Impact pathways, uptake and engagement partner for NATURE consortia

Fondazione ICONS is a non-profit organisation founded in 1999. We have contributed to more than 150 EU-funded projects, including over 90 Horizon Europe projects. We are a contracting partner of the Horizon Results Booster (DG RTD) and an official partner of the New European Bauhaus initiative.

We can support NATURE proposals by leading the design of impact pathways, exploitation strategies, upscale strategies, innovation journeys, SSH and human-in-the-loop tools, communication, dissemination, exploitation and replication strategies.

Impact pathway design
We build the logic that links project activities to outputs, outcomes and the societal, economic and policy impacts the call expects. We apply the Theory of Change framework to set out assumptions, barriers and enablers to uptake, defining KPIs across social, economic and engagement dimensions.

Business innovation

• Identification and characterisation of Key Exploitable Results, with maturity and innovation potential assessment

• Knowledge and IPR management strategies

• Business and sustainability models for commercial and non-commercial routes

• Replication and transferability frameworks, upscaling and adoption roadmaps, including funding and financing options after the project ends

Social innovation

• Context analysis and user and stakeholder needs assessment

• Participatory design and co-creation, including facilitation of Living Labs

• Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities

• Social acceptance and behavioural change analysis, with indicators for social impact and policy uptake

Science communication and stakeholder engagement

• Stakeholder mapping and prioritisation, with dissemination and communication strategies aligned with project maturity

• Actionable knowledge tools such as policy briefs, results packs and handbooks

• Events, workshops and capacity building

• Measurement of stakeholder engagement through our Community Engagement Index (CEI), a proprietary methodology

Where we see the strongest fit among the NATURE topics

• Systemic approaches to accelerate transformative change for biodiversity

• Living Labs for ecosystem restoration

• Cost-effective biodiversity monitoring

• Benefits of clean industries and industrial transformation for biodiversity

• Biodiversity and human health through a One Health approach

• Innovative solutions addressing wildlife trade

• Understanding and addressing the decline of invertebrates