Communication Toolkit

Communication plays a crucial role in EU-funded projects. It enhances your project’s visibility and contributes to raising public awareness of how the European Union is making a positive impact. 

Innovation Fund beneficiaries are obliged to fulfil certain communication requirements, as well as encouraged to follow recommended guidelines. 

Recipients of EU funding are legally bound to ensure the visibility of EU funding they received. The beneficiary has to proactively and systematically promote the projects, results and impact by making relevant information publicly available through communication channels, including websites and social media accounts. Additionally, it is required to make specific reference to the Innovation Fund as outlined in the delegated regulation.

A detailed communication and dissemination plan, setting out the objectives, key messaging, target audiences, communication channels, social media plan, planned budget and relevant indicators for monitoring and evaluation, has to be provided and updated during the lifetime of the project.

The beneficiary also has to inform the CINEA project advisor and CINEA-COMMUNICATION-IFec [dot] europa [dot] eu (CINEA-COMMUNICATION-IF[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) well in advance before engaging in specific project communication or dissemination activities with a potentially substantial media impact.

Beneficiaries must also undertake in the following additional communication and dissemination activities:

• Present the project on the beneficiaries’ websites and social media accounts (including project summary, coordinator contact details, list of participants, the EU emblem and funding statement, and project dissemination activities).
• Public plaques or billboards need to be displayed on equipment, infrastructure or works as soon as they start, and a permanent commemorative plaque on works should be placed once it is finished.
• Public project results need to be uploaded to the Innovation Fund Project Results platform, available through the Funding & Tenders Portal (coming soon).

More information on these obligations is available in the Grant Agreement, see in particular Article 16.3, Articles 17.1 to 17.4, and Annex 5.

Communication activities and channels of EU-funded projects must acknowledge the origin of the EU support received and ensure its visibility. An important obligation is the correct and prominent display of the EU emblem and the label '(co-)Funded by the European Union Emissions Trading System - Innovation Fund: 

• “Funded by”: is used when a project receives support exclusively from the Innovation Fund and not from other European or national funding schemes.
• “Co-funded by”: is used when a project receives other EU or national support, in addition to the funding from the Innovation Fund.

This label has to be displayed in English, the language(s) of the project beneficiary, or of the country of implementation on all communication and knowledge-sharing activities and appear on notice boards at strategic places visible to the public, in accordance with the contractual requirements associated with the Innovation Fund’s support.

The EU emblem and label are available to download in English in various formats RGB and CMYK (other language versions coming soon). This new label is applicable since June 2023. Innovation Fund projects funded through calls launched after this date are obliged to use this label. Projects funded through calls launched prior to this date are also strongly encouraged to use this latest version.

The following disclaimer has to be inserted in any communication or dissemination activity related to the project (website, press release, flyer, etc.):

“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”

Publications & Dissemination material

Public Works

Always inform your project adviser and CINEA-COMMUNICATION-IFec [dot] europa [dot] eu well in advance about your communication activities, particularly those related to key project milestones and events such as the signature event, entry into operation, high level visits and the achievement of the GHG emission targets. Make sure to share your published news, press releases, social media posts, etc. with your project adviser and together with the communication team they will help to amplify the messages.

Remember to tag @cinea_eu on X and on LinkedIn. Use also #InnovationFund to increase visibility of your posts. More tips are available in the social media guidelines.

CINEA’s communication team can also help you promote your project by:

• promoting your project’s success story in the EU’s communication channels such as web news, social media posts, newsletters, publications, etc.;
• providing a quote from a CINEA or European Commission representative for your communication materials;
• supporting promotion of your project events, for example by giving visibility through the CINEA channels;
• supporting promotion of your project at external events, for example by inviting you to participate in events where CINEA or the European Commission is present.

For any of these services, get in touch with your project adviser and the CINEA Communication team (CINEA-COMMUNICATION-IFec [dot] europa [dot] eu (CINEA-COMMUNICATION-IF[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)).