D5.1 Communication, Dissemination & Stakeholders Engagement Strategy & Plan

The Blue-Cloud "Communication, Stakeholders Engagement & Uptake of Blue Cloud VRE & Services" Work Package (WP5) overarching objective is to ensure a consistent and content-rich communication and dissemination of Blue-Cloud results to its relevant stakeholders, by using multiple integrated communication tools, for the roll-out of the Blue-Cloud services and demonstrate impact in the Blue Economy and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). To assure this, an effective and efficient communication, dissemination and stakeholder engagement strategy & plan must be defined. This document is the first of two communication, dissemination and stakeholder engagement strategy & plans (the second iteration is due by M18, March 2021), with a final report of the overall outcomes of these activities to be delivered by the end of the project (M36, September 2021).

The "Communication, Dissemination and Stakeholders Engagement Strategy" of Blue-Cloud is structured around three specific phases that are matching the technical developments of the project.

• During phase 1 (M1-M14), the main goal is to create awareness about the Blue-Cloud project, its goals, its ambition and the expected services and results that it will deliver.
• On M14, when a version of the Blue-Cloud demonstrators will be available, the project will start disseminating the Blue-Cloud early results, engaging stakeholders with a twofold purpose: to collect their feedback on the solutions developed and to educate them on the opportunities of the available solutions to stimulate service uptake and further developments.
• The final phase of the project (M28-M36) will be dedicated to a massive promotion of the project results and to the engagement of potential user communities willing to adopt the developed solutions in the future or willing to be part of the Blue-Cloud framework (e.g. access policies, on boarding procedures for new service providers/users, amongst others).

All activities will be performed keeping in mind the variety of stakeholders targeted by Blue-Cloud, spanning from the Blue-Growth area to the ICT sector and science at large, namely data infrastructures & horizontal e-infrastructures, academia & researchers, along with funding bodies, relevant EU projects/initiatives and international organisations. This plan also details the messages that Blue-Cloud will convey to targeted stakeholders, what communication tools and channels, as well as how the overall strategy will be used. The communication, dissemination and stakeholder engagement strategy plan will be continuously aligned with the work from the other Blue-Cloud WPs, and will be adapted due to the dynamic nature of communication and to the rapidly evolving scenario of Blue Growth and e-infrastructures.

The implementation of the plan counts with the support of Blue-Cloud partners and it will be monitored through monthly virtual WP meetings. These meetings are organised by the WP leader (Trust-IT) to discuss the activities performed during the last month and brainstorm not only about the next tasks for the following month but also corrective actions that may be necessary. Additional meetings may be schedule at any appropriate time throughout the project duration, if necessary.

The success of WP5 is based on the joint and coordinated effort from all Blue-Cloud partners not only on the communication activities but also on the quality of the technical work that will be developed during the project time frame.