Press Release: EU funding to help ‘blue sky’ research to market

New EU funding announced 5 February 2013 will provide grants, worth €150,000 each, for top-level researchers to bridge the gap between their work and marketable innovation. The European Research Council (ERC) has published 5 February 2013 the outcome of the latest round of its top-up funding scheme 'Proof of Concept'. A total of 60 grants have now been awarded to researchers who are already ERC grantees, with the 27 latest announced 5 February 2013.

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. Proof of Concept funding can cover activities related to, for instance, intellectual property rights, investigation of commercial and business opportunities or technical validation.

The grants are going to researchers across ten countries in the European Research Area (EU Member States plus countries associated to the research framework programme). The overall budget for this call is €10 million. A total of 69 proposals were submitted in October 2012 for the second deadline of this call, from which the 27 winners announced today were selected. The first deadline in May 2012 attracted 75 proposals, resulting in 33 winners announced in September 2012.