META Group special training

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Three decades ago – while the world was enjoying Nirvana’s last album and Nelson Mandela was receiving the Nobel Peace Prize – in the heart of Italy, META Group emerged as a knowledge-based consulting firm founded by a group of visionaries.  

What initially began as an engineering firm in Terni (Umbry region), expanded its horizons to become an international powerhouse, with a presence in Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Slovenia. Very soon, the company became pioneers in the field of Regional Innovation and Technology Transfer Strategies, collaborating with RITTS Umbria.  

Fostering entrepreneurship, knowledge transfer and innovation

In 2000, META Group shifted gears with a strategic focus on University spin-offs. Our approach, rooted in a technology-driven and problem-centric methodology, proved revolutionary. This shift not only spawned proprietary tools and methodologies but also became the cornerstone of our commitment to fostering entrepreneurship, knowledge transfer, and innovation. 

Our problem-solving approach is based on the observation that solution-based strategies often falter. By learning from our experiences, we emphasised the importance of understanding customers and the problem/customer fit. The lean start-up approach became integral to our structured methodology, especially when collaborating with researchers. 

Contractor for the European Commission: Horizon Results Booster initiative

Since 2020, we have been at the forefront of the European Commission’s Horizon Results Booster initiative. This game-changing endeavour aligns clearly with META Group’s core mission: optimising the utilisation of research outcomes. Our participation in this initiative brings us immense pride, recognising our potential to catalyse transformative impacts. The Horizon Results Booster is distinguished by its reliance on a top-notch group of experts proficient in a diverse array of topics.  

Their role is to assist, guide, and support EU funded research teams in maximising the broader impact of their results. This initiative stands as an example of our commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation and ensuring that research results not only flourish but also contribute significantly to societal progress. 

META Group Inspiring and reshaping innovation and research

For nearly three decades, we have nurtured entrepreneurship at both micro and macro scales—mentoring researchers, empowering entrepreneurs, developing innovation strategies, and managing regional co-investment early-stage funds.  

Today, META Group encapsulates this wealth of experience in a diverse range of solutions and proven methodologies, addressing the most pressing challenges faced by research and innovation actors worldwide. Our journey continues to inspire and reshape the landscape of innovation, ensuring that knowledge finds its way from inception to market fruition. 

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Rosellina Di Santo joined META Group’s Brussels office in 2021, after more than 12 years in Belgium working for both intergovernmental and industry-based organizations. During these years, she managed projects of different nature at EU level. Rosellina graduated from the University of Turin in Strategic Science. After different study and working experiences in Rome, Prague, and Washington Dc, she specialized in Strategy Execution at the Harvard Business School online programme.  

Passionate about the noble art, in her free time she enjoys long walks in the forests but also swimming, painting and, in special occasions, going to the Opera. In the office her fondness for chocolates is not a mystery to her colleagues.  

Horizons Results Booster: structured mindsets and interdisciplinary approaches

What is your role at META and what is your typical day?  

I am part of the Management Team of Horizons Results Booster which is a very large initiative. My typical day includes a lot of contacts with possible beneficiaries, experts, partners, colleagues, and, of course, the European Commission. Interactions with others is important in what I do and being able to work in a very multicultural environment – not only related to the different nationalities but also to the very different education backgrounds – is an essential part of my role. It is also one aspect that I enjoy a lot.  

What is it like working on Horizon Results Booster? What does it involve?  

Working on Horizons Results Booster requires a lot of structured mindsets, management of complexities, interdisciplinary approaches. Holding a solid experience in managing interactions at EU level is key as well. Different requests, approaches and point of views should always converge in a consistent scope and shared objective. In my daily work, problem solving is as crucial as building effective cooperation. This could reflect also the ultimate aim of the support provided through the HRB initiative.  

What do you like the most about your job? 

During my career path at European level, I have been focussed on the importance of strategic thinking and strategy implementation in different contexts. Beyond the interactions with different entities, the aspect I like the most in my job is contributing to provide support to beneficiaries facing different challenges. Beneficiaries most of the time are highly relieved and pleased to know they can avail of different services.  

Sustainability: one of the main focuses for all sectors

What are some of the trends you see in the sector you work in?

First of all, sustainability is one of the main focus for all sectors. Indeed, sustainable development is an integral part of the EU internal and external policies and does not only relate to a vision for the future but also -and more importantly – to tangible goals.  

One of the surprising elements is the fact that clear objectives could be achieve only through an effective strategy, and setting up an effective strategy could often result to be an enigma to solve. Creating value should be one of the most important elements of a strategy, and going through the complex process of value creation, which relies on a structured plan and entails customers satisfaction as much as employees’ satisfaction, is becoming more and more crucial for sustainable development.  

In this process it is important of course to look at financials (which are indeed the aspects where the strategy will be reflected in its efficacity), but also at the environmental and social aspects which are now considered part of multidimensional values, achievable through innovative perspectives.  

If you had to share with us a nice META memory what would that be?

I remember always with pleasure the three days I spent in Umbria meeting the Italian team and of course enjoying the high-quality food of the Umbria region – which is always memorable!.

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Communications, dissemination and exploitation are areas that are often overlooked by researchers, but they are vitally important to one of the core requirements of EU funding grants – that the research carried out within Europe has IMPACT.  

Impact might be a publication submitted to a peer-reviewed journal (an example of dissemination), or a video that you create to explain your results to children (communication) or it might be that you managed to create a start-up and monetise the results of your project (exploitation). Basically, the impact of your research project is the effect that it will have on the world.  

But what exactly does EU mean by communication, dissemination and exploitation?  How can you make sure that your grant proposal addresses these requirements?  These are some of the questions that we are going to respond in this article.  

What is communication? 

Communication in the context of EU funding refers to the promotion of project results to a wider, generalised public – a non-specialist audience. Since these projects are funded by public money, it’s essential that we let the public know what we are doing. Citizens should be able to find out what national and European institutions are doing with their taxes.  

There’s a variety of ways we can communicate with the public. One of the most impactful might be targeting local, national and/or international media. Creating a website is indeed a form of communication, though now this is almost a basic requirement for every project and is not likely to get you extra brownie points!  

Communication comes before dissemination and exploitation because you can communicate even before your project gets results. Start by sharing your project’s objectives with others. Engage in outreach activities, such as beach cleanups (especially if your project relates to marine litter), essentially hosting events to inform people about your research goals. Consider contributing an article to a magazine or perhaps even launching a TikTok account! The possibilities are endless and the communication part of EU funding grants is an opportunity for you to be creative.  

A communication plan, clearly mapping out what communications activities you plan to do over the lifetime of your project, is essential for a winning proposal. With proper organisation and foresight, you will be able to define, monitor and fulfil a variety of communications objectives successfully. A few elements to consider within your communication plan are audience (who do we want to reach), the message (which are the key message we need to transfer) and the channels (where are we going to communicate our messages). Once those aspects are identified, we can develop our communication plan.  

What is dissemination? 

The goal of dissemination is to inform stakeholders, including peer researchers, policymakers, potential users, and industry, about the results of your project.  

Most of the time, these activities include organising events to present your results to your peers, writing scientific articles, taking part in conferences within your field or preparing a public report. This type of outreach is, by its nature, more technical and goes into more detail.  

By reaching out to this specific audience, you ensure that changemakers know about the latest developments you’ve made. That, in turn, can spur impact. For example, if a policymaker reads your report and acts on it, then you’ve had a real-world effect. Similarly, if another researcher uses your research to take their project to the next level, that’s also a real-world effect. As soon as a project has its first results, dissemination efforts can begin. What is exploitation? 

When talking about exploitation regarding EU projects, we are referring to using research results. Very often, when we think about exploitation, we think about commercialisation of research results – but that’s not all that exploitation is. Commercialisation is a very important aspect of exploitation, but exploitation can also be the development of a NGO for instance, or a position paper, or otherwise using research results in a real-world context.  It is a way for researchers to demonstrate that their work had a real impact on the society that funded their project. A business or exploitation plan can be a great tool to achieve your goals and take the results of your research further. Free support services, like the Horizon Results Booster, can help you develop an exploitation plan. 

 Horizon Results Booster offers, among other services, support to projects in exploiting their research results and increasing researchers’ capacity to improve their exploitation strategy. 

How Meta Group can help you to achieve impact via communication, dissemination and exploitation 

With almost 30 years of experience, Meta Group is a reliable partner to help you with your dissemination, communication and result exploitation activities. During the last three years, we have been managing Horizon Results Booster (HRB), a programme that helps EU-funded research projects understand how to achieve impact with their results. The project, funded by the European Commission, has successfully delivered 600 services for researchers aiming to take their projects further. Horizon Results Booster offers three different services regarding dissemination and exploitation activities. Those services involve: 

1. Portfolio Dissemination & Exploitation Strategy:
   Identifying and creating the portfolio of Research & Innovation project results (module A)
   Creating the portfolio of results; design and execute a portfolio dissemination plan (module B)
   Improving existing exploitation strategy (module C)
   
2. Tailor made support services to develop a business plan 
3. Assistance, coaching and mentoring for go-to-market activities. 

META Group has an extensive experience in supporting EU funded projects towards exploitation and use of results gained providing services to FP7 and H2020 projects within three important framework contracts. Moreover, META Group has the know-how to support the definition of viable business models for the adoption of results stemming from R&D projects.  

Don’t miss out on our related articles:

• Dos and don’ts when drafting an exploitation plan
• Horizon Europe projects: new knowledge and benefits for citizens

The post How to write a winning communication, dissemination and exploitation plan for your EU project appeared first on META Group.

The post Horizon Europe projects: new knowledge and benefits for citizens appeared first on META Group.