Features
8 Aug 19

Lisbon Deputy Mayor to speak at Fleet Europe Summit

Miguel Gaspar has been confirmed as speaker on the Main Stage at the Fleet Europe Summit 2019. Lisbon’s Deputy Mayor for Mobility will explain how the Portuguese capital is transforming itself into a Smart City – weighing concerns for the environment against the needs of its citizens, commuters and companies. 

This year’s Fleet Europe Summit will take place on 6-7 November in Estoril, just outside Lisbon. It’s not the first time Fleet Europe has chosen the elegant Portuguese coastal resort as the venue for its main annual event. 

Local expertise
There is a first this year: the Summit has sourced local Portuguese expertise to share at its Main Stage. Fleet Europe is honoured and excited to confirm the attendance of Miguel Gaspar (pictured), the Deputy Mayor of Lisbon, tasked with managing the Portuguese capital’s Mobility and Safety. 

Mr Gaspar is one of the driving forces behind Lisbon’s transformation into a Smart City, a transition that is motivated as much by the desire to safeguard the environment and the health of the city’s inhabitants, as it is by the aim to optimise traffic flows, for the benefit of citizens and corporates. Both ambitions are not always entirely in sync with each other – so choices have to be made. 

Despite still being in his thirties, Mr Gaspar has accumulated a wealth of experience when it comes to managing mobility, and especially innovative forms of urban mobility. 
 
Master’s in Transport
A civil engineer by training (2003), Mr Gaspar also has a Master’s degree in Transport (2008), both from the Instituto Superior Técnico, a public school of engineering and technology that is part of the University of Lisbon.

From 2003 to 2015, Mr Gaspar worked in a mobility consultancy, first as a consultant and subsequently as its executive director.

  • One of his main interests was urban planning, with an emphasis on parking regulations and urban logistics. 
  • Another was public transport, with deep involvement in regulatory, contractual and procurement issues – including the development of innovative on-demand transport initiatives.
  • More recently, he has helped develop projects on intelligent transport systems, both as a consultant and as a member of the Portuguese ITS association.  

Public sector
From 2015, Mr Gaspar went from the private to the public sector. As a member of the Portuguese government, he was the assistant of the Deputy State Secretary for the Environment, actively participating in the development of regulations, including for innovative transport solutions. 

Following his election as Councillor in Lisbon in 2017, he was appointed to his current role as Deputy Mayor with special responsibility for Mobility and Safety, which entails:

  • traffic management in the Portuguese capital, as well as
  • the municipal pub and tram company Carris, and 
  • the municipal mobility company EMEL (which is responsible for both on-street and off-street parking), as well as
  • road safety and 
  • the municipal police (which manages traffic enforcement and community policing). 

Other confirmed speakers at this year's Fleet Europe Summit are Sampo Hietanen (Founder of MaaS Global), Alain Van Groenendael (CEO of Arval), and Olivier Reppert (CEO of Share Now). For the full programme of the Fleet Europe Summit and to register, click here!

Authored by: Frank Jacobs