ERC Proof of Concept

All Principal Investigators in one of the ERC frontier research main grants (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced or Synergy) are eligible to participate and apply for an ERC Proof of Concept Grant. Principal Investigators in an ongoing main grant are eligible to apply to both Proof of Concept calls. 

The Principal Investigator must be able to demonstrate the relation between the idea to be taken to proof of concept and the ERC frontier research project (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced or Synergy) in question.

A Principal Investigator may submit only one application per call.

A maximum of three Proof of Concept Grants may be awarded per main grant project, except for Synergy Grant, in which case a maximum of six Proof of Concept Grants may be awarded per ERC funded project.

Synergy Grant Principal Investigators are eligible to apply only with the written consent of all Principal Investigators in the same Synergy Grant project.

Criteria

The ERC Proof of Concept funding is made available only to those who already have an ERC award to establish proof of concept of an idea that was generated in the course of their ERC-funded projects.

Frontier research often generates radically new ideas that drive innovation and business inventiveness and tackle societal challenges. The ERC PoC Grants aim at facilitating exploration of the commercial and social innovation potential of ERC funded research and are therefore available only to PIs whose proposals draw substantially on their ERC funded research.

Proof of Concept Grants aim at maximising the value of the excellent research that the ERC funds, by funding further work (i.e. activities which were not scheduled to be funded by the original ERC frontier research grant) to verify the innovation potential of ideas arising from ERC funded projects.

The objective is to enable ERC-funded ideas to progress on the path from ground-breaking research towards innovation.

Proof of Concept Grant would help among others:

-testing, experimenting, demonstrating and validating the idea;

-conducting research required to carry out the above activities and to address the weaknesses uncovered by them;

-establishing viability, technical issues and overall direction

-clarifying IPR protection or knowledge transfer strategy;

-involving industrial partners, societal or cultural organisations, policymakers or any other potential stakeholder supporting the translation of research results into innovation;

-assessing potential “end users” of the expected innovation.

Work Programme 2023 will continue to award Proof of Concept Grants on the basis of a lump sum of EUR 150 000 for a period of 18 months.

The ERC expects that normally Proof of Concept activities should be completed within 12 months. However, to allow for those projects that require more preparation time, the grant agreements will be signed for 18 months. Extensions of the duration of Proof of Concept projects may be granted only exceptionally.