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European industry, academia and potential end users for future solutions are widely involved in applying for European Union (EU) funding of research and innovation and implementation of the projects. Funding instrument requirements emphasise the influence of skills and know-how of these project consortia professionals. This chapter proposes a co-creative model for communication and dissemination, or project PR, based on the experiences of both planning and coordinating dissemination activities of three EU funded projects. Multidisciplinary international project Public Relations (PR) offers strategic opportunities for PR professionals.

The model employs the co-creation methods based on the pedagogical model called Learning by Developing (Laurea, 2011). In addition to the pedagogical model, the proposed conceptualisation of co-creation for public relations and dissemination utilises a media evaluation framework, which is adapted from Vos and Schoemaker’s model (2004), combining elements of both balanced scorecard and quality management.

The findings demonstrate that commitment and active participation of end-user groups in the early stage of the project are needed for successful dissemination, which should be supported by each partner’s PR actions and networks. The dissemination process should start when the project begins, be ongoing, even extending to beyond the project. Dissemination is an expanding process, and it requires facilitation that supports PR and the engagement of key stakeholders. The European Commission can gain from modernised PR and dissemination activities, and from as many end users as possible adopting new innovations, which generate more business possibilities for the industry, and further research projects for the academia.

The paper reports on the European Public Relations Body of Knowledge project (coordinated by the author for the European Association for Public Relations Research and Education, CERP Education & Research) that investigates the present state of public relations knowledge in Europe. The project consists of two components: an all‐European bibliography of public relations literature published in Europe in the 1990s and a Delphi study of an all‐European group of academics and practitioners on the specifics of public relations in Europe vis‐à‐vis the USA. Since public relations is predominantly a US academic discipline and business practice and it has come from there to Europe, a question arises as to the authenticity of public relations in Europe: are Europeans merely copying and repeating American public relations practice or has anything original developed in Europe? Relying on a multi‐country and multi‐language overview of European public relations, the paper also explores some localised processes within different European countries that could have implications for further development of the public relations profession in Europe

Z39.50 is an information retrieval protocol. It has generated much interest but is so far little deployed in UK systems and services. This article gives a functional overview of the protocol itself and the standards background, describes some European initiatives which make use of it, and outlines various issues to do with its future use and acceptance. It is argued that Z39.50 is a crucial building block of future distributed information systems but that it needs to be considered alongside other protocols and services to provide useful applications.

Throughout Europe, institutions in the cultural heritage sector (libraries, archives, museums and galleries) have been taking steps towards making available their collections in digital form for education, research and the general public. These initiatives range from small‐scale projects involving one department within an institution and no external funding, through medium‐scale national projects with public or private funding, to large‐scale collaborative projects involving partners from several European states, and funding at a European level. This paper describes some of current and recent research in this area, with a particular emphasis on pan‐European initiatives and future directions.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how has the European Union (EU) funding influenced projectification of the Polish public sector. The projectification of the public sector is analysed in relation to three levels: mega (state level), macro (sector level) and mezo (organisation level). Hence, it is understood as a multidimensional phenomenon that permeates different social structures. The study also applies elements of neoinstitutional theory and Europeanisation concept to the research on projectification.

The research is based on the mixed methods approach. The adopted methods (document analysis, quantitative analysis and in-depth interviews) are both qualitative and quantitative in nature and were used sequentially to address the research question, while securing the triangulation of the data.

The Polish public sector was projectified as a result of the implementation of hundreds of thousands of projects co-financed by the EU, which among other things, effected in legal regulations that support the project implementation of public tasks and changes in organisational structures towards a project-oriented direction. At public organisation level, it causes changes in the scope of organisational structures, strategic management processes and methods of work. On the basis of the assumptions that explain the mechanism of organisational isomorphism and Europeanisation, the paper may conclude that the public sector projectification process was triggered by a misfit between the projectified EU structures and the low degree of projectification in the Polish public sector.

The study is the first step to try to understand how the massification of project activities can affect the activities of the public sector of the particular country and the shaping of public policies at home. Because Poland has been the largest beneficiary of EU funds in Europe for over ten years, it can be assumed that these processes in this country are particularly intense. An attempt was also made to identify the scale of the public sector projectification process in Poland by not only describing, but also quantifying the phenomenon.

“It should also be noted that the objective of convergence and equal distribution, including across under-performing areas, can hinder efforts to generate growth. Contrariwise, the objective of competitiveness can exacerbate regional and social inequalities, by targeting efforts on zones of excellence where projects achieve greater returns (dynamic major cities, higher levels of general education, the most advanced projects, infrastructures with the heaviest traffic, and so on). If cohesion policy and the Lisbon Strategy come into conflict, it must be borne in mind that the former, for the moment, is founded on a rather more solid legal foundation than the latter” European Commission (2005, p. 9)Adaptation of Cohesion Policy to the Enlarged Europe and the Lisbon and Gothenburg Objectives.

This study aims to offer novel insights on how industrial marketing might contribute to bringing innovations to market in the peculiar case of health care. This study aims at shedding first light on how the alignment between dissemination and exploitation activities might contribute to bringing to market innovations developed by public–private partnerships funded by the European Commission (EC).

The theoretical development comes from an inductive research design based on the 42-month pan-European H2020 research project NESTORE aimed at developing an integrated portfolio of innovations for the healthy aging of European citizens.

This study advances the theory and practice of industrial marketing in health care by conceptualizing an actionable method to align dissemination and exploitation activities within EC-funded projects, facilitating that innovations will go to market. The method is composed of five phases. First, an external analysis to define market opportunities and users’/stakeholders’ needs. Second, an internal analysis to identify the most promising exploitable outputs. Third, scenarios crystallization to define the most suitable scenarios (business models) to bring the selected exploitable outputs to market. Fourth, exploitation and dissemination alignment through the identification and involvement of the most relevant stakeholders. Fifth, scenario refinement and business plan.

This study is relevant because many EC-funded projects still fail to move innovations from labs to market, thus limiting the benefits for the European citizens and the competitiveness of Europe with respect to the USA and China. Although this relevance, past studies overlooked the peculiar context of EC-funded innovation projects, privileging pharmaceutical and biomedical companies. This study advance theory and practice of industrial marketing in health care.

The European Forum for Enhanced Collaboration in Teaching (EFFECT, 2015–2019) (EFFECT, 2019), a project co-financed by the European Commission, through its Erasmus+ programme, has been exploring effective methods for university teachers’ development at the European level, including pedagogical staff development “modules” to support inclusivity and citizenship in teaching and learning practice. Throughout the project and in this chapter, the authors have taken “inclusivity” to convey an attitude and appreciation for principles which inform “inclusion” as a practice – in the context of reflective and reflexive practice the words become largely interchangeable.

The way academic staff teach is of critical importance in any reform designed to enhance inclusion and citizenship in higher education. Conveying these values-related topics in an academic context hardly lends itself to a traditional pedagogical training model. Promoting inclusion means stimulating discussion, challenging stereotypes and unconscious biases, as well as improving educational and social frameworks. The Change Laboratory methodology (Engeström, 2001) was chosen for the pedagogical staff development workshops under EFFECT, with a view to engaging teaching staff in a deeper reflection about the topics and about their teaching practice. Change Laboratory is an intervention-research methodology that aims at reconceptualizing activity: it intends to provoke authentic reactions, responses and disagreements among the participants and provides opportunity for them to work together to reimagine their activities and to identify “concrete” solutions that address persisting issues in their practice. The theory takes a broad conceptualization of “activity” and “practice,” which is not specific to the education sector or the “classroom.” The Change Laboratory is a methodology designed to support the “expansive learning cycle” described by Engeström and as such can be understood as a theory of change which the EFFECT project team applied to a pan-European higher education learning and teaching context.

In 2017, the project team designed and implemented four physical, face-to-face pedagogical staff development workshops on inclusivity and citizenship skills based on this methodology, attended by over 100 participants from across Europe. In 2018, the workshop model was adapted to a virtual learning environment and three online sessions on inclusivity and citizenship skills for higher education teaching staff were offered.

The pedagogical staff development workshops enabled participants to use open reflective questions to provoke discussion about the challenges faced in their own learning and teaching contexts, think about their pedagogical practices and identify their unconscious biases. Most of the participants rated the workshops as very good and innovative, and considered the methodology an effective vehicle for promoting meaningful open discussion.

In this chapter, the authors reflect on the design, implementation and lessons learnt from the pedagogical staff development workshops on inclusivity and citizenship skills. The authors propose a set of recommendations for individual teaching staff and institutional leadership to consider when addressing continuous professional development for inclusivity and citizenship.

The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the contribution of European Commission (EC) initiatives to stimulate cultural heritage research over the last 20 years and the contribution of the research results to cultural heritage management and sustainable development.

From a brief introduction to the EC initiatives related to cultural heritage, the paper continues with an overview of the research projects so far funded by EC Framework Programmes. It includes the main conclusions and recommendations reached during the NET‐HERITAGE conference last March, in support to the debate on the existing gaps, and to suggest ways forward, which can be useful to research institutes as well as other funding organizations.

Although the EC should be commended for its substantial contribution to the field of cultural heritage research over the last 20 years, it is the first, however, to acknowledge that this is just the beginning and that much more needs to be done in order to help ensure sustainability and the consequent transmission of the European cultural legacy to future generations, at both regional and national levels.

In providing an overview of EC‐funded cultural heritage research, the paper is useful to the readers of the journal, who might consider obtaining EC funding and so stimulate their participation in future funding schemes and related projects. It highlights some potential areas for research and continues to scientifically underpin that cultural heritage research can help increasing competitiveness in Europe and beyond.