End-users

Here the term ‘end-users’ refers to the citizens, companies or organizations who use the final results of your research or an application of it. They can be the industrial sector and individual companies who commercialise the results and turn them into a product for their customers, who in turn may be individual consumers or other businesses, and consumers and citizens who use the product (idea, solution, service or technology) in their everyday lives. They can be NGOs and other communities and organizations such as museums who use the knowledge or artifacts you provide for them or in collaboration with them in their activities.

End-users may also be valuable as partners, especially in projects where the results have commercial potential. At the end of a research project, companies may want to license or patent the results so they can use them in their business activities. When this happens, commercial impact is easier to reach, and in the best case scenario, wider societal impact as well. For example, a researcher may come up with a technical solution that can save energy, which a company then uses in their device, and that in turn leads to benefits not only for consumers in the form of lower energy bills, but also for the environment.

End-user can also be the researchers themselves. Researchers build on their previous work in their research, but they may also become entrepreneurs themselves, taking on a role of a different kind of end-user. This can happen when results are so close to market so that starting a company makes sense. If you think your research results may be an invention or otherwise have commercial potential, always consult the university Innovation Centre. They can help you finding proof-of-concept funding to test out your idea and to develop it further

Read more about the importance of citizens in Horizon Europe in expert report by the EC: