It will create a world-class facility to test and demonstrate the new technologies needed to deliver progressively safer and more efficient intelligent transport systems in greater numbers.

Our sector is committed to continually enhancing automotive safety and improving its environmental impact, making motoring easier for business and individuals.

InnovITS ADVANCE has the potential to help the automotive sector continually enhance and achieve these objectives."

Paul Everitt (chief executive, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) ltd)

The innovITS ADVANCE facility will provide the kind of ITS test facility which we have hitherto been missing, whilst the opportunity to test systems using its communications facilities and contained urban road circuit will allow the UK ITS sector to maintain and build on its internationally leading position.

ITS United Kingdom, the UK society for all who work in ITS, strongly recommends this exciting facility in the UK and abroad.

A primary driver for ADVANCE has been for testing Telematics applications for the Automotive industry - already extending into the Transport industry in general.

However, the flexible design of the facility means that it can also provide a real world test environment for the Telecommunications industry in support of the burgeoning M2M market for both mobile and fixed applications. This is particularly important when one considers the ever increasing need for reliance upon wireless technologies for critical communications applications such as in the Public Safety and Health Domains and in our daily lives in general.

I believe that innovITS ADVANCE will ultimately have a positive impact on all of us.