EU-projects: valorisation, dissemination, exploitation – the impossible challenge?

Abstract

The EU expressed its strong will to be the most competitive economy of the world (the Lisbon declaration). Therefore fundamental and applied scientific research is one of the most important challenges. Universities, as one of their main missions is high quality research, are one of the main beneficiaries of European programmes. But universities are not familiar how to disseminate and how to market their findings created as the parts of programmes. But since in democratic nations citizens want to know and evaluate the use of their taxes, since the needs of societies are continuously growing and since the possibilities (the finances) of each society are limited, an acceptable balance has to be found between wishes and reality, and the users of public money have to respond to its use. This rationale generates a big problem for universities while they have a lack of market orientation: no strategy, no experience, no market skills. This is especially true for new EU-LLP-projects, where an elaborated and detailed dissemination plan has to be included in a project proposal. What possibilities do partners of LLP-projects have for dissemination of their products? What has been the situation until now? What has been done in ICSME? What are the perspectives for the near and for the future?