The general objective of the project is to speed up the transfer of research outputs (FP6&7) relevant to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) to water management institutions (a basin authority or a city). The dissemination and uptake of the results of past research projects will be analysed and strategies for improving the uptake will be developed. Identified dissemination activities (brokerage events, training, e-seminar) will be carried out in cooperation with the project consortiums throughout Europe.

The implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), its daughter directives, and the floods Directive constitutes an exceptional challenge to water managers and governments across Europe. Assessments of the current status of implementation have shown that less than 40% of water bodies will meet the Good Ecological Status in 2015. Meeting the objectives in the long run will therefore require additional knowledge and know-how in terms of designing measures and management approaches. This knowledge is generated to a large extent by EU-funded research.

The transfer of research results to policy and management is often inefficient, with the complete development cycle lasting approx. 10 years in the water sectors (as stated in the final report of the FP6 project FUNDETEC). Research commissioned today will impact water management practices within about 12 years, far after the next milestones of the Water Framework Directive in 2015 and 2021.

The general objective of the project is to boost the transfer of research outputs to water management institutions (a basin authority or a city) with a targeted time lag of only 3 – 5 years by identifying project-specific uptake barriers and designing and implementing tailored strategies for improving uptake.