ICDE leads the development and implementation of the OPAL Awards together with EFQUEL and UNESCO, promotes the award, organizes reviews of award submissions and presents the award during the lifetime of the project. ICDE hosts the award secretariat and has responsibility for developing a sustainability concept with EFQUEL and UNESCO.

The OPAL Awards aim to exploit the project’s results. The award is based on the criteria and guidelines for innovation and quality that are developed, and helps to facilitate mainstream acceptance and application of the OPAL quality concepts.

The Awards recognize outstanding achievements in the field of OEP, promote innovation and improvements in quality in educational organizations, and aim to create a culture shift towards organizational innovation and quality of learning experiences through OEP. The award will be given by a jury, consisting of experts from the EU OER Consultation Group.

The award is planned to be a sustainable outcome of the project which will continue to be presented on an annual basis by EFQUEL in cooperation with UNESCO and ICDE.

ICDE also plays a significant role in the dissemination and exploitation of the results of the project through targeted conferences, papers and presentations, workshops and seminars in order to ensure that the project’s research outcomes are widely disseminated to the appropriate target communities. ICDE works to ensure that those who can contribute to development, evaluation, and enrichment of the outcomes can be identified and encouraged to participate.

It is further envisaged that the European Consultative Group for Quality and Innovation through OEP will be sustainably hosted after the funding period through EFQUEL in cooperation with UNESCO and ICDE, and that it will serve as a multi-stakeholder cooperation point.