Dissemination Activities Report – Final (D8.2)

This deliverable, which is an updated version of D8.1 (Dissemination Activities Report – Intermediate) [1], describes the strategy followed and the achievements made by the PHAROS project in terms of dissemination activities, as well as the exploitation plans with regard to the identified exploitable knowledge in a per-partner basis. The main task contributing to this deliverable is Task 8.1 (Dissemination), whose main objectives are:

• The identification of dissemination for a relevant to the PHAROS service platform with focus on approaching the relevant stakeholders.
• The dissemination of the PHAROS service platform and project achievements in the identified fora.
• The description of the exploitation plans for the PHAROS outcomes.

The dissemination activities in the PHAROS project have basically two main objectives: first is to improve the concept by feedback from experts; second is to increase the project’s impact. The PHAROS project aims at designing and implementing an innovative multi-hazard open service platform which integrates space-based observation, satellite communications and navigation (Galileo/GNSS) services to provide sustainable (pre-operational) services for a wide variety of users in multi-application domains, such as prediction/early detection of emergencies, population alerting, environmental monitoring, crisis management and risk management, targeting several users (crisis managers, operators of critical infrastructures, insurance companies, academic, etc.). In this context, the identified relevant audience splits in three groups:

• The potential PHAROS system users (both primary and secondary), as defined in [2]. These users comprise public entities, such as governmental administrations, disaster management authorities, first responders and operators of critical infrastructure, with focus on European countries, as well as third parties which might be interested in the products provided by PHAROS, such as academia and private entities;
• The scientific community in the research areas tackled by the project;
• The general public, as beneficiaries of the overall system and as intended recipients of the generated alert messages.

To reach these relevant communities, a strategy has been followed that applies a variety of dissemination channels, using the most suitable channels for each target group. According to this target groups, the project has implemented dissemination activities in three major areas:

• General high level dissemination activities, including the project website and newsletters. Also a flyer was designed (Annex C -) and distributed whenever possible (e.g. at conferences, workshops and PHAROS pilot demonstration).
• Dissemination to end users, by setting up an Advisory Board (AB) of end users that participated in the project workshops, interviews with end users and participation in events that are relevant to the end user community, such as conferences and congresses. The workshops organised within the project have been applied not only to disseminate the results to end users, but to involve them in the conception and design phases of the project ideas and the resulting system.
• Focused dissemination to the scientific community by participating and contributing to relevant conferences to the research areas of the project. Mostly end-user oriented conferences and dissemination events have been tackled, while also scientific journal publications were taken into account.
• As a special dissemination event, the PHAROS final demonstration should be mentioned which is described in detail in deliverable D7.2 [3] since due to the presence of public media and end users it was also a very successful event in terms of dissemination.

The project team has also established several cooperation frameworks with different initiatives during the project lifetime. The identified cooperation frameworks were intended to be cooperation activities to be maintained during the project lifetime, allowing benefiting from the different developments carried out at the different projects and the possible existing synergies. Among the existing cooperation frameworks and liaisons with other projects, two major types can be found:

• Established liaisons or contacts with other projects and initiatives: this category includes the already established contacts and liaisons, describing the scope of the corresponding projects, the synergies with PHAROS, the outcome of the liaison and the activities carried out in order to establish and maintain the contact to fulfil the objectives. Within this group, two sub-groups can be found: liaisons which were already considered in the PHAROS description of work (DoW), such as the liaison with the BiROS mission and liaisons which were not identified in the DoW but which were considered to be beneficial for both of the projects or initiatives involved, improving their outcomes.
• Identified synergies: this category includes a list of synergies with other projects and initiatives which have been identified but for which no activities have been carried out. In these cases, tracking of these synergies has been performed so that the Consortium could be aware of any relevant activity.

The dissemination strategy has been very focused on establishing and keeping a close contact with end users. On one hand, this has allowed the team to identify the needs that must be satisfied by PHAROS in the short and long term and which must be taken into account during the system design and implementation phases. On the other hand, the Consortium has been able to interact with end users, disseminating the project progress and motivating discussions and debates whose outcome has enriched the system design.