* New report proves positive impact of ERC research *
The European Research Council (ERC) announces its 2017 grant competitions with a total budget of around EUR 1.8 billion, the highest ever since the ERC's inception in 2007. It is also the record ERC annual funding reserved for young researchers with two to seven years of post-PhD experience (Starting grants).
This was outlined in the ERC Work Programme 2017, established by the ERC Scientific Council and adopted by the European Commission.
This is the first increase of the ERC annual budget since 2013, when it amounted to EUR 1.75 billion. Some 1,070 new grantees are expected to benefit from ERC funding next year across all schemes. They are expected to employ another estimated 6,500 post-docs, PhD students and other members as part of their research teams.
"The ERC is one of the best success stories for Europe, in terms of scientific impact, researchers' career and innovation. This is why the EU has decided to invest growing resources into this very successful programme that is highly praised by scientists around the world. With this record budget, the ERC grant competitions can provide even more researchers with the opportunity to pursue their careers and ambitions in Europe," said Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.
The President of the ERC, Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, added: "The ERC Scientific Council consistently gives a high priority to supporting young researchers by awarding them more than two thirds of its annual budget through its Starting and Consolidator grants. Giving early independence to ambitious researchers contributes significantly to making their creativity flourish. The 2017 ERC budget is the highest ever for researchers with two to seven years of experience after their PhD, the 'Starters'. Thanks to these five-year grants, more early-career researchers across Europe will have a midterm perspective. This is one more step forward to back young researchers."
Meanwhile, an independent pilot study, released at the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) in Manchester, demonstrates that bottom-up research funded by the European Research Council (ERC) has already had major impacts. Over 70% of projects evaluated in the report have made scientific breakthroughs or major advances. The study concludes that the ERC invests in truly high-risk/high-gain research and that it also contributes significantly to the economy and society at large. The ERC grants have a very positive effect on researchers’ careers, the report states.
In this independent qualitative evaluation commissioned by the ERC Scientific Council, high-level peer reviewers analysed the first 199 concluded Starting and Advanced grant projects and found that the overall impact is very high. More than 70% of the projects have already made scientific breakthroughs or major advances, whilst about 25% of the projects evaluated have made contributions that are incremental. Just 4% had no appreciable scientific output. One of the main findings is therefore that the ERC funds high-risk/high-gain projects, in line with the ambition of its Scientific Council. The analysis also highlights that a large share of projects are interdisciplinary, also in accordance with the ERC’s mission.
The study, moreover, found that the impact is not purely scientific. This curiosity-driven research, completely free of any thematic constraints, also benefits the economy and society at large: close to 50% of projects already had some apparent impact in this respect and another nearly 10% had a major impact to date. As it often takes time for the results to emerge, it is not surprising that the experts also estimate that at least three quarters of the research outputs are expected to have an impact on the economy or on society in the medium or long term.
Other findings of the report include that the ERC grants have a very positive effect on the careers of the grantees and they also strongly contribute to the consolidation of research teams.
