Established by the European Commission

The European Research Council

© Art & Build Architect / Montois Partners / credits: S. Brison

ERCAchievements and Perspectives

Professor Jean-Pierre BOURGUIGNON ERC President

Prague, 30 October 2014

Established by the European Commission

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An autonomous pan-European funding body led by scientists set up by the EU in 2007 after a long struggle

The European Research Council

What is ERC?

Mandate: to encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding of frontier projects

Funded through the EU Framework programmes for Research and Innovation

For the period 2014-2020, Horizon 2020

Established by the European Commission

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A bottom-up, individual-based, pan-European competition with host institution in the EU or in an Associated State.

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What is ERC?

Support for projects lad by individual scientists International peer-review No predetermined subjects (bottom-up) Support of frontier research in all fields of science and

humanities

Str

ate

gy

Scientific governance by an independent 22-memberScientific Council, which has full authority over funding and evaluation Support by the ERC Executive Agency (autonomous) Only criterion: quality of research aiming for excellence

Established by the European Commission

The European Commission• Provides financing• Guarantees autonomy of the ERC• Assures ERC’s integrity and accountability• Adopts annual work programmes

The ERC Executive Agency (ERCEA)• Executes annual work programme• Implements calls for proposals • Organises peer review evaluation• Establishes and manages grant agreements with Host Institution• Administers scientific and financial aspects • Carries out communications activities

The ERC Scientific Council• 22 members who are active researchers in their communities• Appointed by the Commission • Establishes overall scientific strategy• Controls quality of operations and management• Ensures communication with the scientific community

What is ERC?

Established by the European Commission

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The Importance of Basic Research

A linkage whose importance has grown in the last years because of the role attributed to innovation in competitiveness

Research and Innovation

Existence of a number of short circuits between some results belonging to basic research that quickly triggered some new economic activities

This a priori non focused financing of research has been done in the past, in the US notably by DARPA and DOE

Presently, the best example is given by Korea, and the huge investments made there in basic research, to address the lack of tradition and under the pressure of its high-tech industry anxious to make it for the next major round of innovation.

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ERC Funding Schemes

Starting Grants

starters (2-7 years after PhD)

up to € 1.5 Mio for 5 years

Advanced Grants track-record of

significant researchachievements in the

last 10 yearsup to € 3 Mio

for 5 years

Proof-of-Concept bridging gap between research - earliest

stage of marketable innovation up to €150,000 for ERC grant holders

Consolidator Grants

consolidators (7-12 years after PhD)

up to € 2.25 Mio for 5 years

Established by the European Commission

ERC offers independence, recognition and visibility

PI’s own choice of topic

PI’s own choice of team

5-year financial autonomy

Grants are portable

ERC has become a quality label

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Creative Freedom

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Evaluation has two components:

Quality of the Research Project Ground-breaking nature Potential impact Scientific approach

Quality of the Principal Investigator Intellectual capacity Creativity Commitment

Referees and panels evaluate each component.

Quality, Sole Criterion of Evaluation

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Established by the European Commission

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Evaluation of Proposals

The ERC Scientific Council is responsible for proposing independent experts.

Structure: 25 panels (6 in Social Sciences and Humanities, 10 in Physical Sciences and Engineering and 9 in Life Sciences)

What makes the ERC evaluation exceptional? Highly international participation in panels Full autonomy of panels to decide

Panel members and chairs based in 49 countries: 26 EU Member States, 7 Associated Countries, 16 outside Europe

Remote referees based in 87 countries

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Social Sciences and Humanities SH1 Individuals, institutions & markets SH2 The social world, diversity and common ground SH3 Environment ,space and population SH4 The Human Mind and its complexity SH5 Cultures & cultural production SH6 The study of the human past

Physical Sciences & Engineering PE1 Mathematics PE2 Fundamental constituents of matter PE3 Condensed matter physics PE4 Physical & Analytical Chemical sciences PE5 Materials & Synthesis PE6 Computer science & informatics PE7 Systems & communication engineering PE8 Products & process engineering PE9 Universe sciences PE10 Earth system science

Life Sciences LS1 Molecular & Structural Biology &

Biochemistry LS2 Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics &

Systems Biology LS3 Cellular and Developmental Biology LS4 Physiology, Pathophysiology &

Endocrinology LS5 Neurosciences & neural disorders LS6 Immunity & infection LS7 Diagnostic tools, therapies & public health LS8 Evolutionary, population & environmental

biology LS9 Applied life sciences & biotechnology

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Evaluation Panel Structure

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4 500 researchers funded (65% are at an early-career stage);

64 nationalities represented (EU has 28!)

ERC after 7 Years

Highly competitive (average success rate tending to 10%)

Grants located in almost 600 different institutions in 30 countries

50% of grantees in 50 institutions

Benchmarking effect: impact on national programmes and agencies; national funding for best "runners-up"

Efficient and fast grant management

Highly recognized by the research community beyond Europe

30,000 publications acknowledging ERC support by September 2014

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Priority to Young Scientists

Two-thirds of ERC grants to early-stage

Principal Investigators.

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Developing a New Generation

On average each ERC project team has six members.

2/3 of team members are in the initial phase of their

career.

+ 15 000 PhD and post-doc researchers working in

ERC teams.

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Attracting Excellent Researchers

53% of non-ERA team members ''attracted'' to Europe with the ERC grant (10% of all team members)

Composition of ERC teams (PIs not included)Analysis of 995 Starting and Advanced Grants

EU: 67% Assoc. Countries: 12%

non-ERA: 18% unknown: 3%

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Success Rates per Country of HI

*) First legal signatories of the first grant agreement taken into account

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ERC Grants versus Top Publications

*) Host institution refers to the organisation with which the first grant agreement was signed

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ERC Grants versus Global R&D Effort

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May-Britt Moser

ERC Grantee

AdG 2010

The Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine 2014 was awarded to May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser, together with John O'Keefe, "for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain”.The research leading to these discoveries* was supported by FP5. "Spatial Representation in the Entorhinal Cortex”

Edvard Moser

ERC Grantee

AdG 2013

ERC Grantee

AdG 2008

2014 Distinctions to ERC Grantees

The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2014 was awarded to Jean Tirole "for his analysis of market power and regulation".

Jean Tirole

ERC Grantee

AdG 2009

Two of the Fields Medals 2014 awarded to researchers based in Europe: Artur Avila "for his work in dynamical systems” and to Martin Hairer “for his work on stochastic singularities”.

Artur Avila

ERC Grantee

StG 2010

Martin Hairer

ERC Grantee

CoG 2014

Established by the European Commission

Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 is the European Union's funding programme for research and innovation for 2014 – 2020 "supporting activities covering the whole spectrum from idea to market".

Three principal pillars: Excellent science Industrial leadership Societal challenges

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Established by the European Commission

European Research Council Frontier research

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Horizon 2020 Excellent Science Pillar

Future and Emerging TechnologiesCollaborative research to open new fields of research and innovation

Marie Sklodowska Curie ActionsOpportunities for training and career development

Research Infrastructures (including e-infrastructures)Ensuring access to world-class facilities

Established by the European Commission

FP7 budget € 50.5 billion ERC budget € 7.5 billion

H2020 budget € 77 billion ERC budget € 13 billion

Horizon 2020 Budget

Established by the European Commission

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Publication date of first calls planned for Autumn 2014.

Three ERC frontier research grants will be available under Work Programme 2015: Starting; Consolidator; and Advanced Grants.

Restrictions on applications will apply to the 2015 calls based on the outcome of the evaluation of the 2014 calls (same in Work Programme 2014).

Removal of indicative domain budgets. Panel budgets now allocated purely by demand.

ERC Principal Investigators will continue to be able to apply for Proof of Concept Grants (now with three deadlines).

Overhead rate: 25%

ERC Work Programme 2015

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ERC calls Budget Call Publication

Submission Deadline(s)

Starting GrantsERC-2015-StG 410 M€ October

2014February

2015

Consolidator GrantsERC-2015-CoG

605 M€ November2014

March 2015

Advanced GrantsERC-2015-AdG 630 M€ February

2015June 2015

Proof of ConceptERC-2015-PoC

19 M€ January 2015

DL1: February 2015DL2: May 2015

DL3: October 2015

ERC Calls 2015

Established by the European Commission

More information onerc.europa.eu

National Contact Point in your country erc.europa.eu/national-contact-points

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