The main challenge is no longer visibility

When people think about what makes a successful European project, communication is rarely the first thing that comes to mind. Scientific excellence, technological innovation or strong partnerships are usually considered the key ingredients. Communication and dissemination often appear later in the conversation, associated with social media posts, newsletters or the work package that ensures compliance with the Grant Agreement.

After working on communication strategies for European research and innovation projects, however, one lesson has become increasingly clear: projects rarely struggle because they lack good results. More often, they struggle because those results do not reach the people who could benefit from them.

An innovative solution that never reaches industry, policymakers or society cannot generate the impact it was designed to achieve. In that sense, communication is not about telling the story of a project once the work is finished. It is about creating the conditions for that work to make a difference from the very beginning.

Impact starts on day one

One of the most common misconceptions is that communication begins once a project has produced tangible results. In practice, this is often too late.

By the time a consortium starts thinking about its audiences, valuable opportunities may already have been lost. Opportunities to understand stakeholder needs, build trust, involve future users, establish collaborations or gather feedback that could strengthen the project’s activities.

This is why the foundations of an effective communication strategy should be laid during proposal preparation, not after the kick-off meeting. Identifying who the project wants to reach, why those audiences should care and how they can be engaged should be considered part of the project’s design rather than an activity to be addressed later.

Once pattern we have consistently observed is that the projects generating the greatest impact are not necessarily those that communicate the most, but those that invest early in building relationships. POLYMEER, a Horizon Europe project focused on developing bio-based polymers offers a good example. Rather than waiting until project results became available, the consortium launched the BIOPOLY Cluster together with other EU-funded initiatives working on similar challenges. Through joint webinars, collaborative events and shared communication activities, the cluster brought together researchers, industry representatives and other stakeholders around common topics from an early stage. By the time key project outcomes started to emerge, there was already an engaged community ready to exchange knowledge, discuss on the applications and amplify the project’s results.

In our experience, this illustrates one of the biggest shifts in European project communication: impact is built through continuous engagement, not through a final dissemination campaign.

Understanding the role of communication and dissemination

Communication and dissemination are frequently mentioned together, but treating them as interchangeable can weaken both.

• Communication creates awareness. It explains why a project matters, why society should care and how its work contributes to addressing European challenges. Whether through a project’s website, social media, videos or media outreach, its purpose is to engage audiences and spark interest beyond the consortium.
• Dissemination, on the other hand, comes into play as knowledge and results emerge. It focuses on sharing that knowledge with those who can use it, through scientific publications, conference presentations, technical workshops or policy-oriented discussions, so that it can be validated, adopted or further developed.

Understanding this distinction is more than a matter of terminology. It allows consortia to design activities that respond to different objectives and audiences, instead of assuming that every communication action contributes equally to impact. Communication creates interest, dissemination enables knowledge exchange. Together, they ensure that project results reach beyond the consortium and have the opportunity to generate real value.

The challenge is no longer visibility

Over the last years, European projects have become significantly more professional in the way they communicate. Most projects have websites, social media channels, newsletters and visual identities. Visibility is no longer the main challenge. The real challenge is relevance.

Publishing content does not necessarily mean connecting with stakeholders. Organising an event does not automatically generate engagement. Reaching thousands of people says little if the audience that matter most remain outside the conversation.

This shift requires communication strategies that prioritise quality over quantity. Instead of asking “How many posts did we publish?”, projects should increasingly ask “Did we reach the people capable of creating change?” “Did we build meaningful dialogue?” “Did our communication help move the project closer to its objectives?”

These questions are becoming just as important as traditional communication metrics.

Communication as a driver of impact

The growing emphasis that Horizon Europe places on impact reflects a broader evolution in European research and innovation policy. Excellence remains essential, but excellence alone is no longer enough.

Projects are increasingly expected to demonstrate not only what they have achieved, but also how their knowledge reaches relevant stakeholders, contributes to policy discussions, supports innovation ecosystems and creates benefits beyond the consortium itself.

Communication and dissemination play a central role in making this possible. They connect research with society, facilitate collaboration between different actors and create opportunities for knowledge to travel further than the project duration.

Perhaps this is the biggest shift taking place today. Communication is no longer simply about making projects visible, it is about helping them become useful.

As European programmes continue to evolve, the most successful projects will not necessarily be those that communicate the most. They will be those that communicate with purpose, engage the right audiences at the right moment and understand that impact is built throughout the project, not communicated once it is over.