The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the outcome of the latest round of its top-up funding scheme 'Proof of Concept'. Worth up to €150,000 each, these grants provide funding for researchers, who are already ERC grantees, to bridge the gap between their research and marketable innovation. In this call, a total of 60 grants have now been awarded, of which the final 27 were made public today. The first 33 grants were announced in September 2012.
Projects cover a wide range of topics, such as innovative drug therapies and new biomaterials,
greener and cheaper industrial chemical substances, as well as a more inclusive approach for
building accessibility. The funding can cover activities related to, for instance, intellectual
property rights, investigation of commercial and business opportunities or technical
validation.
Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said: "
This second 'Proof of Concept' call is great news, as we need to bring more of our best ideas to
market for Europe. This scheme helps ERC grant holders to realise the potential of their
breakthroughs and discoveries. Through these grants and by funding 'blue sky' research in general,
the ERC is helping make Europe more competitive now and for the future."
ERC President Professor Helga Nowotny commented: "
Introduced in 2011, it is very encouraging to see that the 'Proof of Concept' is well on its way
towards achieving its objectives. This top-up funding allows ERC grantees to take
the findings of their research a crucial step further towards the market. Results
from the first call are already emerging, and we also see growing interest in the scheme. With
a limited part of the ERC budget, these grants not only help maximise the value of ERC
funded research, but open new interfaces between fundamental research and industry in
Europe."
Grants go to researchers across ten countries in the European Research Area. The budget for
this whole call is € 10 million. The success rate is around 50%, compared to 33% in the first
'Proof of Concept' call. A total of 69 proposals were submitted in October 2012 to the second
deadline of this call. The first deadline was in May 2012.
·
List
of the 27 selected Principal Investigators
(second deadline of call) by country of host institution (in alphabetical order within each
country group)
·
Full
list of all 69 selected Principal Investigators
(entire call) by country of host institution (in alphabetical order within each country
group)
14 Feb 2013