Exploitation and Intellectual Property
It is essential that the public resources and efforts used in research are converted into socio-economic benefits to the EU. For this reason Horizon 2020 establishes commitments from the participants in terms of dissemination and exploitation of the projects’ results, including their protection through intellectual property (IP).
Both Exploitation and IP (as well as communication and dissemination) are matters that are an essential part of the evaluation of the criterion 'impact'. Read more about Impact at KTH's web .
Exploitation
Exploitation is thus the use of the results during and after the project’s implementation. It can be for commercial purposes but also for improving policies, and for tackling economic and societal problems.
IP
IP takes an essential role in the entire life-cycle of R&D projects funded through Horizon 2020. Indeed, as a proper management of intellectual property enhances the chances of an effective exploitation of the research results, it is best practice to consider intellectual property when describing the measures for exploiting the results. This helps participants in showing the effectiveness of such measures, while maximising the impact of the proposed project.