Dr Ian Cornwell is Technical Director in Mott MacDonald’s Transport and Mobility Solutions division. He leads Mott MacDonald’s global software development community of 280 registered software and system developers.

After a PhD in software & AI, Ian has gained almost 30 years’ experience in digital transport, as a system and software developer, consultant, researcher, and standardiser. He led development of the Midlands Driver Information System, a forerunner of NTIS, then development of the UTMC application integration specifications that have been implemented in dozens of counties and regions of UK, allowing data to be shared and digital collaboration to occur. He led development of the world’s first commercial-scale floating vehicle data system for iTIS. He helped establish and refine the Travel Information Highway principles that encouraged and guided the evolution of the transport data ecosystem in UK. He widened his transport domain knowledge by projects including leading the development of DfT transport modelling software. He experienced earlier stages in the service lifecycle by supporting procurement of major ITS services, writing business cases, specifications, and tender evaluations. He was responsible for Mott MacDonald development of software for the C-ITS pilot on A2/M2.

As Technical Director he supports and advises digital transport projects delivered by Mott MacDonald, including systems so successful that they have lasted for more than 20 years. He sets and maintains standards for software development and cyber-security. He guides practice and trains both managers and technical staff on agile development.

Research to advance digital transport has been an increasing focus: Ian has led and contributed to research, often designing the projects and gaining funding. Topics have included metadata, predictive traffic simulation in traffic management, interoperability between highway and urban traffic management, use of private sector road data by road authorities, motorway-to-motorway ramp metering, traffic incident detection, stopped vehicle hazards, distributed traffic management. He is author of over 30 refereed publications.

Ian represents UK in international standardisation of ITS – in road traffic data since 2013 and previously in metadata and application integration. As leader of standardisation of DATEX II he has led the establishment of six full European standards and six CEN Technical Specifications and contributed to several others from CEN and ISO. These standards have been deployed in 30 countries. He has been editor and content author for ISO and CEN deliverables. He is the custodian for the DATEX II information model and an early contributor to the development of the DATEX II digital traffic regulations model. Ian supports the uptake of standards through education including webinar delivery and video creation.

Ian was chair of Object Management Group’s transport and roads groups, which increased joint awareness of US and European developments and standards. Until recently Ian was an elected steering body member of Traffic Management 2.0 (TM2.0), the European initiative to progress cooperation between roads authorities and private sector service providers, and he led their task force assessing the results of research on cooperation patterns.Ian is Fellow of the BCS, Chartered Institute for IT, and a Chartered Engineer.