The involvement of a wide range of actors, such as national policy makers, research funding organizations, relevant research communities from academia and industry as well as user communities is a key pre-requisite for achieving impact in European Partnerships.
Stakeholder engagement occurs throughout the partnership lifecycle and may serve a wide range of purposes, such as:
- Developing and updating Strategic Research and Innovation Agendas (SRIAs)
- Identifying topics and issues for joint activities and pathways towards their implementation (calls, knowledge hubs, training, capacity building, infrastructure-sharing, knowledge transfer), etc.
- Supporting dissemination activities, communication, and promotion of ideas to raise the visibility of the R&I activities being performed through the initiatives; and
- Speeding up knowledge circulation and transfer for the exploitation of research results by many different stakeholders.
The involvement of various stakeholder groups helps European Partnerships to better meet the needs of stakeholders and thus assures the societal relevance of research output. European Partnerships continuously implement dedicated engagement activities and materials.
Preparation and design
In the phase of preparation for a future partnership, it should be ensured that a broad range of partners and stakeholders from relevant sectors and geographical areas are identified and invited to engage with the programme. Procedures for involving partners should be put in place and made available to potential interested parties. Strategic research and innovation agenda should describe how and when different stakeholders may be involved in the partnership.
Implementation
A partnership should continue facilitating contact and seek collaboration with different stakeholder communities in all phases of its implementation. It should strive to attract and involve relevant partners and further refine its goals and priorities in consultation with relevant stakeholders during the partnership.
Dissemination
Partnership should disseminate their results openly and transparently using appropriate channels that reach out to all interested parties, including non-members, across the EU and beyond.
Monitoring and evaluation
Partnerships can involve stakeholders in monitoring and evaluation of R&I results by exchanging relevant information, collecting indicators and using participatory approaches.
