Since 2004 a comprehensive and powerful network of national ministries and supporting organisations in the field of transport research has been building up ERA-NET TRANSPORT (ENT).

The ERA-NET TRANSPORT pre-dominantly served the owners and managers of transport research programmes. By facilitating cooperation among publicly financed transport research programmes it was ENT's goal to improve the outcome and quality of transport research in Europe. The main mechanism was seen in the structuring of the European Research Area (ERA) for Transport.

Since its foundation the ERA-NET TRANSPORT has initiated and implemented several activities and defined even more advanced measures to make the ERA for Transport become reality.

Successful cooperation requires a solid and suitable basis and framework, which was the subject of coming ENT-driven activities. One of these horizontal future initiatives was the provision of a database on national transport research programmes and national R&D results. Furthermore the ENT sees a need to encourage and enable less-experienced partners to participate in transnational cooperation as well as in the European Framework Programme. ENT facilitated this target by supporting these partners in their development of appropriate structures, processes and transport research programmes.