{"id":45501,"date":"2026-08-05T10:00:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T10:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nexuswelt.com\/?p=45501"},"modified":"2026-08-10T14:25:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:25:22","slug":"eu-project-dissemination-exploitation-coordinator-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nexuswelt.com\/de\/eu-project-dissemination-exploitation-coordinator-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coordinator’s Guide to EU Project Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Most consortia treat communication, dissemination and exploitation as a work package to be staffed and then survived. Evaluators and project officers read them differently: as evidence of whether the consortium understands what happens to its results after the technical work is finished. That gap is where projects lose scores at proposal stage and lose relevance at review stage.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

This guide is written for coordinators and work package leaders who already sit inside an EU-funded project, or are about to. It covers what the Grant Agreement actually obliges you to do, what a plan that survives review contains, which free European Commission tools most consortia never touch, and where coordinators reliably lose points.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

The three activities are not interchangeable<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>

The single most common structural error is writing one block of text that blends all three activities together. They have different audiences, different purposes and different legal footing. Treating them as one signals to an evaluator that the consortium has not understood the requirement.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Activity<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>What it means<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>Primary audience<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>Typical instruments<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
Communication<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>Promoting the project itself and its results in a strategic, targeted way, including a two-way exchange with audiences<\/span><\/span><\/td>The media, the public, policymakers, wider society<\/span><\/span><\/td>Website, press activity, social media, video, events, plain-language summaries<\/span><\/span><\/td><\/tr>
Dissemination<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>Public disclosure of the results so those who can use them can find them<\/span><\/span><\/td>Scientific community, industry, commercial actors, civil society, policymakers<\/span><\/span><\/td>Publications, open data, conferences, workshops, technical briefs, standards bodies<\/span><\/span><\/td><\/tr>
Exploitation<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>Actual use of the results \u2014 commercially, or in further research, policy, standardisation or education<\/span><\/span><\/td>Result owners, downstream users, licensees, investors, public authorities<\/span><\/span><\/td>Business plans, licensing, spin-offs, policy recommendations, curricula, standards<\/span><\/span><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>

A practical test: communication is about the project, dissemination is about the results, and exploitation is about what the results are used for. If a sentence in your plan does not clearly belong to one of the three, it belongs in none of them.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>

What the Grant Agreement actually obliges you to do<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>

The obligations sit in Article 17 of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement. Communication is not optional goodwill \u2014 it is a contractual requirement, as are dissemination of results and the display of the EU emblem and funding statement on materials produced with grant funding. The European Research Executive Agency sets out the emblem and funding-statement rules in detail in its <\/span><\/span>guidance on communicating about your EU-funded project<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Three specifics that coordinators most often mishandle:<\/span><\/span><\/p>

  1. Results must be disclosed as early as is reasonably possible, subject to legitimate restrictions \u2014 intellectual property protection, security rules, confidentiality or legitimate interests. Withholding results by default is not compliant; withholding them for a documented reason is.<\/span><\/span><\/li>
  2. Advance notice applies. Partners are entitled to be notified before dissemination and to object within the stated period. Build that notice window into your internal process, not into an ad-hoc email chain.<\/span><\/span><\/li>
  3. The obligation outlives the project. Exploitation and dissemination duties continue for a defined period after the end date. A consortium that dissolves entirely at month 36 has not finished its obligations.<\/span><\/span><\/li><\/ol>

    For step-by-step guidance, the Horizon Europe Programme Guide devotes a dedicated section to dissemination, exploitation and communication; the <\/span><\/span>European Research Executive Agency’s D&E starter kit<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span> is the most practical free summary available.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

    The PDEC: what a plan that passes review contains<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>

    Most Horizon Europe projects owe the Commission a Plan for the Dissemination and Exploitation of results including Communication activities \u2014 commonly the PDEC \u2014 as an early deliverable, typically due within the first six months. Consortia that write it as a formality end up rewriting it at the first review.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

    A plan that holds up contains, at minimum:<\/span><\/span><\/p>