96 PART | III ITS business models
In any case it is noted that both economic growth and growth refer to really
deflated amounts, that is to say, increase in quantity and quality of the products
and services provided. In this respect, the nominal development and/or growth
are related to the increase in the prices of products and factors of production.
According to the European Commission (SC) studies on urban economic
development (https://ec.europa.eu/info/eu-regional-and-urban-development/
topics/cities-and-urban-development_en, September 2019), it is understandable
that the term economic growth is a broad field with different meanings for dif-
ferent people and in general economists are working to boost the economic
activity of a region, while aiming to create more jobs, to generate wealth, to
create a stable-tax base and improve the quality of life of the people there (at
continuous rather than temporary basis). This area can be a neighborhood, a
city, a region or an entire state/country. The basic definitions used in economic
development studies explain how the effects of economic growth are related to
broader issues of a community, such as:
• Social impact: Includes all types of benefits and disadvantages that are of
value to society, including all the impact types below.
• Impact of transport systems: defined as impacts on the value of the travel
time of travel costs and security. They include both the financial implica-
tions (such as travel expenses, corporate expenses due to delays, etc., as well
as non-monetary expenses (such as the value of personal time lost due to a
delay).
• Impacts of economic growth, defined at the level of the economic activity
of a given region. This includes position changes labor, wages, and business
production.
• Environmental impacts: include impacts on air pollution, noise generated,
quality of life. These impacts are “intangible” but can also be expressed in
units of money.
Even if transport infrastructure and related-activities are traditionally con-
sidered as one of the pillars of a growing economy, the investment on trans-
port infrastructure must be balanced between urban and nonurban areas, must
examine what is critical for the development and what can be actually funded
and must take into account the technological landscape at world level. All these
are questions that require scientific research, evaluation of solutions and proper
planning in order to lead to a successful and sustainable transport system. Sus-
tainability is an important concern since the rise in the use of alternative energy
sources, the recent information and telecommunication advances and the popu-
larity of artificial intelligence set new challenges for the next generation of ITS
(Agarwal and Alam, 2018).
Although scientific research unanimously accepts such advances, it is im-
portant for the national economies to evaluate the available solutions and care-
fully combine them in an operational and profitable ecosystem. Since the trans-
port sector is one of the foundations of modern society that depends in tandem