A Qualitative Analysis of the Communication, Dissemination, and Exploitation Strategies of H2020 Projects under the 3.5.1. Programme ‘Fighting and Adapting to Climate Change’

The Horizon 2020 programme was the EU Research and Innovation Framework Programme for the period 2014-2020. The programme granted €80 billion worth of funding to research projects aiming to ‘excellent science’, ‘industrial leadership’, and ‘tackling societal challenges’ In H2020 research projects additional importance was given to the results’ communication, dissemination and exploitation compared to previous funding schemes. These aspects are considered fundamental to ensure the desired research impact on complex societal challenges. However, there is a lack of thematic research concerning the communication, dissemination and exploitation strategies of European research and innovation projects focused on a specific societal issue, such as, for instance, climate change. Thematic research allows for better comparison within projects’ clusters and helps produce tailored guidelines for specific research topics. Hence, this study analyses the communication, dissemination and exploitation strategies of projects under the H2020 3.5.1. ‘Fighting and Adapting to Climate Change’, a specific issue addressed in the European strategy for research and innovation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with communication and project managers that worked for H2020 climate change research projects and then thematically analysed to validate findings of previous literature on research project communication. The research participants confirmed the lack of tailored guidelines. The main thematic issues emerged were: a lack of importance given to projects’ results communication, dissemination and exploitation; an open debate on the professional profile suited to manage these projects’ aspects; and the need for agile project management and strategic planning to ensure their quality.