The aim of the 24-months EFFECT project is (1) to enhance visibility and impact of FET research among a wide variety of actors - researchers, industry, policy makers, civil society organisations, citizens and students - and (2) to stimulate debate and collaboration among multiple stakeholders through dedicated community building and public engagement activities. EFFECT proposes an innovative and customized communication model that will be implemented by: i. screening sources, research projects and results on FET from FP7 and H2020, under the guidance of a scientific Advisory Board; ii. develop and distribute customized contents in different communication formats and channels through web, social and TV media; iii. stimulate public debate, collaborative learning, networking and engagement among multiple players of the FET domain through R& I infodays and brokerage events; policy-oriented workshops; webinars aimed to the on-going FET funded projects; general public engagement campaigns (European Researchers’ Night); iv. monitor the efficacy of the distribution mechanisms, measure and assess the overall generated impacts and elaborate a set of recommendations fostering the development of successful communication campaigns on FET. Customized synergies will be sought with on-going FET projects such as FET Flagships, FET ERANETs and FET CSAs, as well as European NCP Networks and Enterprise Europe Network. EFFECT dynamic and inclusive engagement methodology, as well as its broad and integrated approach on communicational content definition and distribution will improve transfer knowledge, increase awareness, enhance interaction with a larger public, promote dialogue among different target groups and foster the emergence of an innovation ecosystem around future and emerging technologies.

The X2.0 is a sustainable legacy project of X-Europe (ICT-33-2019), and aims to leverage its predecessors' established ecosystem, network, proven innovation action/Startup Europe methodology, and learnings, to generate a next-gen coordination action mechanism. X2.0 project establishes a framework anchored by external service providers, also known in this proposal as industry impact builders. The framework will deliver a trifecta of key impact drivers, namely i) upskill and upscale the future deeptech leaders of Europe, ii) connect and nurture relationships between moderately innovative and highly innovative regions, and iii) reinforce and contribute to the EIC offer. The X2.0 will upskill its beneficiaries by providing need-based, custom, industry-focused growth services, corporate-startup opportunities and pathways to private and public funding. The project will distribute €1.5M in innovation and scaling up services to 50 deep-tech startups to increase their individual capacities and enhance their long-term competitiveness. The project will establish an X2.0 Impact Hub of 350 validated impact builders (external service providers) able to deliver cross-border services and 75 corporations seeking partnerships with startups. Finally, the project will close with a white paper providing insights into the EU deeptech scene. The project will run for 24 months establishing a sustainable collaborative ecosystem across the EU and increasing the delivery of deeptech products to market.

Blockchain and DLTs have a limitless potential for use cases across all industries. They streamline business processes and offers a great potential for reducing costs and complexity, offering high level of transparency and trustworthiness. Despite of the potential benefits, their uptake is low, even more among the SMEs, making the transition to DLTs slow and arduous due to: -Sectors in which DLTs make sense, besides fintech, are those in which existing traditional SMEs do not have enough knowledge on how DLTs work nor their potential uptake. -Traditional SMEs (and stakeholders in general) need to be sensitized to uptake the technology in their verticals. Lack of knowledge makes them reluctant to technological changes. -A regulatory framework should foster the uptake and prevent from fraudulent actions. Uncertain regulation limits companies’ scope of action and imply a risk for their growth. To overcome it, BLOCKCHERS’ concept aims at: -funding up to 30 tech-based SMEs in 2 open calls, providing real use cases implementation engaging at least 30 traditional SMEs (end users uptaking DLTs with a technology provider) -providing training, team work sessions and community building activities, to achieve a better understanding and acceptance of DLTs among SMEs. -mapping & monitoring relevant initiatives to build a community to solve the information gap between regulators and DLT developers, providing recommendations for policy action as a way to create a smart regulation in the EU. 4 top-skilled organisations gather to address these challenges: ZABALA, coordinator and expert on cascade-funding and innovation services provision to SMEs EU-wide. Innomine, expert on acceleration and piloting/use cases in the CEE market for the DIHs. Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (FSBC), recognized expert on providing DLTs training and organizing major events on blockchain. Alastria, the first public-permissioned Spanish DLT network promoted by corporations, available for BLOCKCHERS.

The strategic objective of the “FETFX - Stimulating effects in Future and Emerging Technologies through communication and outreach” project is to promote FET research among a wide range of actors (researchers and innovation community, policy makers, and general public) a through dedicated community building and multi-stakeholder engagement actions. FETFX proposes an innovative and customized communication and outreach strategy, based on the previous efforts made by the EFFECT project and taking advantage from the experience gathered by other Coordination and Support Actions, such as COFET and FEAT, funded under the FET programme in both FP7 and H2020. The FETFX communication activities will be based on the implementation of an innovative communication model, based on a content-centric and challenge-based approach. The FETFX project will be developed exploiting the connection with the former EFFECT project, based on novel and former communication channels (website and social media) and formats (different video formats, articles, news releases, multimedia storytelling, interviews), distribution mechanisms and contents classification. FETFX engagement actions will be implemented through different initiatives around the following key elements: (i) innovation potential (FET START Cup competition), (ii) communication potential (journalists in-the-lab), (iii) communication gaps on high-risk research (policy workshop and Recommendation Paper), (iv) engagement of the civil society (FETFX Photo Contest), (v) increase FET researchers communication skills (webinars and training sessions), (vi) foster the emergence of the FET community around its achievements (FET Day and Booklet). Thanks to its inclusive and creative approach, FETFX will stimulate the awareness and the engagement of a broader community around the mission-oriented scope of the FET Programme and the future and emerging technologies capable to renew European growth in terms of innovation and benefit for society.