Horizon Results Booster helps recipients of EU funding with all of these activities, and so far has delivered 300 services overall.
Developing a business plan, exploiting a research result, preparing beneficiaries to launch their project to market… Horizon Results Booster helps recipients of EU funding with all of these activities, and so far has delivered 300 services overall.
With the aim of maximising the impact of research projects, the initiative backed by the European Commission has brought a continuous stream of innovation to the market. Since it began in 2020, the platform has shown no signs of slowing down, offering support to thousands of users who want to maximise the impact of their research results.
Currently, Horizon Results Booster offers three services. First, Portfolio Dissemination & Exploitation Strategy helps its users to build their capacities for disseminating research results and to increase the exploitation potential of their project. Then, as the name suggests, Business Plan Development assists beneficiaries by developing an effective business plan but also by preparing to secure funds. Finally, Go To Market makes a project ready for commercialisation.
Most managed services
75% of the 300 services managed in these two years have been related to Dissemination & Exploitation Strategy, which is divided into two blocks: module A strengthens the capacity of project groups to disseminate their research by creating a portfolio of research project results, module B helps users to execute a dissemination plan, while module C supports single projects in exploiting their research result and improving their exploitation strategy. Therefore, 101 services were delivered of which 80 belong to module A and 21 to module B, whereas 117 services have been completed in module C alone.
Besides dissemination and exploitation services, users have availed of Business Plan Development services 47 times, and Go To Market services 16 times. But it does not end there, as the initiative has more than 160 experts involved in its services and has also helped to carry out 9 studies, which provide an analysis of clusters of R&I project results in a specified research area and establish a clear link between the Commission policy objectives and the clusters.
Horizon Results Booster reaches 300 completed services
With the goal of building a culture of continuous improvement, META Group conducts satisfaction surveys with its beneficiaries to gauge sentiment around Horizon Results Booster’s services, confidence, and achievements. The statistics show remarkable fulfilment in each of the five differentiated services. Starting with module A of Portfolio Dissemination & Exploitation Strategy which obtained a score of 3,7 out of 5, the following services improved their scores in a stepwise manner; module B got a 3,9 out of 5 and module C received 4,2. Finally, Business Plan Development and Go To Market are the services which generated the most satisfaction in their beneficiaries, reaching a result of 4,4 and 4,5 out of 5, respectively, as can be seen in the next chart.
On top of that, Horizon Results Booster has enabled several companies to achieve a successful outcome. This is the case of COPKIT, an EU-funded project that develops technologies designed to take down cybercrime. COPKIT had a great technological innovation but did not know how to exploit its results properly. They applied for the Portfolio Dissemination & Exploitation Strategy services under Horizon Results Booster, with good results. “We were very happy with the service and I am sure the other partners found it useful as well,” said Corinna Pannofino, responsible for dissemination and exploitation for COPKIT. “Having someone who is able to go through it with you is very helpful,” added.
GEO-DRILL
Another project that required HRB’s services was GEO-DRILL. GEO-DRILL is an initiative that encourages the use of geothermal energy. For them, the obstacle was that many European countries did not view geothermal energy in the same way as they did wind or solar energy. It was difficult to sell it there. Geo-Drill decided to approach the Horizon Results Booster programme to help them market their idea. “The Horizon Results Booster programme has broadened our horizons. We want to target not only policymakers, but also cross-sector groups.” Said Kevin Mallin, Managing Director of Geolorn Ltd, which is a member of the GEO-DRILL project. “We had a chance to meet all of these people not necessarily working on geothermal. So getting that understanding of how other people deal with those challenges has been hugely beneficial.”
Do you need help drafting the business plan for your EU funded research? Horizon Results Booster can help you bring your research results closer to the market. This will be possible by developing an effective business plan and preparing to secure appropriate funding to implement project results.