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Established by the European Commission

Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation

The European Research Council

© Art & Build Architect / Montois Partners / credits: S. Brison │ 1

La ricerca di eccellenza nella strategia europea

Il ruolo dell'ERC

Fabio Zwirner (Unipd & INFN) Componente del Consiglio

Scientifico dell'ERC

CNR, 23 Novembre 2016



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The ERC supports excellence in frontier research through a bottom-up, individual-based, pan-European competition

Legi

slat

ion

What is the ERC?

!  Support for individual scientists !  International peer-review !  No predetermined subjects (bottom-up) !  Support for frontier research in all fields of science and humanities !  Look for high gain/high risk ambitious projects

Stra

tegy

!  Scientific governance: independent Scientific Council (22 members), with full authority over funding and evaluation !  Support by the ERC Executive Agency (autonomous) !  Only criterion: quality of research aiming for excellence



ERC in the context of Horizon 2020

!  The HORIZON 2020 three main pillars: "  Excellent Science

# World class science is foundation of technologies, jobs, well-being # Europe needs to develop, attract, retain research talent # Researchers need access to the best infrastructures

"  Industrial leadership "  Societal challenges

!  Excellent Science:

"  European Research Council (H2020 budget: € 13 billion) "  Future and Emerging Technologies "  Marie Skłodoswka Curie Actions "  Research Infrastructures

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ERC Budget

ERC 2014-2020 budget € 13 billion

(1.9 billion/year)

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ERC 2007-2013 budget € 7.5 billion

(1.1 billion/year)

H2020 2014-2020: budget € 77 billion



Star%ng(Grants

starters (2-7 years after PhD)

up to € 1.5 Mio for 5 years

Advanced(Grants((track-record of

significant research achievements in the

last 10 years up to € 2.5 Mio

for 5 years

Synergy(Grants((2#exploratory#calls)(2 – 4 Principal Investigators up to € 15.0 Mio for 6 years

Proof4of4Concept((bridging gap between research - earliest

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

ERC Grant Schemes

Consolidator(Grants

consolidators (7-12 years after PhD)

up to € 2 Mio for 5 years



Post-docs

Senior Professor

Students

Post Graduates

Junior Professor/ Junior Researcher

Associate Professor

Full Professor

Erasmus

Marie Skłodowska Curie

ERC Advanced

ERC StG - Starters

ERC StG – Consolidators

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PoC

PoC

PoC

ERC funding schemes & seniority

SyG

SyG



#  Initiated to help ERC grant-holder to bridge the gap between

their research and the earliest stage of a marketable innovation

#  Supporting grant-holders during pre-demonstration phase #  Up to 150.000 Euro per grant #  One step evaluation #  Steady increase in number of applications each year #  Already more than 400 projects and 180 concluded #  More needs to be done to make the transfer to the market

sustainable

Proof of Concept Grants: ERC funds first steps to innovation

Proof of Concept is a small-scale example of how important it is to invest in curiosity-driven research to create innovation.



Synergy Grants: ERC speeds up the discovery process

!  2012 and 2013 work programme on a pilot basis !  2 – 4 Principal Investigators; complementary skills,

knowledge & resources; to jointly address frontier research problems

! Up to €15m for up to six years

! Based on ERC principles (no consortia, no networks): •  bottom-up and risk-taking •  driven by scientific demand •  PIs expected to spend significant “core time” together •  only one Host Institution, but groups not required to be

physically located in the same place

!  710 submissions to the first SyG Call; 1.6% success rate !  449 submissions to the second SyG Call; 3% success rate



Synergy Assessment Report Synergy grant scheme would be a valuable addition to the current ERC frontier schemes

–  High international recognition - putting European research on the global map, often in leading position

–  Highly ambitious research goals – that cannot be achieved by a single PI –  Complementarity of PIs/teams essential –  Cross-fertilization of disciplines and signs of new fields emerging –  Close collaboration goes much beyond any regular EU framework

collaborative project

H2020 ERC Synergy Grants

The success rate of SyG in 2013 with €150m budget was 3%. To achieve a 15% success rate the budget would therefore need to be multiplied by five. Collaborative proposals could also be supported by the main grant schemes. €450 – 750m per year



Physical Sciences & Engineering "  PE1 Mathematics "  PE2 Fundamental Constituents of Matter "  PE3 Condensed Matter Physics "  PE4 Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences "  PE5 Synthetic Chemistry and Materials "  PE6 Computer Science and Informatics "  PE7 Systems and Communication Engineering "  PE8 Products and Process Engineering "  PE9 Universe Sciences "  PE10 Earth System Science

Life Sciences "  LS1 Molecular and Structural Biology and

Biochemistry "  LS2 Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and

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

Endocrinology "  LS5 Neurosciences and Neural Disorders "  LS6 Immunity and Infection "  LS7 Diagnostics, Therapies, Applied Medical

Technology and Public Health "  LS8 Evolutionary, Population and

Environmental Biology "  LS9 Applied Life Sciences and Non-Medical

Biotechnology

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Social Sciences and Humanities "  SH1 Individuals, Markets and Organisations "  SH2 Institutions, Values, Environment and Space "  SH3 The Social World, Diversity, Population "  SH4 The Human Mind and Its Complexity "  SH5 Cultures and Cultural Production "  SH6 The Study of the Human Past

3 domains and 25 panels

support for & emphasis on interdisciplinary proposals

Evaluation Panel Structure (WP2017)



ERC offers independence, recognition & visibility

•  to work on a research topic of own choice, with a team of own choice •  to gain true financial autonomy for 5 years •  to negotiate with the host institution the best conditions of work

•  to attract top team members (EU and non-EU) and collaborators •  to move with the grant to any place in Europe if necessary (portability

of grants) •  to attract additional funding and gain recognition: ERC is a quality

label

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What ERC offers: Creative Freedom to Individual Grantee



Fields Medals

Wolf Prizes

Nobel Prizes

Prestigious prizes including

EU countries set up ERC-like structures/funding

schemes

ERC as a model in Member States

of grants for early-career researchers

Supporting young talent

projects funded

Key figures

researchers and experts employed in ERC teams articles among

1% most cited scientific journals

Scientific impact

of completed projects led to

Scientific breakthroughs

Funding top talentfrom anywhere

in the world

Major advances

Scientificbreakthroughs6,500

40,000

21% 71%

> 3,900

64% 15

6 5 2

After 9 years a success story



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Priority to Young Scientists

Two-thirds of ERC grants to early-stage Principal Investigators.

+ 30 000 PhD and post-doc researchers working in ERC teams.

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Jean-Pierre SAUVAGE, Sir J. Fraser STODDART and Bernard L. FERINGA "for the design and synthesis of molecular machines".

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Nobel Prizes to ERC grantees

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or 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".

Edvard Moser

Nobel 2014

2 ERC grantees received the Nobel prize in 2010 and 2012. Other 6 ERC grantees were already Nobel laureates at the moment they received the ERC grant.

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

Nobel 2014

Konstantin NOVOSELOV Nobel 2010

Serge HAROCHE

Nobel 2012

May-Britt MOSER

Nobel 2014

Bernard FERINGA

Nobel 2016



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7341 evaluated proposals With Host Institution in Italy

Italy in the ERC Calls 2007 - 2016 Evaluated Proposals by Country of HI



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ERC Funded Projects by Country of HI

363 ERC grants in Italy



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FP7 – H2020 ERC Calls Top Host Institutions in Italy



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Success Rate by Country of HI



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ERC Grants versus Top Publications

Host countries as of 19/09/2016



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ERC Grants versus GERD

Host countries as of 19/09/2016



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Grantees at Home and Abroad

271 Italian grantees abroad

28 foreign grantees in Italy

335 Italian grantees in Italy



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Towards FP9 in Italy and in the EU

! Simplified procedures for PI employment and hiring of fixed-term team members ! Support PI beyond duration of the grant

! National/local support for unfunded A’s

! Former grant holders in local support teams

! Concentrate excellence & infrastructures ! Explain the need for bottom-up frontier

research, as a powerful driver of innovation



ERC Funds Research in Nanotechnology

Projects funded by ERC under FP7 2007 – 2013 from Science Behind the Projects



ERC Funds Health Research


22 out of the 25 ERC panels fund projects related to major health challenges. Projects cover a wide range of tools and methodologies with genomics and systems biology approaches prominent as well as novel treatment and prevention strategies, including for example, gene therapy, cell-based therapies, vaccines and stem cell-oriented studies.



ERC Funds Research on Migration




ERC Funds Energy Research




•  More information: erc.europa.eu

•  National Contact Point: erc.europa.eu/national-contact-points

•  Sign up for news alerts: erc.europa.eu/keep-updated-erc

•  Follow us on

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twitter.com/ERC_Research

www.linkedin.com/company/european-research-council

The European Research Council

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