Nommon participates in various events on urban transport digitalisation and mobility analysis in Mexico City

At the end of February, Ricardo Herranz, CEO of Nommon, Luisa Chaves, Business Development Director, and Marc Jacob and Raquel Silva, Business Development Engineers, travelled to Mexico City to participate in various activities on urban transport digitalisation and the use of data from mobile networks and other big data sources for mobility planning and management. Alongside partners and clients — including GIZ Mexico, E-Mobilitas, Steer, Red Planners, and Universidad Iberoamericana — many professionals from public administration, the private sector, researchers, and representatives from civil society and international cooperation organisations, the Nommon team was able to discuss new trends in public transport, initiatives to promote more accessible, safe, and sustainable mobility, and the role of data analytics and new technologies in this challenge.

Conference “Next stop 2025: Innovating urban mobility in Mexico”

As part of the project “Digitalisation of public transport in Mexican cities”, led by the German Agency for International Cooperation, GIZ Mexico, the Nommon team was invited to participate in the event “Next Stop 2025: Innovating Urban Mobility in Mexico”, organised by GIZ Mexico, the Secretaría de Desarrollo Agrario, Territorial y Urbano (SEDATU), the Instituto de Políticas para el Transporte y el Desarrollo (ITDP), KfW, and Tumi. This in-person conference, held from 25 to 27 February, brought together around 130 attendees at the Fiesta Americana Hotel to discuss various innovative solutions to transform mobility in Mexico, addressing global and local trends from technological, financial, and regulatory perspectives.

On the first day, Ricardo and Marc took part in the session “The role of digitalisation in transforming urban mobility”. Marc presented the main findings of a study carried out in collaboration with E-Mobilitas on the digitalisation of public transport in different Mexican cities. In his presentation, he stressed that digitalisation is not an end itself, but a key tool for enabling transport transformation and improving urban mobility. He also addressed the challenges governments face in implementing these technologies, including technical barriers, financial constraints, and resistance to change in decision-making processes. Ricardo participated in a discussion panel on transport digitalisation in Mexico. During his speech, he emphasised the importance of public-private collaboration and the need to advance in data collection and integration to support informed decision-making in transport planning and operations, improving service quality and the end-user experience. As part of these activities, Nommon also took part in the recording of a podcast discussing the study presented by Marc, which allowed for a deeper exploration of the technologies with the greatest potential to contribute to the sustainable development of transport in Mexico.

On Thursday, 27 February, Nommon organised a workshop on big data and artificial intelligence applications in transport planning and operations. In this session, Ricardo and Luisa presented the mobility data analytics methodology and artificial intelligence-based predictive models behind Nommon’s solutions, as well as some of the projects we have carried out in Europe and Latin America. Other case studies were then presented, in which mobile network data was analysed using Nommon’s tools: Gustavo Romanillos, Professor and Coordinator of the Master’s Programme in Smart and Sustainable Cities at the Complutense University of Madrid, explained a study on urban dynamics and residential migration; further experiences using data from Telcel’s network were shared by Parménides Canseco, Operations Director at Red Planners, who presented how travel demand data generated by Nommon was used in Chihuahua’s Mobility Plan, and Gerardo Gordillo, Senior Consultant at Steer, who presented a study on potential demand for new railway services using Nommon’s origin-destination matrices. The workshop concluded with a roundtable discussion on the importance of adopting and adapting new technologies, such as big data analytics and artificial intelligence, to address current challenges in transport planning. During the discussion, the need for accessible, interoperable, and up-to-date data for the development of better transport models was highlighted.

Nommon Innovation Days con la IBERO

Another key event during these days was the workshop organised by Nommon, GEOLab-Economía, and the Dirección de Innovación Educativa of the Universidad Iberoamericana, held on Wednesday, 26 February, in the IBERO. The event consisted of a technical workshop, following the line of previous Nommon Innovation Days, entitled “New data sources for mobility analysis”, which served to discuss mobile phone data and its potential applications beyond the transport sector.

The workshop opened with Isidro Soloaga, Academic Head of the GEOLab-Economía, followed by a presentation by Ricardo Herranz, who introduced Nommon’s Population Insights and Mobility Insights tools, which generate information on population presence and mobility from mobile phone data. The use of these data allows for the analysis of large samples with high spatial and temporal resolution, covering practically all population segments, thereby enabling urban planning studies, analysis of tourism supply and demand, geomarketing strategies, and public health policy design, among many other applications. Ricardo also presented different projects carried out by Nommon, such as the mobility analysis of Buenos Aires and Bogotá, conducted for the World Bank, and the study of air pollution exposure for the Madrid City Council. Additionally, Gustavo Romanillos presented in greater detail his study on residential mobility in the Madrid metropolitan region and changes in migration flows after the pandemic, which was conducted using data from Nommon’s solutions.

The event concluded with a Q&A and discussion session, where attendees raised questions and shared insights on the need for advanced analytical tools that enhance decision-making and contribute to the formulation of public policies that promote sustainability in Mexican cities.