Impact

Horizon Europe is about impact, even more than earlier framework programmes. Making a difference is, after all, the goal of Horizon Europe. And this should reflect in your mindset when writing a proposal, as impact is more than just ticking some boxes.

Impact is about increasing the visibility of your research/business, it enhances your reputation and helps gaining understanding and support. It potentially opens up other (follow-up) funding sources. And by doing so, it impact supports the spreading and further use of knowledge. And yes, it inceases your proposal’s chances of success...

Impact pathway

The pathway is the combination of logical steps towards the achievement of the expected impacts of the project over time, in particular beyond the duration of a project.

An impact pathway begins with the projects’ results, to their dissemination, exploitation and communication, contributing to the expected outcomes in the work programme topic, and ultimately to the wider scientific, economic and societal impacts of the work programme destination.”

Communication

Communication is about the project in general, how it adds value to the European dimension of solving the problem at hand, and how it relates to the (societal or economic) challenges or key impacts. Communication targets a wide audience (including the general public, generalist media, ...). As the message is mostly about the (high level) goals of the project, the language used should be free of jargon and understandable for a non-specialist reader.

Dissemination

Dissemination aims at maximising the impact of research results in the public domain. Therefore, the target audience of dissemination activities is any potential user of the project results: the scientific community, stakeholders, industry, policy makers, investors, civil society, etc.

Exploitation

The objective of exploitation activities is the better use of project results for valorisation and knowledge transfer. It is mostly targetted at project partners and organisations with similar profiles, and the ecosystem around them.

Information sources

• Official EC page on Dissemination and Exploitation
• Infographic (2023-06-16) on differences between communication, dissemination & exploitation - attached to this infosheet (see bottom of page), or download here.
• Webinar by EC on Dissemination & Exploitation in Horizon Europe (2021-06-09) - recording and slides.
  • Introduction to the concepts of Communication, Dissemination & Exploitation
  • Novelties on Dissemination & Exploitation under Horizon Europe
  • IP strategy in Horizon Europe projects, including ROL and some background on standardisation
  • IP Management in collaborative Horizon Europe projects
  • Horizon Results Platform
  • Horizon Results Booster

Free-of-charge dissemination and exploitation services

The European Commission offers various free-of-charge services to support your dissemination and exploitation activities:

Open research Europe platform: an open access, publishing platform for scientific papers for Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe beneficiaries, including an open peer review and article revision.

Horizon dashboard: an interactive knowledge platform where you can extract statistics and data on EU research programmes.

Horizon results platform: A platform for showcasing your research results, finding collaboration opportunities and getting inspired by the results of others. The Horizon Results Platform TV provides additional support, including testimonials and interviews from project participants that have succeeded as entrepreneurs

Horizon results booster: Free consulting services including a portfolio dissemination and exploitation strategy, business plan development and go-to-market support.

European standardisation booster: supports Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 projects to contribute to standardisation in Europe and beyond.

See also the attached document for the differrent Booster projects you can encounter

Innovation radar: An initiative that identifies high-potential innovations, based on a data-driven methodology, and assists EU-funded researchers and innovators in reaching the market with their innovation.