1. Introduction
  

The overall objective of SoFiA is to develop a radically new technology to
overcome the scientific and engineering roadblocks that plague state- of-the-
art AP. The proposed radical technology involves using cells of soap foam as
miniature photocatalytic reactors. Implementation of such a revolutionary idea
in sustainable energy to a prototype stage and beyond requires a combination
of excellent research and innovation bridged efficiently to strategic
stakeholders. Our Dissemination and Exploitation Plan (D&E Plan) has been
designed to achieve a support ecosystem for the pilot and tech transfer
phases, by the end of our 48 month project. The present document reports
dissemination and exploitation plans in detail, listing the foreseen
activities mainly for the first reporting period (M1-M12). The Project
Coordinator is responsible for ensuring that the different activities
described herein are performed within the consortium.

  2. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 

  

  

2.1 Dissemination Goals

SoFiA has three dissemination phases:

Dissemination at the first phase involves awareness on the project objectives
and expected results addressed to EU funded projects on Solar Fuels and
Artificial Photosynthesis, to peer groups at universities, research
institutes, and to relevant networks like IC5 of Mission Innovation. The goal
is to build up a project identity and establish a working relations with
stakeholders and related initiatives.

The second phase is on capacity building targeting key actors who can benefit
from SoFiA deliverables.

This phase has two dissemination requirements:

  1. to disseminate open accessed knowledge identified and/or developed within the project, and 

  

  2. to empower stakeholder groups to secure the critical mass for the establishment of a meaningful system of co-creation in the field of Artificial Photosynthesis. 

  

  

The third phase involves exploitation actions of the project. In this phase
the key stakeholders need to be equipped with the right skills, knowledge and
understanding of SoFiA results in order to achieve targeted scientific,
societal, economic, and environmental impact.

2.2 Objectives

The table below indicates specific objectives in relation to the above-
mentioned goals.  
  
<table>  
<tr>  
<th>

Goals

</th>  
<th>

</th>  
<th>

Objectives

</th> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Awareness

</td>  
<td>

  * Consolidate inter consortium communication and develop robust management structure • Develop a network of stakeholders within each country represented by Partner institutes. 

  

  * Participate in all major events related to Solar Fuels, AP, and Photo catalysis. 

  

  * Disseminate nationally and internationally the knowledge and approaches developed 

  

  * Networking with relevant projects, initiatives and networks encouraging cross fertilization of ideas. 

  

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Capacity

Building &

Understanding

</td>  
<td>

  * Organize and attend workshops, summer schools on AP 

  

  * Engage with EAB member organizations and EC consultation services to get support 

  

  * Valorize the developed technology according to existing plan 

  

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Exploitation

</td>  
<td>

  * Communicate the results of the capacity building process 

  

  * Generate and manage IPR 

  

  * Develop business plan, and start-up company for exploitation in phase II and III 

  

</td> </tr> </table>

#  DISSEMINATION ACTIONS

Our dissemination actions aim to establish critical mass and commitment from
strategic stakeholders through a lean and efficient plan. Due to the highly
interdisciplinary nature of the project, SoFiA deliverables will be
disseminated to diverse communities through strategic channels. Our External
Advisory Board (EAB) featuring stakeholders from industry, scientific
community, and policy experts, will be a key channel for providing guidance to
networking activities. Following are the planned actions in detail:

3.1 Dissemination to Scientific Community: Interdisciplinary results will be
communicated to diverse peer groups. Leadership of key partners in national
platforms is already established and will facilitate networking and community
building.

Our consortium features following community leaders: o SoFiA coordinator Leif
Hammarström chairs Swedish Consortium for Artificial Photosynthesis o PI Erwin
Reisner chairs UK Solar Fuels Network

  * PI Huib Bakker is a leading pioneer in spectroscopic techniques for probing water based systems in nanoscale and directs NWO-I institute AMOLF 

  

  * TECLIS is a European Pioneer in Soap Foam instrumentation o MCS is a European leader in microfluidic technology 

  

Scientific Publications: We will prioritize Gold or Green (with 6 months
embargo) open access publication. At least 8 publications are estimated in
journals with the highest impact in multidisciplinary science, materials
sciences, nanotechnology, and in chemistry. KPI- Impact factor of accepted
journals, citations, author h-index.

Preliminary list of potential titles of specific papers for scientific
publications:

Science, Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Photonics, Nature Nanotechnology,
Nature Energy, Advanced Materials, Journal of the American Chemical Society,
Angewandte Chemie, ACS Nano, Energy & Environmental Science, Advanced Energy
Materials.

Publications will be available for downloading from the project website (
_www.sofiaproject.eu_ ), and will be deposited in public repositories
including ZENODO, as described in the Data Management Plan (DMP)*.

Note: Open Access cost sharing plan will be delivered with the first updated
D&E plan report in M12

*DMP summary: SoFiA will provide open access to raw data corresponding to modelling & simulation, as well as data required to reproduce the results presented in scientific publications. These data will be stored in Zenodo (a research data repository created by CERN) ensuring their public availability and long-time preservation. Details will be provided in a data management plan (DMP), to be delivered by M6 and updated periodically (M12, M30, M42). Main modelling results will be disseminated through the European Materials Modelling Council ensuring wide research visibility. 

Course material and Dissertations: Our IPR protected findings, concept design
and selected experimental results will be included as graduate level course
material at partner Universities. Course update plans will be included as
chapters in final two project periodic reports on M30 & M48. Among our
researchers, we have one co-funded PhD candidate at POLITO (working on
theoretical modelling tasks and expected to graduate by 2022). His
dissertation will be attended by all members of the SoFiA consortium.

Conferences & Workshops: In June 2020, our partner ICTP (UNESCO flagship
institute) will host Conference on the Complex Interactions of Light and
Biological Matter: Experiments meet Theory. We will organize in a special AP
session showcasing our project through posters and oral communications and
will host a workshop and an information kiosk dedicated to SoFiA. A summer
school for PhD students, on AP will be organized and hosted by UU (by M30).
Our start-up WI (non-beneficiary) is supported by Sofia Tech Park (STP) - a
(Bulgarian flagship) EU project. With support of WI and STP we will host a
workshop (by M46) on solar fuels with focus on AP in Bulgaria (energetically
poor/unsustainable region), and tailored for an audience usually remote from
the EU policy dialogue. All partners will attend the most relevant conferences
(including MRS, ACS, ISF, etc.). SoFiA will also participate in the annual EU
Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) Policy Conferences. KPI- Attendance in Summer
School, Workshop, and attendee/student feedback.

Table 3.1 Targeted Conferences and Scheduled Meetings: We will implement the
highly interdisciplinary project through a set of scheduled two day meetings
and 4 hour short meetings at the sidelines of conferences.  
  
<table>  
<tr>  
<th>

#

</th>  
<th>

Date

</th>  
<th>

Type

</th>  
<th>

Venue

</th>  
<th>

Notes

</th> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

2019

</td>  
<td>

8- 9 Jan

</td>  
<td>

Kickoff

</td>  
<td>

Milan

</td>  
<td>

Project tasks and deliverables reviewed, critical risks discussed, internal
communication protocols consolidated

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

18- 20 June

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Brussels

</td>  
<td>

EUSEW policy conference. PIs will attend session conducted by SUNRISE CSA for
Flagship project on Solar Fuels. A steering committee review meeting scheduled
on 20  th  June after conference.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

24– 28 June

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Sofia

</td>  
<td>

Oral communication at the 8  th  Bubble and Drop conference. SoFiA PI Dr.
Alain Cagna from TECLIS leads the Conference Scientific Committee.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

23 -25 Sept

</td>  
<td>

First joint

SC + S&T meeting

</td>  
<td>

Sofia

</td>  
<td>

9 months of management and research activities will be reviewed, progress and
risks will be analyzed, and project updates will be consolidated. Hired Post-
doctoral researchers will meet and consolidate internal communication
protocols and web based science outreach. EAB members will be introduced
through skype/webex video conferencing.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

11-19 Nov

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Salt Lake City, Utah

</td>  
<td>

IMECE (International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition)

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

20-24 Nov

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Hiroshima,

</td>  
<td>

ISF-3 _http://www.photoenergy-conv.net/ICARP2019/transportation.html_

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

2020

</td>  
<td>

Feb

</td>  
<td>

1  st  periodic review

</td>  
<td>

Brussels

</td>  
<td>

Progress over first reporting period will be presented at EC with focus on 1
st  milestone MS1. An SC meeting will precede.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

March

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Noordwijk

</td>  
<td>

N3C, The Netherlands' Catalysis & Chemistry conference. _https://n3c.nl/_ .
The core AP group of Pis will attend the conference and a short meeting will
be scheduled at the sidelines.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

2-6 March

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Denver

</td>  
<td>

The APS March Meeting

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

3 -8

May

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Tuscany

</td>  
<td>

Gordon Research Conference: Advancing Complexity, Selectivity and Efficiency
in Artificial Photosynthesis.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

June

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Brussels

</td>  
<td>

EUSEW 2020 is the largest sustainable energy policy conference in Europe
attended by >3000 energy stakeholders. We will target an Energy Day at Uppsala
University in accordance with EUSEW communication, and also target an Energy
Talk at the networking village. A short SC meeting will be held at the
sidelines of EUSEW

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

July

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Lausanne

</td>  
<td>

23  rd  International Conference on Photochemical Conversion & Storage of
Solar Energy.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

August

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

USA

</td>  
<td>

Gordon Research Conference on Donor-Acceptor-Interactions.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Sept

</td>  
<td>

2  nd  joint SC

\+ S&T meeting

</td>  
<td>

Sofia Bulgaria

</td>  
<td>

A 2 day meeting will review management and research progress and take critical
decisions for milestones. Workshop facility at Sofia Tech Park will be
inspected for schedule workshop in 2021.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

2021

</td>  
<td>

Jan

</td>  
<td>

SC meeting

</td>  
<td>

Video

</td>  
<td>

Yearly management review by Webex/Skype

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

May

</td>  
<td>

Trade fair

</td>  
<td>

</td>  
<td>

Intersolar Europe. Project delegation will be led by our SME partners

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

June

</td>  
<td>

EUSEW

</td>  
<td>

Brussels

</td>  
<td>

Yearly policy conference

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Sept

</td>  
<td>

2  nd  periodic review + SC,

S&T, EAB

</td>  
<td>

Brussels

</td>  
<td>

Progress in 2  nd  period will be reviewed and will be preceded by a 2 day
joint SC, S&T and 1  st  EAB meeting.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Nov

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Grenoble

</td>  
<td>

ISF-4: International Solar Fuels Conference

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

2022

</td>  
<td>

Feb

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Ventura

</td>  
<td>

Gordon Research Conference on Renewable Energy: Solar Fuels.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

May

</td>  
<td>

Trade Fair

</td>  
<td>

Not decided

</td>  
<td>

Intersolar Europe. Project delegation will be led by our SME partners

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

June

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Brussels

</td>  
<td>

EUSEW

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

July

</td>  
<td>

Conference

</td>  
<td>

Seoul

</td>  
<td>

IPS-24 Korea

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Sept

</td>  
<td>

Workshop

</td>  
<td>

Sofia

</td>  
<td>

Planned Workshop on AP to be hosted by UU at SoFiA Tech Park

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

</td>  
<td>

Jan 2023

</td>  
<td>

Final Review

</td>  
<td>

Brussels

</td>  
<td>

Final project review meeting

</td> </tr> </table>

Related EU projects will be monitored and contacted. Key representatives will
be invited for lectures at the Bulgaria workshop. SoFiA will enhance
networking possibilities with the following programs: FET Flagship CSA –
Sunrise, FET projects – A- Leaf (Proactive) and Diacat (Open), from ERC
Grantees in AP (COFLeaf; ENLIGHT; HyMAP; HYMEM; photocatH2ode; TripleSolar;
and others.) KPI- New collaborations for Phase II, III and feedback from AP
experts. The FET flagship CSA website link _https://www.sunriseaction.com/_ is
available through our project website footer _www.sofiaproject.eu_ .

3.2 Dissemination to Policy Makers and to Industrial sector - Climate & Policy
experts at EAB** will be consulted to indicate policy hook for market uptake.
In 2017 June, our associate WI participated at the Networking Village of
European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) - a Policy & Networking Conference
organized annually at Brussels by EC with an attendance of > 3000
stakeholders. We have budgeted for annual attendance at EUSEW and we target
strategic communications at its Networking Village in the final 2 years. Our
consultant associate Suzana Carp has prepared an op-ed to be submitted in
Euractiv featuring EU efforts in context of Solar Fuels and mentioning SoFiA
FET Open project among other EU support initiatives. KPIInterest from
investors, acceptance in EUSEW networking village.

\- In 2021 and 2022, SoFiA consortium will participate in Intersolar Europe
which is the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry and its
partners and takes place annually at the Messe München exhibition center in
Munich, Germany. For critical coverage of breakthrough results we have
identified policy journals: ENDS Europe, and Brussels based Politico and
Euractiv. To communicate with EU policymakers, after the first periodic review
meeting on M14, the coordinator will contact OBSERVE- a FET-CSA that supports
Europe in FET, and FET2RIN, a network connecting FET projects to potential
investors. Through EAB** meetings, IPR protected research findings will be
communicated to Air Liquide and Unilever who are interested in commercial
exploitation. EAB feedback will be critical in drafting our phase II proposal
and a business plan. TECLIS has communicated interest to receive free business
coaching offered through EC instruments.

**SoFiA EAB will provide non-binding strategic & scientific advice to the
consortium to maximize impact and will offer guidance when the consortium
requires. The EAB is composed of accomplished experts from industry,
scientific community, and EU policy consultants. They will be in a privileged
position to receive (confidential) information on the project. SC- EAB
meetings will be held where EAB members will not have authority to vote on any
consortium matters or bear judiciary responsibilities. Following are the EAB
members:

  1. Julian Popov: Guidance in Environment Policy- 

  

  

Julian Popov is the Chairman of the Building Performance Institute Europe,
Fellow of the European Climate

Foundation and Former Minister of Environment of Bulgaria. He is the founding
Vice Chancellor and current Board Member of the New Bulgarian University,
former Chairman of the Bulgarian School of Politics and cofounder of the
Tunisian School of Politics (established following the Arab Spring). Julian is
author of two books and writes regularly on energy policies and international
affairs. He was recently voted as one of the 40 most influential voices on
European energy policies and also as one of the 40 most influential voices in
the European energy efficiency policies by the Brussels agency EurActiv. He
lives in London with his family.

  2. Prof. Dr. Simeon Stoyanov. Unilever: Advice in Surfactant science and in project Dissemination- 

  

  

Prof. Dr. Simeon Stoyanov received PhD from Essen University Germany. In the
past he has worked in the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry in University of
Sofia, Bulgaria, as a visiting scientist in the Ecole NormaleSuperieure,
Paris, France, University of Erlangen, Germany and as researcher in Henkel R&D
in Dusseldorf Germany. Currently Prof Stoyanov is a senior scientist Colloids
& Interfaces at Unilever R&D Vlaardingen-The Netherlands, special chair
professor at University of Wageningen- The Netherlands and visiting professor
at University College London, UK. My research interests include applied and
fundamental physical chemistry /Soft- Matter, which include: composite
materials and product formulation, foams and emulsions, physical-chemistry of
digestion, encapsulation & targeted delivery, nano-science/technology, biomass
utilization and bio-surfactants. He is co-author of more than 80 research
publications, 75 patents, books and books chapters in various fields of
physical- chemistry and soft condensed matter.

  3. European Gas Research Group (GERG): Advice in project Dissemination and Exploitation- 

  

  

Dr. Robert Judd general Secretary GERG - The European Gas Research Group is a
R&D development organization that provides both support and stimulus for the
technological innovation necessary to ensure that the European gas industry
can rise to meet the technological challenges of the new century. It was
founded to strengthen the gas industry within the European Community and it
achieves this by promoting research and technological innovation. Established
as a network to enable exchange of information between a select groups of
specialist R&D centres to avoid duplication of effort, it has grown steadily
to around 30 members whilst retaining and expanding its original aims. Its
priorities are networking, technical information exchange, and the promotion
and facilitation of collaborative R&D.

  4. Air Liquide: Advice in project implementation. 

  

  

Pavol Pranda, Sr. Staff Engineer - CO  2  Scientific Leader, m-Lab Air Liquide

  5. Shell: Advice in project implementation 

  

  

Note: Sébastien Vincent-Bonnieu, PhD - Reservoir Engineer from Shell Global
Solutions International BV had given us a support letter with acceptance as a
potential EAB member, which we submitted with our proposal. Unfortunately he
has recently resigned from Shell and is now employed by EU space Agency. We
are currently looking for his replacement in the EAB.

3.3 White Paper: A white paper will be submitted at the end of the project,
providing a general overview on the expected impact of SoFiA project in EU.
This white paper, drafted with the support of EAB members, will be sent and
presented to relevant policy makers.

#  COMMUNICATION TOOLS AND ACTIVITIES

4.1 National level communications will be managed by Media Relation Units at
partner institutes. Since we have all been a child, and excited about soap
bubbles, we expect SoFiA outreach to be an enthusiastic exercise.

4.2 Project website & social media networking has been set up on M2 and is
being updated on a monthly basis. We have a logo that conveys the core
scientific, technological and environmental message through imagery and
strategic choice of colors. Website will include news & events, links to
partners’ websites, media, public reports, publications etc. The website will
also promote important (public) results from related projects in AP and will
administer an open forum as a knowledge-sharing tool for partners and user
communities. Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube will be used to promote the
website content. An impact assessment of the entire social media
communications activities will be carried out by monitoring web hits, likes,
followers, retweets (KPI). Videos & news bytes will also be promoted through
Hassim Al-Ghaili’s science communication website which has >16M fans. The
existing Wikipedia page on AP will be updated with critical results from
SoFiA.

4.3 Educational Communication: Press releases of selected publications will be
sent to general scientific magazines: Chemistry World, C&EN, Research*EU
Results, and Horizon: the EU RIA Magazine. In accordance with EUSEW directive
we will organize annual “Energy Days” where our educational videos will be
shared to local school children (and teachers/parents) in local languages,
through a team of established entertainers working with soap bubble-based
science demonstrations & magic shows. We will actively involve a young artist
(Nicky Assmann: crosscutting collaboration) who has been working with ultra-
large area soap film art installations. She will bring in hands on experience
on soap film stability to our design team while engaging the fine arts
community. Her large area portable soap film art installation will be a crowd
puller to our kiosk at Conferences and at EU researchers’ night. PIs will
apply for TED talks and in Pint of Science _https://pintofscience.com/_

4.4 Communication through Philanthropists: SoFiA will be registered at Prof.
Bertrand Piccard’s (EC supported) Solar Impulse-World Alliance for Efficient
Solutions in order to be presented at the United Nations Climate Change
Conferences (COP) and at other preeminent international platforms.

  5. EXPLOITATION ACTIONS 

    1. IPR Management: SoFiA deliverables are expected to generate significant intellectual property to be exploited by our start up and partner SMEs. The SoFiA steering committee will monitor and identify any sensitive data worthy to being protected, and prepare appropriate IP protection. The IP management has been defined by the SoFiA Consortium Agreement, which is based on the standard DESCA model. The BG11261026/10/17 that was filed on by our executive body WI, protecting our foundational concepts only in Bulgaria has been strategically withdrawn from being published. This would have been an impediment towards filing an international application. Instead, a PCT application will be directly filed by July 2019. By M30 a basic patent landscape and IP plan will be prepared to guide subsequent IP protection. Based on bibliometric patent data, an overview of the trends in the innovation activities in AP will be used to deliver the strategic IP plan. 

  

    2. Technology Valorization: POLITO Business Management department in association with our partner SMEs will deliver a techno-economic report by M46. The report will target an article in Financial Times or similar publication and results will be promoted to Energy policy-makers in Brussels and to sustainable/solar energy investors (audience identification tools like an influence map, tailored invitations, and social media engagement will be used). The reports will be the basis for an industry driven technology maturity project proposal (SoFiA II) and a basic Business Plan for exploitation by our SME partners and start-up with support of our EAB members, in the subsequent project phases (II and III). This proposal and the basic Business plan will be submitted for review to final SC+EAB meeting in M48 and submitted to targeted RIA calls. TECLIS will receive free business consultation through EC instruments. Furthermore, the consortium is planning an amendment by M13 to potentially include our external associate and start-up WI as a non-funded beneficiary allowing it to receive business coaching through EC instruments. 

  
  

  

  

KPI: Proposal accepted, Investments.

  3. Knowledge Management and Protection Strategy: The process of effectively using organizational knowledge will be defined according to the protocols imposed by the pilot on Open Research Data. The project’s password protected intranet linked with a repository maintained at UU server will be the main instrument for information sharing and knowledge management. The SoFiA intranet is password protected and only the partners participating in this project have access to it. The intranet will contain all the information and documents generated as a result of this action as illustrated below. The consortium members will be notified by e-mail when an important document is uploaded in the intranet. 

  

  

6

. INFORMATION ON EU FUNDING

Unless the Commission requests or agrees otherwise, or unless it is
impossible, any dissemination of results (in any form, including electronic)
must: (a) display the EU emblem and (b) include the following text: “This
project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation programme under grant agreement No 828838 ”. When displayed
together with another logo, the EU emblem must have appropriate prominence.
Applications for protection of results (including patent applications) filed
by or on behalf of a beneficiary must — unless the Commission requests or
agrees otherwise or unless it is impossible — include the following: “The
project leading to this application has received funding from the European

Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement
No 828838”