Communicating Information Society Related RTD and Deployment Results in Support of EU Public Policies

The aim of this paper is to discuss issues related to communication and exploitation of Information Society related project results emanating from RTD and deployment projects funded by EU programmes such as IST programme, eTen, eContent and eContent plus etc. In particular it will examine how these results may impact other major EU policies e.g. public health, environment, education etc. First, it presents the different EU programmes and initiatives aiming at greater economic growth, sustainable development and social cohesion through ICTs and their pervasive role in economy and society. Then it discusses the role that communication of RTD results may have on transferring knowledge, influencing action and more important creating public appreciation of the benefits obtained. To illustrate this dimension it presents in detail the ‘Information Society Policy Link’ initiative of Information Society and Media DirectorateGeneral (DG INFSO) and its first collection of successful project results (policy cases) having positively impacted different EU policy areas and in particular Environmental policies. Finally it draws some conclusions regarding the inclusion of such approaches for effective dissemination of research and deployment results in the EU funded programmes as well as in national initiatives.