Thirty-NINth Annual Meeting – GENEVA 2013
The International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association held its thirty-ninth meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1 to 5 June 2013, in conjunction with the World Tunnel Congress 2013 "Underground – the Way to the Future" organised by ITA and the Swiss Tunnelling Society (STS). More than 1800 persons participated in the Congress. 58 of the 71 Member Nations participated or were represented in the General Assembly.
MEMBER NATIONS PRESENT OR REPRESENTED
South Africa, Germany, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Republic of Korea, Costa-Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, Spain, United States of America, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Macedonia (FYROM), Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Norway, Panama, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, United Kingdom, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine.
MEMBER NATIONS NOT PRESENT
Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Bolivia, Cambodia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Morocco, Myanmar, Peru, Venezuela, Vietnam.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
The ITA General Assembly has elected a new council. The President of ITA for the period 2013-2016 is Mr. Søren Degn ESKESEN from Denmark.
MEMBERS
Søren Degn Eskesen, Denmark
In-Mo Lee, Korea
Rick P. Lovat, Canada
Tarcisio Celestino, Brazil
Amanda Elioff, USA
Daniele Peila, Italy
Alexandre Gomes, Chile
Ruth Gunlaug Haug, Norway
Nikolaos Kazilis, Greece
Eric Leca, France
Jinxiu (Jenny) Yan, China
Davorin Kolic, Croatia
Felix Amberg, Switzerland
MEMBERSHIP & DECISIONS
The Association has registered the membership of three new Member Nations: Bhutan, Bolivia and Cambodia, and 30 new Affiliate Members (25 Corporate Members and 5 Individual Members); the total results to 71 Member Nations and 302 Affiliate Members (199 Corporate Members and 103 Individual Members) taking into account some resignations. One company resigned as Prime Sponsors (Total: 14) and 25 became Supporters (total: 51). The General Assembly voted new criteria to host WTC and ITA General Assembly as well as a new Chapter in the Statutes to incorporate a regular reviewing of the governance of the Association.
NEXT ANNUAL MEETINGS
- Iguaçu Falls, Brazil, from May 9 to 15, 2014, during the ITA-AITES WTC 2014 “Tunnels for Better Living”
- Dubrovnik, Croatia, from May 22 to 28, 2015, during the ITA-AITES WTC 2015 “Promoting Tunnelling in South East European Region”
- San Francisco, USA, from June 12 to 15, 2016, during the ITA-AITES WTC 2016 “Uniting our Industry”
SUMMARY OF REPORT OF ACTIVITY OF ITA – April 2012 to March 2013
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
The Executive Council held 5 plenary meetings and carried out its traditional activities in taking into account the conclusions the conclusions of the Auditor’s report, notably to increase the number of Member Nations and to take care of the relationship with the new Member Nations.
To take into account some specific topics the ITA Executive Council installed task forces. Three task forces have been activated this year on the following topics:
- Criteria to host the WTC
- Development of the Secretariat
- Education and Training
RELATIONS WITH THE MEMBER NATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONTACTS
The Executive Council pursued the development of its relations with the Member Nations in visiting, participating and granting meetings or events organised by 28 Member Nations. It presented ITA at various congresses and meetings in several countries not ITA members yet.
The contacts with the International Sister Associations PIARC, ISRM, ISSMGE, ITIG, IFME, ISOCARP and ACUUS were pursued. Contacts have been also established with ICEI and IRF.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRIME SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS
Actions with the Prime Sponsors and the Supporters were undertaken notably through the ITA Committee on technologies, ITAtech, in which most of Prime Sponsors and Supporters are very active. New companies joined the ITA family and became Supporters or Prime Sponsors.
RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED NATIONS AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
In 2012, the relationship with the United Nations and specifically with UN-ISDR and UN Habitat have been strengthened with the participation of ITA members in the Urban Planning Group of UN ISDR and during the Global Platform meeting. ITA is now partner of the resilient cities campaign. ITA members also participated to side event meetings during the Council of Governors of UN Habitat in Nairobi and some are involved in an UN Habitat Expert Group on urban drainage. The MoU with UN Habitat has been signed during the WTC in Geneva.
PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATION
- ita@news: 5 issues of the ita@news have been published this year and distributed to about 8’000 subscribers. ITA would like very much to have feedback of regular readers.
- Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology (TUST): ITA Members have access an electronic version of TUST (including archives).
- Website: The number of distinct visitors has been around 5 800 from 130 countries per month during last year. It has been decided to revamp the ITA website and the new version is now available. It will be expanded in the coming months with new features.
- ITA – Reports: 4 reports have been published, 2 coming from ITA Working Groups and 2 coming from ITAtech Activity Groups: “Construction of Adits for Long and Deep Tunnels” (WG17), “Guideline on Contractual Aspects of Conventional Tunnelling” (WG19), “Guidelines on Standard Indication of Load Cases for Calculation of Rating Life (l10) of TBM Main Bearings” (AG on Excavation) and “Design Guidance for Spray Applied Waterproofing Membranes” (AG on Lining & Waterproofing).
- Press: In 2012-2013, ITA has participated directly or indirectly to articles published in technical newspapers or magazines of information such as World Tunnelling (UK), Tunnelling Journal (UK), and Tunnel Talk (USA). ITA is now working with a press agency and the press kit is regularly updated.
- Video: At the occasion of the Open Session on “Delivering, Planning and Deciding Better and Resilient Cities” several videos have been produced. They are available on the ITA YouTube channel.
- Social networks: the ITA group in the social network LinkedIn is very active. There are nearly 2 300 members in this group.