DS-Plus has demonstrated a substantial work output during its lifetime, as briefly described bellow per WP:
The main objective of WP1 was to provide tangible services to European and Chinese scientists and researchers in public and private organisations, in order to enhance the bilateral cooperation between EU and China, enhance the Chinese participation in Horizon 2020, and of the Europeans in relevant Chinese initiatives. The main outcomes of this work package include: the organisation of 17 H2020 events, in cooperation with the EU delegation in China, the establishment of a network of regional and thematic NCPs, the broad dissemination and provision of support for the Chinese co-funding mechanism and the broad dissemination of the H2020 topics with Chinese focus.
Moroever, the qualitative evaluation of the scientific outcome from the Chinese participation in the framework programs has demonstarted the value of the bilateral cooperation.
The main goals of WP2 were to implement a policy dialogue platform enabling exchange and discussions between Chinese and European RTI actors and policy makers, funding agencies and researchers, promote and screen mutual funding opportunities and bilateral agreements, as well as identify future trends in China for increasing the understanding of China´s RTI landscape in Europe. The main outcomes of this work package were three outstanding reports, three very well received events across China and an online policy dialogue platform through the online business network LinkedIn with a group of 386 members.
Work package 3 focused on identifying obstacles in the bilateral research & innovation cooperation, and on highlighting specific opportunities for cooperation. In this context DS-Plus set up an interactive map to highlight best practice cooperation cases and showcase the opportunities in bilateral cooperation. In addition, activities for direct physical communication between innovation actors were organized both in Europe (2 brokerage events) and in China (2 business tours), that allowed the direct rapprochement of organisations from both sides. Furthermore, special focus was drawn in understanding obstacles in bilateral cooperation, by analyzing through questionnaires and interviews, the European and Chinese participants in Framework Programs. Moreover, two high-level workshops were organized aiming in capacity building and knowledge sharing. Participants from Europe and China, analyzed the current innovation landscape, and highlighted progress in specific directions but also important remaining obstacles.
The dissemination and communication actions were intrinsically linked to the exploitation of the project’s activities and results. Efficient publicity and wide exposure of DS-Plus and its achievements increased stakeholders’ engagement with the DRAGON-STAR Plus initiative, and the use of DS-Plus results beyond the project’s lifetime. Ultimately, communication and dissemination activities leveraged DS-Plus impact on prompting dialogues, cooperation, coordination and establishing connections between EU and China STI players. The activities included the production of infographics, the creation of 2 promotional video trailers presenting the project, the production of press releases and e-Newsletters, and the strong presence in western and Chinese social media.
Workpackage 5 - project management. Project management was a key part of the project and ensures the successful implementation of the various tasks. DS-Plus had to deal with all the usual project issues (e.g. financial administration) and implementation problems (adjustments of the technical project content).
