Communication

Acknowledging the indications of Regulation (EC) 1828/2006 and with the aim of constantly improving the quality of the services on offer, the NOP for Research and Competitiveness 2007-2013 stated that the assessment of the Programme's communication and advertising activities should evaluate:

• The Programme's visibility
• The level to which the EU's role is acknowledged

Communication and advertising activities have a target audience mainly concentrated in the four Regions of the Convergence Objective. This audience includes: potential beneficiaries, beneficiaries/implementers and the general public. Communication and advertising activities initially promote the opportunities offered by the Programme and then publish the results accomplished through the structural Funds, thus increasing public awareness on the importance of the EU's role.

The assessment of the communication and advertising activities, which is regularly provided for by analysing the (output, result and impact) indicators acquired during the monitoring process, ends with the preparation of the Assessment Reports listed below:

• Annual Assessment Report 
• Citizen Satisfaction Analysis Report
• Assessment, Visibility and Understanding Report
• Network Assessment Report

These pending and final Assessment reports defined in Article No. 4 of Regulation (EC) 1828/2006, must be drawn up by the Managing Authority which has to inform the Supervisory Committee on:

• The Communication Plan and its implementation progress
• Communication and advertising activities
• Means of communication

During 2011, the Organisational Unit for Communication and Quality reviewed the Monitoring, Supervisory and Evaluation Systems of the Communication Plan and provided for an Assessment Report on the Internet Visibility of the NOP for Research and Competitiveness 2007-2013. A summary of the results of the aforementioned activities is included in the information concerning the implementation of the Communication Plan presented to the Supervisory Committee during the plenary meeting which took place on 17 June, 2011.