By Thomas Kösters, DEEP Ecosystems · 30 October 2026

Knowledge to Impact (K2I) is a 36-month Horizon Europe project (June 2026 to May 2029, Grant Agreement No. 101291989) that strengthens knowledge valorisation and technology transfer across the European Research Area, with particular attention to widening countries.

Work package 7, led by DEEP Ecosystems, is responsible for communication, dissemination and community engagement. Its Communication and Dissemination Plan (deliverable D7.1) sets out how the project reaches its audiences and shares its results. This post summarises the public version of the plan.

Why a plan?

Europe produces excellent research, but many institutions, especially in widening countries, lack the skills, services, digital infrastructure and networks to turn knowledge into economic, societal and policy value. The plan therefore aims at participation and uptake, not visibility alone: recruiting programme participants, building trust in responsible AI, making open resources easy to find, and connecting actors across Europe. It is a living document, reviewed after major milestones.

Who we want to reach

• TTO/KTO staff and managers
• University and research-organisation leadership
• Students and early-career researchers
• Trainers and academic staff
• SMEs, corporates and investors
• Policymakers and public authorities
• Innovation intermediaries
• Civil society, the public and the media

How we communicate

The plan follows a hub-and-spoke model. The project website (www.knowledge-2-impact.eu) is the public entry point, the TT Data Space and community on the CloudEARTHi platforms hold the Impact Service Toolbox, AI Toolkit documentation, curricula and policy briefs, and LinkedIn is the main social channel. Partner newsletters, blogs, media, multimedia and a targeted programme of events complete the mix, ending with the final CloudEARTHi Knowledge Valorisation Conference.

How results are shared

Public results are shared once they are mature and legally clear, following open access and FAIR principles, with clear licences (typically Creative Commons Attribution, CC BY 4.0) and EU funding acknowledgement. Planned public results include the Capacity Building Programme design (D2.1), the Impact Service Toolbox (D2.2), the AI Toolkit materials, open-call guidelines and results, the Trainer Handbook, the Exploitation and Sustainability Plan and two policy briefs.

Community engagement in five phases

• Foundation (months 1 to 6)
• Resource mobilisation (months 4 to 12)
• Validation and capacity building (months 10 to 22)
• Open participation and scaling (months 18 to 33)
• Uptake and legacy (months 23 to 36)

Outreach is inclusive and widening-focused, with accessible formats and multilingual support from partners.

Responsible communication

The AI Toolkit is always described as assistive, not autonomous: staff remain accountable for decisions.

Targets we will report against

• At least 20,000 unique website visits
• 1,500 Community of Practice participants
• 8,000 social media reach and 150 posts
• 10,000 newsletter recipients reached
• At least 10 blog articles and 10 external event appearances
• 300+ participants at the final conference
• 2 policy briefs
• 15 TTOs/KTOs using the AI Toolkit by month 36

Get in touch

Questions or ideas for collaboration are welcome: contact the WP7 leader at thomas@deep-ecosystems.com or follow Knowledge to Impact on LinkedIn.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).