Dissemination of results will be a major issue along all the stages of the process, both to ensure proper feedback from involved actors and to further rise awareness on the importance of RTD in the regional development. Although dissemination tasks are integrated at all stages of the project and are thus spread across work packages.
The coordinator of the project (ADEUROPA) will act as Exploitation and Dissemination Manager, who will be in charge of the coordination of all the aspects related with the exploitation of the results. To achieve this purpose, the Exploitation and Dissemination manager will cooperate with every partner, and will coordinate all exploitation and dissemination-related issues within the consortium.
In this particular project, dissemination is not limited to final results, but also includes the existence of the project itself from its very beginning, since this awareness will be crucial for obtaining the necessary feedback for success. The dissemination processes will thus include:
Projects existence and objectives. This information broadcasting will address two types of objectives: the inclusion of key regional RTD players in the project management structure through the Project Consultative Committee (PCC) and the wider diffusion to other regional actors in the field of RTD, positively predisposing organizations towards collaboration in the different project tasks.
Regional results. The implementation of the methodology in each of the regions will provide conclusions on the efficient RTD policies already undertaken in the regions and also on the main weaknesses to be addressed.
Benchmarking results. The benchmarking exercise will provide a first draft for the identification of policies that could be effective in improving the regional RTD systems.
Foresight results and process. The foresight element of the project will see regional stakeholders and experts come together to discuss future challenges and opportunities for the sectors to be covered. The process of foresight will result in dissemination and implementation of findings.
Final policy recommendations for each region. These policies will incorporate the benchmarking results, the analysis of expected efficiency of policies when exported from one region to another and their possible impact on regional Sustainable Development. The dissemination of these results will be performed by means of direct distribution to the administrative organisms in charge of policy making.
Tools that will be employed for dissemination:
Virtual Platform. An Internet platform with project’s information will be developed in order to facilitate and reduce the cost of information distribution, and to expand the capacity to reach actors that might not have been specifically identified. The global nature of this tool will also aid the expansion of information to regions beyond the participants.
Direct contacts. Direct communication with RTD players will be performed at various stages of the project: for including them within the management structure, for feedback on validation of processes and for displaying recommended best practices. These contacts will range from phone calls or mails to personal visits, depending on the organism and on the type of information to be interchanged.
Elaboration of 15 bulletins of Economic Intelligence on chosen sectors. The diffusion of the bulletins will be open to any European company beyond the regions participants.
Institutional, trade, RTD or innovation specific magazines. These tools will be employed for dissemination of final results and recommended best practices, giving also an overview of the initial objectives of the project and how and to what extend they have been reached.
As a result, wide distribution of the project’s main goals, actions and expected results among the region’s innovation and entrepreneurial fabric is expected, positively predisposing organizations outside the consortium (and even outside the original regions) towards collaboration in the different project tasks.