Part I describes constraints and opportunities for the dissemination and exploitation of research and development (R&D) results, particularily those of European research programmes. The related study was performed within the framework of the VALUE II programme in the sub-section Interface II, which is focussed on the situation of the scientific community. Against this background, the aim of part I is to get a better insight into the factors which determine the structure and the effectiveness of the interface between science and technology (S&T interface), with a special focus on the perspective of the scientific community. The study largely took the form of a survey of already existing publications in order to determine the state of the art and to identify promising areas for future investigations. As to the special needs of the European Commission (EC), the general findings on the characteristics of the S&T interface can be largely transferred to the interface between EC research and the scientific community. On this basis, some recommendations on the ex-post exploitation and dissemination of results of EC research and technical development (RTD) can be elaborated. It is, however, more important to work out structures for future EC RTD programmes wherein an optimal participation of the European scientific community can be realized. As an important result, the study underlines that, apart from “management of R&D”, the “management of R&D systems” — instead of the general context of R&D — will be highly influential for the exploitation process.