PROmotion and coordination of environmental research in Central and Eastern Europe for a sustainable Development with the support of the Enterprise Europe Network

PROCEED focuses on the communication and dissemination of environmental research results and practices originating in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) towards industry, policy makers and public and private research centres (including Academia),with the aim to enhance the uptake of research results and foster the participation of CEEC in EU-funded research projects through S&T cooperation with other European partners. The specific research sectors on which PROCEED will focus are Air pollution, Chemical pollution, Environmental Technologies.

 

The partners will create a data base of all innovative environmental research practices and results originating in CEEC and will lead a SWOT analysis of the existing channels and tools used to communicate environmental research results in Europe with specific focus to Academia, policy makers and industry.

 

The PROCEED communication system will be made of personal communication in national and international workshops and a web 2.0-based research social network, an interactive communication channel specifically targeted at creating research opportunities Among other, results will be the signing of TT agreements and the collaborative participation in FP environment project proposals The project partnership covers 9 CEEC (6 new Member States and 3 Associated countries) and 3 EU-15 Member states.

 

All 12 project countries are represented by at least one partner member of the Enterprise Europe Network which will be the main communication channel in the project, with its 600 members present in all European countries and beyond (including China and United States) and an extended network of contacts and partners. Partners will engage other EEN members, the Fp7 National Contact Points Network and other relevant FP7 coordination and support actions to create an integrated communication system. Partners will plan the exploitation of the project after its lifetime through the integration of PROCEED tools in the EEN activities.

Overall objective

• Integration of the environment-related scientific achievements of the researchers of Central-Eastern Europe
• Enrichment of the knowledge base of the European Research Area
• Innovative solutions for the lasting protection of our environment

Specific objectives

• To define a methodology for selection of environmental research practices / results in Central and Eastern European countries
• To collect and select best available environmental research practices / results in Central and Eastern European countries
• To identify strengths and weaknesses of present communication of research results/practices originating from Central and European Countries towards policy makers, academia and industry
• To monitor and evaluate existing dissemination activities at regional, national and EU level
• To communicate and disseminate the knowledge produced by the project and all relevant knowledge available at EU level and exploit the results of the project after its lifetime
• To discuss and implement a set of solutions for communication and dissemination of research results and practices at Regional, National and EU level
• To create a stable and capillary communication and dissemination channel all over Europe and beyond
• To improve the uptake of research results/practices at national and international level
• To foster the direct contact between Academia, Industry and policy makers
• To foster the direct contact between Research Centres
• To improve the participation of Central and Eastern European countries in environmental research projects (including FP7)

The PROCEED project focused on communicating and disseminating the results of research and environmental practices in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries to industry, decision makers and public and private research centers to improve the take-up of research results and ensure participation of the CEE countries in projects funded by the EU in cooperation with other European partners.
The specific research sectors that the project focused on were air pollution, chemical pollution, and environmental technologies.

The expected results are:

• an improved uptake of environmental research results
• new technology transfer agreements
• better synergies with existing networks and projects supporting the coordination of Environmental research activities in Europe
• better communication and better understanding of research results by policy makers
• an increased number of research institutions from Central Europe participating in collaborative research projects, including Associated countries
• improved knowledge of intellectual property issues
• a Social Network where EU researchers can share publications and ideas for new cooperation
• several brokering events in Central and Eastern Europe, Italy, Greece and Denmark
• improved services to enterprises by the members of the Enterprise Europe Network.

The results were achieved through the identification of the strengths and weaknesses in the current communication of research results towards policy makers, academia and industry on national, regional and EU-wide level; the selection of research practices and results which were then collected in a data base and were disseminated through national and international brokerage events; the involvement of European researchers in a dedicated Social Network.
The partners have created a database of all innovative environmental research practices and results in CEE countries, which has led to a SWOT analysis of all existing tools and channels to communicate the results of environmental research in Europe, focusing on universities, industry and decision makers.
Among other things, the results were: signing technology transfer agreements and collaborative participation in FP7 environmental research projects.