Can a communication agency be a full consortium partner in Horizon Europe?

Yes. Since 2017 Acento has participated as a registered consortium member in multiple H2020 and Horizon Europe projects, leading dedicated communication work packages and fulfilling all reporting and financial obligations to the European Commission.

Which EU funding programmes does Acento work with?

We have experience in Horizon Europe, H2020, Creative Europe, Europe for Citizens and Interreg programmes. We adapt our communication strategies to each programme's dissemination requirements and reporting obligations to the European Commission.

What does a communication agency do in a European project consortium?

As consortium partners, we lead the Communication Work Package: branding, website, social media strategy, press office, scientific publication design, video production and event coordination. We translate complex research into accessible messages for policymakers, media and general audiences.

ENERGY SHIFTS - Acento Comunicación

ENERGY-SHIFTS

Horizon 2020 Project · Grant Agreement nº 826025 · €1,500,000 · 2019–2021

🔗 energy-shifts.eu · CORDIS fact sheet

About the project

ENERGY-SHIFTS (Energy Social Sciences & Humanities Innovation Forum Targeting the SET-Plan) is a €1.5 million Horizon 2020 project that started from an increasingly evidence-backed certainty: the European energy transition cannot be achieved by technology alone. Without Social Sciences and Humanities, technical solutions fail to reach citizens, fail to gain social acceptance and fail to generate the behavioural changes needed for a just and lasting transition.

Over three years, an international consortium coordinated by Anglia Ruskin University worked to embed SSH research into European energy policy, with a direct focus on the SET-Plan and on what would become the Horizon Europe work programme. The project was structured around four main pillars: four thematic working groups on renewables, smart consumption, energy efficiency and mobility; a Policy Fellowships programme connecting 21 policymakers with SSH researchers; four masterclasses and four online citizen debates on the Debating Europe platform; and an Early-Stage Researcher Programme to support the next generation of energy-SSH researchers.

The result: more than 10,000 stakeholders reached, 400 SSH priority research questions for Horizon Europe and 10 direct recommendations for the European Green Deal.

Three key project milestones

1. 400 SSH research questions for Horizon Europe The four Horizon Scanning Working Groups — renewables, smart consumption, energy efficiency and transport and mobility — generated 400 SSH priority research questions (100 per thematic area), which fed directly into Horizon Europe calls and the SET-Plan. A unique result with immediate policy impact. 🔗 Horizon Scanning Reports

2. Policy Fellowship Programme with 21 European policymakers The programme connected 21 energy policymakers from different countries and levels of government with SSH researchers as Policy Associates, generating direct science-policy exchanges documented as a replicable model for other H2020 projects. 🔗 Policy Fellowships · Programme report

3. 10 SSH recommendations for the European Green Deal At the project’s close, the consortium published 10 concrete recommendations on how to integrate Social Sciences and Humanities into the implementation of the European Green Deal, presented to institutions and policymakers across Europe. 🔗 10 Green Deal recommendations

Our work: communication, dissemination and exploitation of results

Acento Comunicación participated as a registered consortium partner, with direct responsibility for the design, development and management of the project website, the digital communication strategy and the production of all audiovisual and editorial materials.

Design, development and management of the project website Creation and maintenance of energy-shifts.eu throughout the full project lifecycle, with explicit credit to Acento Comunicación. The site integrated the SSH database of researchers and policymakers, the blog, the press room, videos and all project publications. 🔗 energy-shifts.eu · Press Room
16 publications produced and laid out Editorial design and layout of the full project output: 4 Horizon Scanning Reports with 100 SSH questions each, 4 Annotated Bibliographies, evaluation report, Policy Fellowships guide, masterclasses and citizen debates report, final conference report, 10 Green Deal recommendations and the dissemination and exploitation plan. 🔗 All publications
10 dissemination videos produced Scriptwriting, production and editing of 10 explainer videos: researcher, coordinator and policymaker interviews on the energy transition, the SET-Plan, ETIPs and Horizon Scanning, and workshop coverage in Rotterdam, Brussels and Prague. 🔗 All videos
Dissemination, Exploitation and Communications Plan as an official deliverable Drafting, design and layout of the Plan for Dissemination, Exploitation and Communications — initial version and update — submitted as an official deliverable to the European Commission and published as a reference tool for other H2020 consortia. 🔗 Initial plan · Updated plan
4 online citizen debates on Debating Europe Design and dissemination of four citizen debates on renewables, energy efficiency, sustainable transport and smart energy, hosted on the Debating Europe platform and open to all European citizens. 🔗 Citizen debates
4 masterclasses for policy, NGO, STEM and media audiences Communication and dissemination of four masterclasses aimed at non-academic profiles — policymakers, NGOs, STEM researchers and journalists — to broaden the impact of SSH research beyond the academic community. 🔗 Masterclasses · Report
Social media management Strategy, content planning and management of the project’s channels on Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn and YouTube throughout the project lifecycle. 🔗 Twitter · LinkedIn · YouTube · Facebook
ECR Innovation Awards: design and dissemination of the call Communication of the awards for early-career researchers working in energy-SSH, a recognition initiative within the project’s Early-Stage Researcher Programme. 🔗 ECR Innovation Awards