Successful IT-TRANS 2026: Karlsruhe Trade Fair Centre welcomes mobility professionals from 51 countries

Britta Wirtz, Managing Director of Karlsruhe Trade Fair Centre, emphasises the competence of Karlsruhe as a location for the trade fair: "With IT-TRANS, we are once again the place to be for the international mobility industry. As a location for innovation and a real-world laboratory for sustainable mobility, Karlsruhe offers the best conditions. These are evident in the Karlsruhe Mobility Lab, which is unique in Germany. The renewal of the Karlsruhe Mobility Lab partnership was ceremoniously signed by all participating partners from science, industry and institutions at the trade fair."

Elke Zimmer, Member of the State Parliament and State Secretary at the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Transport, also emphasised the special role of the event. She described IT-TRANS as a “hotspot for modern, sustainable mobility”. At IT-TRANS, “you get an impression of what it means in practice when there is digital pricing, when there is digital security monitoring, and when digitalisation actually enables better public transport.”

In terms of content, IT-TRANS reflected the key transformation processes in public transport. The focus was particularly on topics such as artificial intelligence, digital ticketing solutions, on-demand mobility and technological approaches to reducing staff shortages in the transport sector.

Many of the solutions presented showed how digital technologies can make public transport more efficient, flexible and user-friendly. The approaches ranged from data-driven operational control and intelligent fare systems to new mobility services that complement traditional scheduled services. The accompanying congress addressed these topics in numerous specialist presentations and discussions and provided additional space for professional exchange and international perspectives.

Feedback from exhibiting companies also confirms the high importance of IT-TRANS for the industry. Dick Ollas, CEO of Axentia Technologies AB, explains: “IT-TRANS is definitely one of the most important trade fairs we exhibit at. The discussions with visitors are of a very high quality and we meet the audience we want to reach here.” Luc van Wijngaarden, CEO of Zight B. V., also emphasises the international networking aspect: "It is important for us to make international contacts and meet potential partners, and that was the case here. We offer IT solutions for the transport industry, so this is really a perfect match for us.” Oliver Knittel, Senior Sales Manager at the ATRON Group, emphasises the special quality of the trade audience: “Here at IT-TRANS, you always have a lot of technical discussions. The audience here is always a trade audience, which is not usually the case at other events. However, this is where the decision-makers really come.” His colleague Mario Skarica, Head of the ATRON Group's Croatian office, adds the international perspective: “We had good discussions with visitors from various countries, such as Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia, who showed great interest in our international products and solutions."

With this year's event successfully concluded, attention is already turning to the next edition of IT-TRANS. This will take place from 8 to 9 March 2028 and will be further developed in terms of content and organisation. The aim is to further improve the quality of the event and to promote personal exchange even more strongly. The concept is consistently based on the proven strengths of IT-TRANS and further refines them. “Exhibitors are rewarding this with particularly high rebooking rates. For example, key players such as IVU Traffic Technologies AG, INIT Group, ebblo, AMCON Software GmbH and krauth technology GmbH have already booked their stands for the upcoming trade fair, accounting for over half of the exhibition space planned for 2028,” summarises Olivia Bischoff, Product Owner of IT-TRANS.