ERA-NET TRANSPORT and the challenge of implementing cooperation.

The ultimate goal of the ERA-NET TRANSPORT project (ENT) is to set up effective cooperation and coordination activities, test cooperation mechanisms and procedures, create networks of programme managers and transport research strategists and further develop these capacities. The purpose of this paper is to present the initiatives that have been supported since February 2005, when ENT moved to the implementation phase. ENT has set up ten groups which are implementing cooperation agreements, of which eight are directly relevant to road transport. Additional groups are still being created, but existing ones already provide sufficient material to analyze the benefits of cooperation between national transport research programmes. These benefits are quite varied, both from a substantive point of view (what are the benefits?) and from an organizational one (who are the beneficiaries?) (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E212343.