The European Research Council
Established by the European Commission
ERC
An Overview with Focus
on the Czech Republic
Jean-Pierre BOURGUIGNON
ERC President
© Art & Build Architect / Montois Partners / credits: S. Brison
Established by the European Commission
ERC after 7 Years
│2
ERC in European Funding of Research
Established by the European Commission
 Investigator-driven progamme supporting frontier
research through a bottom-up, pan-European
competition in all fields of science and humanities
 Evaluation is based strictly on the quality of the research
proposal and of the principal investigator
 Scientific governance is done by an independent
Scientific Council of 22 members which has full authority
over the funding strategy and the choice of the
evaluators
│2
ERC Funding Schemes
Established by the European Commission
Starting Grants
Consolidator Grants
starters
(2-7 years after PhD)
up to € 2.0 Mio
for 5 years
consolidators
(7-12 years after PhD)
up to € 2.75 Mio
for 5 years
Advanced Grants
track-record of
significant research
achievements in the
last 10 years
up to € 3.5 Mio
for 5 years
Proof-of-Concept
bridging gap between research - earliest
stage of marketable innovation
up to €150,000 for ERC grant holders
ERC after 7 Years
Established by the European Commission
 4 500 researchers funded (65% are at an early-career stage);
64 nationalities represented (EU has 28!)
 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
│5
Priority to Young Scientists
Established by the European Commission
Two-thirds of ERC
grants to early-stage
Principal
Investigators.
│6
Developing a New Generation
Established by the European Commission
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.
│7
ERC Grants and Countries of HI
ERC calls 2007-2013
Established by the European Commission
Over 4,300 projects have been selected,
one fifth corresponding to women PIs.
*) Host institution refers to the organisation with which the first grant agreement was signed │ 8
Top
European
Institutions
Hosting
at least 30
ERC
Grantees
by Funding
Schemes
Established by the European Commission
StG/CoG 2007-2013
AdG 2008-2013
First legal
signatories
of the grant
agreement
Data as of 21/08/2014
Horizon 2020
Established by the European Commission
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
│ 10
Horizon 2020 Excellent Science Pillar
Established by the European Commission

European Research Council
Frontier research

Future and Emerging Technologies
Collaborative research to open new fields of research
and innovation
Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions
Opportunities for training and career development


Research Infrastructures (including e-infrastructures)
Ensuring access to world-class facilities
│ 11
Horizon 2020 Budget
Established by the European Commission
H2020 budget € 77 billion
ERC budget € 13 billion
FP7 budget € 50.5 billion
ERC budget € 7.5 billion
ERC Delivers
Established by the European Commission
 30 000 publications acknowledging ERC support by
September 2014
 7% of these publications were in the top 1% most cited in
their scientific field and year of publication
 20% of completed LS and PE projects reported at least one
patent (on average 2 patents reported per project)
│ 13
Established by the European Commission
Czech Republic at ERC
│ 14
Proposals Based in the Czech Republic
Established by the European Commission
344 proposals evaluated from researchers based at Czech HIs
LS
13%
PE
30%
SH
57%
│ 15
Evaluated Proposals from CR
Established by the European Commission
# evaluated proposals
70
60
C
B
A
50
40
37
Total AdG proposals: 91
Total StG/CoG proposals: 173
(without StG2007)
27
30
20
14
15
8
12
10
9
0
2
4
3
5
5
1
4
7
6
10
8
8
1
1
30
20
14
9
3
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
ADG
10
1
1
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
STG/COG
CZ
│ 16
10 ERC Grants Based in the CR
Established by the European Commission
Current host institutions; data as of 21/08/2014
│ 17
ERC Host Institutions in the CR
Established by the European Commission
Current host institutions; data as of 21/08/2014
│ 18
ERC Grants versus Top Publications
Established by the European Commission
*) Host institution refers to the organisation with which the first grant agreement was signed│ 19
ERC Grants versus Global R&D Effort
Established by the European Commission
│ 20
Mobility of Researchers
Established by the European Commission
75 Czech researchers applied with a HI
abroad (in 16 different countries)
12 Czech researchers hold an ERC grant
abroad: AT (3), CH (3), UK (3), DE (2), FR (1)
3 foreign researchers holding an
ERC grant in the Czech Republic
Current host institutions; data as of 21/08/2014
│ 21
Success Rates per Country of HI
Established by the European Commission
*) First legal signatories of the first grant agreement taken into account
Success Rates versus Applications
Established by the European Commission
│ 23
Established by the European Commission
EU13 Countries at ERC
│ 24
Top HIs in EU13 Countries
Established by the European Commission
Current host institutions; data as of 21.8.2014
│ 25
ERC Grants Based in EU13 Countries
Established by the European Commission
88% of grantees in
EU13 countries are
nationals of the host
country
(70% for EU15)
85% of grantees in
EU13 countries
were resident in the
host country at the
time of application
(90% for EU15)
│ 26
ERC Grants and Top Publications
Established by the European Commission
*) Host institution refers to the organisation with which the first grant agreement was signed│ 27
Success Rates by Area of HI
Established by the European Commission
Share of
EU13 public
researchers in
EU & AC =
16%
Share of
EU13
research
investment
(GERD)
in EU & AC =
3%
│ 28
Evaluation Outcome
Established by the European Commission
Success rate step1 EU13: 7%
Success rate step1 EU15: 22%
Success rate step2 EU13: 43%
Success rate step2 EU15: 47%
│ 29
Successful EU13 Nationals in Calls
Established by the European Commission
55% of EU13
nationals with
a grant are
based abroad
Current host institutions; data as of 21/08/2014
│ 30
International Participation to ERC Panels
Established by the European Commission
Averaged over the first 13
ERC calls 26% of the ERC
panel members were women
* Number of instances that experts of a certain country of origin are contributing to the ERC peer review │ 31
Widening European Participation WG
Established by the European Commission
• Contribute to a truly inclusive European
culture of competitiveness in science
 Increase participation in ERC calls of researchers
from the EU’s less research-performing regions
 Facilitate systematic debate and interactions
among ERC grantees and young promising
scientists from EU’s less research-performing
regions
│ 32
Conclusions
Established by the European Commission
 ERC grants correlate very closely with national research
investment and scientific output
 Low application rates in general from most of EU13
countries and some evidence best researchers from
EU13 not applying (Reputational risk? Sufficient national
funding? ERC grants disrupt local systems?)
 EU13 nationals applying from outside EU13 countries
have same success rate as EU15 nationals
 Proposals from EU13 countries have same success rate
as proposals from EU15 countries at step 2 – the issue is
not with interview or remote reviews
│2
The European Research Council
Established by the European Commission
More information on
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erc.europa.eu/national-contact-points
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│ 34
ERC Scientific Council
Working Groups & Standing Committees
Established by the European Commission
Gender balance
Widening
Participation
Innovation and
relations with
industry
Internationalisation
Open Access
Committee on
Panels
Key
Performance
Indicators
CoIME
(Conflict of Interest &
Research integrity)