What Is the Difference Between Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation in Horizon Europe?

Author: Julien Sudre | Horizon Europe proposal development and project management specialist | Founder of Grant360 and Innotrope

Communication makes a Horizon Europe project and its activities visible; dissemination makes its results publicly available to audiences that can use them; exploitation puts those results to use. The three activities are complementary, but they have different purposes, audiences, evidence and contractual requirements. A project website, a scientific paper and a licensing agreement may all contribute to impact, but they do not demonstrate the same achievement.

For coordinators and beneficiaries, the practical challenge is to plan these activities together while tracking them separately. This guide explains the distinctions, the legal framework and a workable approach from proposal preparation to post-project uptake.

What is communication in a Horizon Europe project?

Communication is the strategic promotion of the project, its activities and results to relevant audiences, including people beyond the research community. Its purpose is to explain why the project matters, increase awareness and make European Union (EU) funding visible. Communication can start before research results exist.

Typical activities include a project website, accessible videos, newsletters, media relations, social media, public events and stakeholder stories. An early project announcement describing the societal problem being addressed is communication even if no scientific finding is disclosed.

Under Article 17 and Annex 5 of the applicable Horizon Europe Grant Agreement (GA), beneficiaries must comply with communication and EU-visibility requirements. Use the appropriate EU emblem and funding statement according to the grant's rules; do not assume that a project logo replaces the EU emblem.

Practical example: A consortium developing a water-quality sensor publishes a short video explaining the contamination problem, introduces its partners and acknowledges EU support. That is communication, not evidence that the sensor has been validated or adopted.

Primary source: European Commission: Communication requirements and EU visibility.

What is dissemination in Horizon Europe?

Dissemination is the public disclosure of project results through appropriate channels so that others can access, understand and potentially use them. It is result-focused: announcing that a consortium held a meeting is communication, whereas publishing a validated methodology or dataset can be dissemination.

Dissemination channels include scientific articles, conference papers, technical reports, repositories, public demonstrations and targeted briefings that disclose findings. Select channels according to the intended users: researchers may need reproducible methods; public authorities may need an evidence brief; industry may need performance data and technical specifications.

Horizon Europe open-science obligations must be checked against the applicable GA and call conditions. Open access to peer-reviewed scientific publications and research-data management are not interchangeable with an obligation to disclose every confidential detail or commercially sensitive result. The FAIR principles - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable - guide research-data management; access restrictions may be justified where applicable.

Practical example: The water-quality consortium publishes an open-access paper documenting sensor accuracy and a reusable validation protocol. These are dissemination outputs. A social media post linking to the paper primarily promotes the dissemination output; it should not be counted as an additional scientific publication.

Before public disclosure, assess ownership, confidentiality, personal-data obligations, potential intellectual property (IP) protection and partners' legitimate interests. The applicable GA and Consortium Agreement (CA) govern advance notice and objections to proposed dissemination; do not apply a universal objection deadline without checking those documents.

Primary sources: European Commission: Dissemination and exploitation of research results; European IP Helpdesk: Frequently asked questions.

What is exploitation in Horizon Europe?

Exploitation is the actual use of project results in further research or innovation, products, processes, services, standardisation or policymaking. It can be commercial or non-commercial, and it can be undertaken by a beneficiary or, under appropriate arrangements, another organisation. Publication or publicity alone does not demonstrate that a result has been exploited.

For example, the water-quality consortium might integrate its sensor into a municipal monitoring service, license a component to a manufacturer, use its validation method in a subsequent research programme or contribute evidence to a technical standard. Each pathway requires a user, a concrete use case and a route to adoption.

Horizon Europe beneficiaries must use their best efforts to exploit the results they own or have them exploited, subject to the applicable GA, including Article 16 and Annex 5. This is an obligation to make best efforts, not a guarantee that every result will generate sales or achieve market uptake. The standard framework includes post-project obligations; check the precise period and any additional call-specific conditions in the signed GA.

Primary sources: European Research Executive Agency: Dissemination and exploitation; European IP Helpdesk: Transfers and licences for Horizon results.

For the legal and operational context, read Why Is Exploitation Mandatory in Horizon Europe? and the cluster guide Exploitation and Intellectual Property in Horizon Europe.

How do communication, dissemination and exploitation differ in practice?

The simplest test is to ask whether an activity promotes the project, publicly discloses a result or puts a result to use. One event can support more than one objective, but its outputs and evidence should be recorded separately.

The practical differences are:

Communication: core question: who needs to know about the project and why? Main object: project, activities and results. Typical audience: public, stakeholders, media and potential partners. Example: explainer video. Useful evidence: reach and audience engagement.
Dissemination: core question: who needs access to which results? Main object: publicly disclosed results. Typical audience: researchers, industry, policymakers and other prospective users. Example: published validation protocol. Useful evidence: accessible outputs and relevant audience uptake.
Exploitation: core question: who will use which results, and how? Main object: use of results. Typical audience: result owners, adopters, licensees, service providers and policymakers. Example: protocol adopted by a testing laboratory. Useful evidence: adoption agreements, deployed services, follow-on research or documented policy use.

Worked example - one result, three actions: A project develops a low-energy building-control algorithm. It communicates the problem and project objectives in a public webinar; disseminates benchmark results and an openly accessible technical paper; and exploits the algorithm when a building operator integrates it into an operational system. A webinar can also disseminate results if it genuinely discloses the technical findings. Classify and document the distinct outputs rather than assuming every activity belongs to exactly one category.

How should the three activities work together to create impact?

Start with a specific result and intended change, then design communication, dissemination and exploitation activities around the people needed to achieve that change. The activities reinforce one another but are not a mandatory linear sequence: a result may be exploited through a confidential licence before broad dissemination, or disseminated openly to enable non-commercial uptake.

For each key result, create a simple pathway:

Result: What usable knowledge, method, dataset, software, prototype or recommendation will the project generate?
Users: Which organisations or communities could use it, and what problem would it solve for them?
Access and protection: What must be protected, licensed, published or shared under controlled conditions?
Activities: Which communication will create awareness, which dissemination will transfer knowledge and which exploitation action will support use?
Evidence: What would demonstrate progress towards adoption rather than merely visibility?

For example, a policy-oriented project might communicate its research question to citizens, disseminate a policy brief containing its evidence and exploit its findings when a public authority incorporates the methodology into its decision-making. A policy brief being downloaded does not by itself prove policy uptake.

When should a Horizon Europe consortium plan these activities?

Plan communication, dissemination and exploitation at proposal stage, implement them from the start of the action and update the strategy as results mature. The Horizon Europe Programme Guide states that, unless the work programme provides otherwise, proposals should contain a planned summary of these activities. For successful proposals, beneficiaries normally provide a complete plan within the first six months and update it regularly, subject to the applicable action and grant requirements.

Key project phases include:

Proposal: identify expected results, audiences, potential users and credible pathways. Example evidence: draft impact pathway and planned measures.
Project launch: allocate responsibilities and establish communication and results-management procedures. Example evidence: named owners, calendar and disclosure workflow.
Early implementation: build awareness and engage prospective users; refine the exploitation hypotheses. Example evidence: stakeholder interviews and documented feedback.
Results emerging: validate results, assess IP and confidentiality, disseminate appropriately. Example evidence: validation evidence, disclosure decisions and publications.
Final phase: confirm ownership, users, resources and post-project commitments. Example evidence: updated plan, exploitation arrangements and handover responsibilities.
After project end: follow up on uptake and applicable continuing obligations. Example evidence: adoption evidence, licence performance or documented follow-on use.

The Plan for Exploitation and Dissemination of Results (PEDR), including communication activities, should be a living management instrument rather than a list of promised outputs. Verify the specific deliverable dates and updates in the Description of Action (DoA).

For a step-by-step approach, see How Do You Write an Effective Exploitation and Dissemination Plan in Horizon Europe?.

Primary source: European Commission: Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Which indicators should you use to measure communication, dissemination and exploitation?

Use indicators that match each activity's purpose, and distinguish outputs from actual uptake. Reach is useful for communication, access to results for dissemination, and documented use for exploitation. No single metric captures all three.

Useful indicators include:

Communication: relevant website visits, event attendance, newsletter engagement and qualified stakeholder enquiries. These do not prove that project results have been used.
Dissemination: accessible publications or datasets, technical brief downloads, requests for methods or data and citations where relevant. These do not prove that a result has been deployed or commercialised.
Exploitation: signed licences, operational deployments, adoption by users, documented follow-on research and incorporation into standards or policy. These do not prove that broader societal impact has already been achieved.

Original practical recommendation: Maintain a result-to-use register alongside the usual communication and dissemination log. For each key result, record its owner, maturity, intended user, proposed route to use, next decision, responsible partner, supporting evidence and follow-up date. This is a suggested management tool, not an additional mandatory EU reporting form.

For instance, recording "three workshops held" says little about exploitation. Recording "two water utilities evaluated the prototype; one requested a field trial; the trial owner and date are confirmed" makes the route to potential adoption visible without claiming that adoption has already occurred.

How can you disseminate results without undermining intellectual property protection?

Review proposed disclosures before publication, decide whether protection is needed, and coordinate timing with the result owners and affected partners. Dissemination and protection are not opposites: a consortium may protect a patentable invention before publishing its scientific findings, or choose open licensing where that better supports its exploitation strategy.

A practical pre-disclosure check should establish who owns the result, whether third-party or jointly owned material is included, whether a patent or other protection assessment is needed, whether confidential information or personal data would be exposed, and which advance-notice and objection procedures apply under the GA and CA.

Avoid two common assumptions. First, public disclosure can affect patent novelty and future protection options, but it does not automatically prevent every form of licensing or exploitation. Second, open access to a publication does not mean that all underlying know-how, software, data or IP must be released without conditions.

For more detail, read Intellectual Property in Horizon Europe.

Primary source: European IP Helpdesk: Frequently asked questions.

What should happen to dissemination and exploitation after the project ends?

Assign clear post-project responsibility for each significant result before the final reporting period closes. The end of EU funding does not automatically end the applicable exploitation, dissemination, record-keeping or other continuing obligations.

For each result, identify who can legally use it, who will maintain any essential asset, what funding or partnerships are needed, and when uptake will be reviewed. A public dataset may need a hosting and maintenance arrangement; software may need an owner for security updates; a prototype may need additional validation and a manufacturing partner.

The standard Horizon Europe framework also provides a route through the Horizon Results Platform where results have not been exploited despite best efforts within the specified post-project period, subject to the applicable grant provisions and any written agreement with the granting authority. This is not a requirement to upload every result immediately when the project ends.

Primary source: European Commission: Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Conclusion: How do you turn project visibility into lasting value?

Communication creates awareness, dissemination makes results available and exploitation puts results to use. A credible Horizon Europe strategy defines each activity separately, connects them to identifiable results and users, manages disclosure and IP decisions, and measures uptake rather than counting publicity as impact.

Plan all three from proposal stage, review them as evidence emerges and agree on ownership and post-project responsibilities before the grant ends. The goal is not simply to produce more communication materials or publications: it is to give relevant people a realistic route to using the knowledge and solutions the consortium creates.

About the author

Julien Sudre specialises in Horizon Europe proposal development, project management and communication. Through Grant 360, he develops practical resources and tools to support research and innovation organisations throughout the EU funding lifecycle.