NEARCTIS (Network of Excellence: Advanced Road Cooperative Traffic management in the Information Society) is an academic network involving several of the main teams working on the field of traffic management and optimisation, with a particular focus on cooperative systems. Within the field of ICT for mobility, the project deals more specifically with the question of cooperative systems for road traffic optimisation., but it covers a wider scope as it appears that cooperative systems have to be integrated into the whole traffic management system. This aims to develop systems able to cope with what are the main problems at stake : safety, energy consumption, environmental impacts and congestion as an obstacle to mobility. The main objective of the project is to constitute what could be considered as a virtual research institute. This means elaborating the main elements of this reach institute :building a consistent research program, defining a set of shared resources (data, experimental means, bibliographical databases), organising the spreading of knowledge and research results. To reach these objectives, the project will include an harmonisation of the research program of all the partners on the various topics addressed, specification of case studies to be made in common, and the elaboration of a dissemination and training program for researchers and professionals. A focus is made on spreading excellence towards the scientific community of the field, particularly for the European Union newcomers. The project is designed as a first step towards constituting a permanent virtual institute ensuring consistency between research programs and good mutualisation of resources. Tight relationships with the international scientific community, but also with the main stakeholders of the field (traffic operators, local authorities, consultants or manufacturers) are ensured through a network of associated partners who are involved into all the main activities of the project.