ENVIMPACT · Increasing the impact of Central-Eastern European environment research results through more effective dissemination and exploitation

Based on indications from EC and FP7 statistics, the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries participate at low rate in the FP7 Environment theme. On the other hand air pollution, chemical pollution and environmental risks should be handled with expressed interest in this region, due to severe environmental damages caused by decades of negligence and mishandling. CEE researchers have been conducting research in the mentioned fields since the middle of the 20th century, however, their results did not reach – and influence - either the policy makers of their own country, or their academic counterparts in EU-15.The main objective of ENVIMPACT is to enrich the EU knowledge base with the environment-related results of the CEE researchers, thus inducing new collaborations under FP7/FP8 which may lead to innovative solutions for the lasting protection of our environment.Using local contacts, knowledge and the insight of expert groups consisting of relevant academic, industrial/ETP and policy representatives, the innovative environmental research practices and results originating from Central and Eastern Europe will be identified, mapped and made available for the governmental, academic and industrial stakeholders all over Europe. After analysing the presently applied dissemination and exploitation practices of CEE research results (by SWOT analysis), good and bad practices will be presented in an online catalogue. Recommendations will be prepared for the development a taylor-made toolkit. To close the communication gap, CEE researchers will be offered trainings and online mentoring services, based on the recommendations for communication and exploitation of research results.Partners from 7 NMSs will ensure the availability of local research results, while representatives from 4 EU-15 countries will help to identify and match the needs in terms of communication of CEE/EU-15 researchers and will provide the expertise in reaching the relevant stakeholders.