The European Research Council (ERC) has recently granted 15 million euro to Italy under the “Proof of Concept” (PoC) scheme, i.e. grants aimed to help researchers to bridge the gap between discoveries resulting from their pioneering research and practical application of results, including commercialisation.
Projects funded under this call are approximately 100 and Italy, with 12 winning projects, ranks third, after the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
Iliana Ivanova, the EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said that “Since 2011 when the scheme started, ERC grantees have received over €300 million in Proof of Concept Grants. These researchers are a great example of how to translate and commercialise the strong research output funded by the EU.”’
PoC grants are currently open only to researchers who have previously been awarded ERC frontier research grants, who often generate radically new ideas that drive innovation. The objective is to enable ERC-funded ideas to progress on the path from ground-breaking research towards innovation.
