This paper describes recent Canadian experience planning research and development for intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The planning exercise was initiated by Transport Canada (the Canadian federal Department of Transport) and was facilitated by a cooperative agreement with the ITS Society of Canada (ITS Canada). The requirement for an ITS research and development (R&D) plan originated as one of the five pillars of "An ITS Plan for Canada: En Route to Intelligent Mobility" prepared by Transport Canada and released at the 6th World Congress on ITS in November 1999. The ITS Plan called for action on five pillars: partnerships for knowledge, an ITS architecture, a multimodal ITS R&D plan to foster innovation, ITS deployment and integration, and strengthening Canada's ITS industry. A discussion paper entitled "Multimodal Intelligent Transportation Systems Research and Development Plan - Fostering Innovation" was commissioned by Transport Canada to respond to the third pillar. The initial draft of this discussion paper was reviewed in a workshop designed to facilitate dialogue among all interested stakeholders. The present paper summarizes the conceptual model used to define the role of R&D in ITS and of ITS in transportation, the results of the workshop discussions and a preliminary list of application priorities for a multimodal ITS R&D program.
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