We are looking forward to a very exciting 2012 as we continue to roll out the SEED Research Library, which is fast becoming the resource for following European research results and developments across all thematic disciplines. Please sign up now to become a Library member and choose to follow the projects that interest you most.

Meanwhile, Projects Magazine and the Projects website will continue to provide a platform for research dissemination as well as a voice for all those involved in Europe’s drive towards its exciting 2020 vision. Please subscribe here to receive your free copies.

Insight will also continue to develop the suite of dissemination products specifically designed to offer research projects the very best communications tools in order to reach the right people with the right message at the right time. All are combined with our bespoke marketing strategies to deliver real impact. Please browse this website find out more.

A very Happy New Year from everyone at Insight.

The Library web portal will host pioneering interactive digital “brochures”, called SEEDs, designed to give projects the perfect platform on which to host multi-media content, to be distributed across multiple devices in an accessible and attractive format.

All forms of dissemination content can be hosted on each SEED, including all project deliverables, video, presentations, public documents and all contact information. Insight will also work with each project to provide full technical writing support and journalistic services. The SEED can also be used as a presentational tool for conferences and events.

Each SEED is then hosted in the relevant thematic section of the Library, providing contextualised dissemination in a collaborative portal. Users of the Library can then opt to follow individual SEEDs or thematic areas and will then receive update alerts when new content is added, as well as having direct communication access to project members.

SEED users will also be able to post comments on the SEED wall, as well as keep private notes specific to individual projects.

All project social media activity will be accessible within the SEED frame and this functionality will also enable contact between SEED users.

Projects using SEED will also have access to users who choose to follow their work or work within their thematic area, meaning they can establish and then manage highly targeted user groups through one platform.

Insight’s Managing Director William Davis is extremely excited by the launch of SEED. “There is a real need for a dissemination solution that integrates a variety of content in one place and then publishes this in a contextualised environment,” he says. “SEED and the Library does this like no other web-based platform available, as we combine the best of traditional publishing techniques with the versatility of the internet.

“Projects that feature in the SEED Library benefit from being placed next to other research projects that are exploring similar or complimentary areas of research and innovation; this encourages collaboration between projects and also opens up opportunities to share and communicate with similar user groups and audiences.  The SEED Library encourages feedback and interaction between projects and users in order to benefit future research and innovation.”

For more information about SEED, about using it for your project or simply to join the library, call Insight on +44 (0)117 2033 120 or visit http://ipl.eu.com/research-dissemination/seed-dissemination From December 5, you will be able to visit the Library itself at www.seedresearchlibrary.com.

The link below features a helpful chart adapted from Oldenburg B (et al), it  lists factors supporting successful dissemination and uptake, and provides a useful start or checklist for getting it right.

Click here for the successful dissemination chart

Delegates listen to the debate at a Plenary Session

We spent three full days listening to debate, comment and analysis, talking with researchers, entrepreneurs, politicians and robots (three of them!) and learning about some of the many innovative solutions that will make growing older a lot easier and happier than it is today!

The Insight team was, of course, at last week’s AAL Forum in Lecce, Italy, a beautiful venue for a very important conference that saw real progress made in the development of the innovations the programme has supported since 2008.

The fundamental message to emerge from the event was that it is through social innovation that we will best support active and healthy aging and that it is now time for the work that has been going on for four years to start creating the impact society needs it to create. In other words, let’s get these wonderful solutions designed to help people live easier lives at home, into the market place so people can start using them.

The other key message was that once we start seeing the commercialisation of this impressive innovation, society as a whole will begin to see a return on the investment it has made into the AAL programme – and not just in the sense that people will be better supported in old age. When these products emerge into the market place, jobs will be created and industry will benefit – and when that happens on a large scale, we will start to see Europe emerge from the financial crisis in which it currently wallows.

There was great optimism at the event – and well there should be. The AAL programme is a real success story of cooperation and coordination. Twenty three member countries all financially support the important work alongside the commission, while there is a determined effort for all the work being funded to bring real products to market, to make a difference to real people.

Of course innovation to support active and healthy aging isn’t only in the remit of AAL. Many other projects funded by other programmes like FP7, EUREKA and national funding bodies all over Europe, are also working on solutions to help society meet the challenges presented by the huge demographic shift into an older population.

Next year will be the EU’s Year of Active Aging, an initiative designed to raise awareness of the issues we face as a society that is growing older. To support this initiative, Insight will be producing a very special edition of Projects Magazine that will examine all the issues around this important theme, debate the challenges that remain and, perhaps more importantly, consider all the opportunities those challenges present. Packed with content from some of Europe’s leading lights in this arena, the publication will also act as a showcase for projects and industry to expose their products and solutions to a wide and very relevant audience.

Write to me at wdavis@ipl.eu.com if you’d like to be a part of this very special publication.

Few have been more important than the AAL Forum, however, and we are delighted to be so closely involved in the event that will play such a critical role in developing the ideas and the technology that will enable us all to live longer, healthier and happier lives.

Insight has a team at the Forum, which is being held in Lecce, Italy from September 26, all week and we will be on hand to talk to all the delegates about dissemination best practice and about the right communications strategies best suited to create real impact for their work.

Insight has a number of solutions available for projects to use for active dissemination that accurately target specific audiences and end users and we believe these are perfectly suited to the important work being carried out by AAL projects.

The Insight team has also been asked to produce a post-event brochure that will provide an executive summary of the debates, speeches and sessions taking place in Lecce, as well as providing readers with an overview of the work being done by the projects involved in the AAL Joint Programme.

As part of this analysis, we will be interviewing key figures involved in this programme as well as those on the political level charged with providing the support necessary to maintain the level of funding needed to make the breakthroughs that will ultimately benefit us all. In these times of economic uncertainty these figures play an increasingly pivotal role in enabling the research and development to continue.

You will be able to read this in-depth analysis of the AAL Forum through various channels Insight has, including Projects Magazine, the Projects website and in the executive summary document we produce for AAL, which will be available both in print and digitally.

You can also follow us using our Twitter, Facebook and Linked In accounts. Join us and let’s continue this important work together.

This blog is to keep you informed of where we (the Insight team) are and what we’re up to… for example interesting research event that we’re attending across Europe. Plus, we will also share help and information about how to deal with the research dissemination issues and challenges that our clients are currently facing.

We always welcome questions, thoughts and feedback so get in touch by connecting with us on social media e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook (the buttons are the bottom of this page).

Hope to hear from you!