A consortium of seven international hyperloop companies has formed a new entity called the Hyperloop Association, the group recently announced. The organization was begun in December and expects a royal decree to follow shortly announcing it as a legal entity.

The Association says it will be based in Brussels in order to work with European Union commissioners and the EU's Agency for Railways to "advance the progress and facilitate the widespread implementation of the innovative transportation system across Europe and globally."

The news comes after years of collaborations between various participating hyperloop companies and architecture firms on infrastructure and transportation design.

BIG, for example, designed the XP-2 pods as well as passenger portals for Hyperloop One. Zaha Hadid Architects worked with Hyperloop Italia to develop station designs and strategies for urban and rural implementations. FR-EE developed a concept proposal as part of the Hyperloop One Global Challenge that would connect Mexico City to Guadalajara in just 38 minutes.

This upswing includes the planning, and to some extent construction, of new test sites in the U.S. and The Netherlands.

More money is also being invested, importantly. In a report published last fall by technaovio, the market for hyperloop technology was found to have projected growth of $6.1 billion USD by the year 2026 alone.

In a statement, the Hyperloop Association's elected President, Ben Paczek (also CEO and co-founder of the participating company Nevomo), said finally: "In the upcoming months, we expect major developments in the hyperloop space. The European Commission will initiate the work on the hyperloop regulatory framework which is a significant milestone for the industry, not just in Europe but worldwide."