies such as connected mobility, autonomous vehicles, electric mobility, alternative fuels, intelligent transportation systems, hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen IC engines, vehicle dynamics, advanced materials and laboratories associated with lightweighting and re-cycling.