Sustainable transport en route to Slovenia
As a relatively recent member of the EU, Slovenia and its transport system can benefit from the expertise of other EU members, particularly in the area of sustainable development. The EU-funded project 'Support for sustainable transport research in Slovenia' (TRANSSLOVRTD) supported sustainable transport in many ways. It fostered knowledge transfer on a regional level, encouraged postgraduate research in universities, generated valuable information for decision makers on transport and upgraded transport research in the country. To achieve its goals, TRANSSLOVRTD concentrated on four main priorities. First, it organised a competition for best PhD studies in the field, with the top projects being presented at a major industry conference in the country. Second, it established a database of companies, research institutes, relevant organisations and universities linked to transport research with the backing of the 2007 Slovenian Transport Research workshop. Its third priority involved a SWOT analysis of Slovenian transport research, the results of which were adopted on a government scale by the national transport agenda. Lastly, it communicated the valuable results of the project to key stakeholders during the EU's 2008 Transport Research Arena conference held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Other activities underlining project successes include establishing the TRANSSLOVRTD website as well as the organisation of a PhD day, several workshops and, most importantly, a roadmap on transport research for the country. This highly successful project not only helped articulate the vision of sustainable transport in Slovenia, but also put the mechanisms in place to realise it.