A year in review
Press Release -
2021 has been a year of evolution for ICONS: many new people joined the team, many new projects started, and others finished. ICONS grew and continues to grow adding successes among its references. Now it's time to to make a wrap up about all things that brought ICONS where it is, looking forward to an exciting new year.
New European projects
2021 began with the entry of TExTOUR, the project that co-designs innovative and sustainable cultural tourism strategies and policies to improve deprived areas in Europe and beyond, in which ICONS leads the Communication and Dissemination activities, responsible also for upscaling and replication strategy of the project.
dRural project started in March and co-develops and implements a digital solution that delivers multiple services to rural citizens while creating opportunities, economic growth, and quality of life improvements. ICONS leads the communication and dissemination activities, project’s exploitation strategy and plan and is also responsible for the definition of the project Baseline Impact Measurement and the assessment of the solution’s impacts, with a focus on social innovation.
From September three projects entered in ICONS portfolio: SUPER-I, WalNUT and Agro2Circular for which ICONS leads the communication and dissemination activities.
● SUPER-I supports the funding of energy efficient refurbishment of social housing stocks across Europe and facilitates a dialogue among investors, social housing managers and Energy Service Companies. ICONS’ team is also responsible for the project’s exploitation strategy and plan.
● WalNUT develops technological solutions to re-design the value and supply chains of nutrients from wastewater and brine. Such solutions help make the wastewater sector more sustainable, reducing water pollution, and developing an alternative to chemical fertilisers. Beside communication and dissemination, ICONS is responsible for the community management activities.
● Agro2Circular develops the first circular systemic solution to upcycle the most relevant residues in the agrifood sector. For this project, ICONS also leads the exploitation activities.
During 2021 also three projects came to an end: FETFX, eTeacher and DRIVEMODE.
● FETFX is a cross media communication platform, creating a connection between science, industry, and society. From the development of robotic bees to the production of platelets with a 3D bio-printed bone marrow: the project’s mission was to interact directly with the public, sharing stories about future and emerging technologies. The FETFX platform developed by ICONS won the .EU WEB AWARD in 2018.
● eTeacher ended after 4 years of intense work. The project created the first app 100% designed and developed based on users’ feedback. The app is based on users’ energy behavior and provides features to help take energy use under control and to be more aware of performances.
● DRIVEMODE, started in 2017, developed highly efficient and compact integrated modular drivetrain components. The project involved effective clustering and networking activities with fellow projects enabled ICONS to reach out to hundreds of industry players in the automotive sector.
On the consultancy side, ICONS has been delivering Dissemination, Capacity Building and Go-To-Market Support services within the framework of the Horizon Result Booster – the main initiative by the European Commission to maximise the impact of the research projects funded by FP7, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. Throughout the year and since the launch of the service, ICONS has been supporting more than 40 project groups within a wide spectrum of EU research domains, for a total of over 120 projects, in boosting the impact of their joint results portfolio towards their main target audiences.
Two studies have been published:
EU biorefinery outlook to 2030, for which ICONS team curated the communications and graphics part. The document presents studies on support to research and innovation policy in bio-based products and services.
Also, the final report of the study Life and Biological Sciences and Technologies as Engines for Bio-based Innovation has been published for which ICONS developed and implemented strategic communication and promotional materials with the aim to increase awareness and engage with stakeholders on advances of life and biological sciences as enablers of bio-based innovation.
About corporate news
Beside the European and consultancy projects, 2021 has been a milestone for ICONS’ corporate initiatives. After the launch of the new brand identity in late 2020, in early 2021 the new website was launched, while the ICONS’ Code of Ethics was presented at the end of the year after more than a year of work done by the CSR team.
A big win for ICONS’ cultural projects!
December brought an important project win! Starting from March 2022, ICONS will coordinate a new project funded by Creative Europe Programme and dedicated to Theresia Orchestra. The project’s name is EMPOWER and will support for the next three years the orchestra young talents in further developing excellence in orchestral learning and soft skills.
A great 2022 awaits us, full of challenges and exciting projects that we will achieve by working with passion!
