The Connected Cyclist Conference was an utmost success. Not only because over a hundred digital mobility experts and top bike manufacturers participated, worked together, exchanged knowledge and business cards; also because the first steps were taken to make Smarter Cycling happen.

"You’d be impressed, as I have been, with the degree and depth of collaboration across the entire global automobile industry. They long realized that collaboration is vital to making smarter, more innovative products. The bike industry can do the same: collaborate, share, partner: create that smarter bike, and wow your customers.”

That’s how Hannah Parish, Business Leader and Brand Strategy at General Motors, brilliantly summed up the conference message during her discussion on stage with Phil White, founder of Cervélo, and Kevin Mayne, Director of the Industry Club at ECF.

The opinion was confirmed by Maxim Ilkov, Business Development Manager at Vodafone Automotive, who presented the collaboration with ZEG, the biggest bicycle retailer in Germany, clearly showing how new industries are now interested in entering the cycling space: “We are connecting everything, and we are now putting a lot of emphasis on two wheelers".

So, everyone agrees Smarter Cycling is the way forward – but how do we walk this way? Oliver Kozak from the EU’s SME division, and Patrick Keating, expert on venture capitals, discussed the funds available for innovative companies ready to disrupt the market. The final answer was: there is a lot of money available for smart mobility, but almost no bike company reached out to get it! The SME programme in the next days will explore this in depth.

Then the first panel rolled out, shared by Kristjan Maruste from Comodule, Jim Meyer from Quarq and Dirk Sandrock from Mo-mes. They explored how deep connectivity can go inside the bike itself, and how that can be useful for users and manufacturers. The second panel looked at the other side of the same medal: how wide can smart integration go, through the entire connected cycling ecosystem to deliver ever-improved insights, new services and better tailored products. James Gleave from Transport Futures helped Philip McAleese from See.Sense, Marcello Segato from Zehus, Tom Acland from COBI, Patrick Keating from veliSo, Johannes Stuhler from ListNRide and Marko Matenda from Visiobike, analyse the future of connectivity in the mobility field.

Burkhard Stork, CEO of the German Cyclists’ Federation (ADFC), gave insights in the importance of advocacy to unlock money and deliver cycling-friendly policies at local, national and European level – something that greatly benefits the industry. The message is: the industry should more consciously support. And finally Niccolo’ Panozzo, Development Officer at ECF, disclosed Hacking Copenhagen, a visionary project to show the full potential of bicycles as an ITS (Intelligent Transport System) solution. Stay tuned for more!

For photos of the event visit our dedicated Flickr Album.