The European Research Council (ERC) – the first pan-European funding body for frontier research - was set up in 2007 under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7, 2007-2013).
It aims to enhance the dynamic character, creativity and excellence of European research at the frontiers of knowledge.
Through peer reviewed competitions the best researchers are funded to perform their research in Europe.
The ERC was part of the first pillar - 'Excellent Science' - of Horizon 2020, the EU Programme for Research and Innovation (H2020, 2014-2020).
It continues under the Excellence Science pillar of the new European Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe (2021-2027).
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The ERC represents 17% of the overall Horizon Europe budget, i.e € 16 billion (2021-2027)
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Since 2007, more than 12,000 projects and over 10,000 researchers have been selected for funding
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ERC grantees have won prestigious prizes, including 9 Nobel Prizes, 4 Fields Medals, 11 Wolf Prizes and more
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Over 200,000 articles published in scientific journals were reported so far
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Over 6,100 articles are among the top 1% highly cited according to Scopus data 2018
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Each ERC grantee employs on average 7 team members, thus contributing to train a new generation of excellent researchers. Currently over 75,000 postdocs, PhD students and other staff working in their research teams.
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Over 400 start-ups identified as founded or co-founded by ERC PIs
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Over 2,200 patents and other IPR applications generated by ERC funding
- More than 70-80% of projects assessed by an independent study made scientific breakthroughs or major advances, whilst about 25% of them made contributions that are incremental (latest study).