There is at the current time a significant opportunity for the ERS to leverage its experience and reputation as an international umbrella organisation to promote high-quality, multinational respiratory research with the goal of improving the health of respiratory patients. This editorial proposes a model for the role and structure of an ERS Research Agency. It is based upon research, implicit knowledge and explicit feedback from ERS members and selected external individuals and organisations. As with any new endeavour there are challenges and threats. Building a Research Agency will be a major undertaking that will require significant organisational planning, resources, effort and commitment. Organisations with multiple stakeholders tend to have a status quo inertia that has to be overcome for any significant new endeavour. The ERS Research Agency could be an investment in the future of respiratory research.