European Research and Innovation Days

This year marks the start of Horizon Europe, EU’s most ambitious research and innovation programme ever. The 3rd edition of the European Research and Innovation Days will bring together individuals and experts from all areas in order to build connections. This year’s virtual event is all about collaboration and is a unique opportunity to add your voice to the conversation.

Register here to watch live the various sessions, workshops and visit the ERC House.

The ERC will organize and participate in the following sessions:

WEDNESDAY 23 JUNE

15:15 – 16.00 | In Conversation with the ERC’s Scientific Council

Moderated by Tony LOCKETT, Head of Unit for Communications, European Research Council
Speakers:

• Jean Pierre BOURGUIGNON, ERC President ad interim
• Eveline CRONE, Vice-President of the ERC Scientific Council

This session will offer the opportunity to interact with the President of the European Research Council and one Vice President of the ERC’s Scientific Council.

LIVE WORKSHOP

16:00 – 16:45 | Scientific breakthroughs as opportunities to address societal emergencies

Moderated by Sir Philip CAMPBELL, Editor-in-Chief Springer Nature
Speakers:

• Mariya GABRIEL, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth
• Prof. Nuria MONTSERRAT PULIDO, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, ERC grantee
• Prof Gabriella CONTI, University College London, ERC grantee
• Prof. László LOVÁSZ, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), ERC grantee

LIVE SESSION on CHANNEL 3

THURSDAY 24 JUNE

16:00 - 16:45 | Disruptive innovators: from frontier research to conquering new markets

Moderated by Jean-David MALO, Director European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency,

Speakers:

• Mariya GABRIEL, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth
• Ana MAIQUES, CEO Neuroelectrics 
• Dr. Christian EHLER, Member of European Parliament 
• Dr. Martin VECHEV, Co-founder of LatticeFlow, ERC grantee 
• Dr. Spela STRES, Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer, Jožef Stefan Institute

LIVE SESSION on CHANNEL 4 organized by the European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency, in collaboration with DG CONNECT and ERC

Chat live to a Scientific Officer

This year, there will be a unique opportunity to book short video calls over the two day event with a few of the ERCEA’s Scientific Officers to learn more about ERC grants, discuss the evaluation process and criteria, proposals and panels as well as get personal assistance with technical and administrative matters.

There will be 3 topics to select from:

1. Overview of ERC grants - for those not familiar with the ERC who would like an overview of ERC grants, the evaluation process and criteria, etc.
2. ERC in detail - for those familiar with ERC grants and wish to apply but require further information on proposals, panels, tricks and tips, etc.
3. Administrative and technical assistance - for specific questions about submission of ERC applications, eligibility, proposal templates, documents to submit; the evaluation process and criteria (With ERC Scientific Officer Agnes Kulcsar)

The booking system to speak to a Scientific Officer will become available on 23rd June on the official R&I Days website in the Horizon Village ERC House. We recommend booking soon as slots will fill up quickly. 

If you would like to read about the Scientific Officers who will take part and in order to direct your questions accordingly, please visit the bios page.

ERC-funded projects that will be featured in the Research and Innovation Exhibition

CRYSP-TLS has provided web users with an improved Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol that ensures digital security. The project helped design the Internet Engineering Task Force’s 1.3 version of the TLS. Thanks to this protocol, citizens can check emails, make online purchases or even pay taxes using a reliable web browser that is more secure than ever. 

HYPER investigated several new materials that could be used to make solar cells more cheaply. The project team found that ‘perovskites’ absorbed light incredibly strongly and worked well in thin-film photovoltaics. In 2012, they published their results in Science, and this became one of the highest-cited ERC-funded scientific publications. Science listed the discovery among the top 10 breakthroughs in 2013.

INVISIBLE developed a new class of transparent electronic components based on eco-friendly, metal-oxide semiconductors. The technology has numerous applications, ranging from smart medical platforms to new types of energy. The technological gains include increased sustainability and improved electrical performance, as described in a video.

MEMOTV was investigating the scale of the mechanism by which traumatic stress and violence shape memories. It explored the transference mechanism at the epigenetic, neural and cognitive levels in humans and how traumatic memories contribute towards mental suffering within different cultural settings.

OCEAN SENTINEL addressed the problem of illegal fishing that also harms non-targeted species such as sea birds, sea turtles and sharks. A video describes how innovative devices attached to albatrosses have made it possible to detect illegal fishing activity and collect information for authorities and organisations involved in protecting the ocean and threatened marine species.
 
SHARECITY was led by Anna Davies, the first ERC Public Engagement Award winner in the online and social media category, who set out to review key concepts, existing theoretical approaches and research methodologies related to urban food-sharing practices. Learn more about making our food system more sustainable in the video.
 
Sip-Vol+ succeeded in demonstrating the importance of plant emissions on climate and atmospheric processes and showed that the capacity of vegetation to contribute to climate-change-related emissions was underestimated and should be clearly considered in any future assessment.

ERC grantees in “Behind the Scenes” podcasts

EPISODE 1: Understanding how our immune system works
Dr. Aleksandra WALCZAK
Project: RECOGNIZE 

In this first episode, Jennifer Baker talks to ERC grantee Aleksandra Walczak, physicist and research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Aleksandra works on understanding how the adapted immune system functions, and she is exploring how and why we react differently to the novel coronavirus.

EPISODE 3: Conversations with Robots
Prof. Dimos DIMAROGONAS

In the third episode of the R&I Days “Behind the Scenes” series, Jennifer Baker talks to ERC grantee Dimos Dimarogonas, professor of automatic control at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Dimos is working on exploring better ways to communicate with groups of robots cooperating and working collectively. 

EPISODE 5: Investigating space
Dr. Jason HESSELS
Project: DRAGNET 

In the fifth episode of the series, Jennifer Baker talks to Professor ERC grantee Jason Hessels, Chief Astronomer at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) at the University of Amsterdam. His ERC-funded project is searching for new astrophysical phenomena in the huge and largely unexplored expanse of deep space.