The competition for ERC Consolidator Grants 2017 closed for applications on 9 February 2017. The ERC has now released the preliminary statistics on submitted proposals:

• Number of applicants increased: the ERC received 2,539 applications, an increase of 10% from 2,305 in the previous Consolidator Grant competition.
• The highest number of applications was submitted in the domain of Physical Sciences and Engineering (1,147 or 45%), followed by Life Sciences (781 or 31%), and Social Science and Humanities (611 or 24%).

The ERC Work Programme has earmarked €575 million for an estimated 320 Consolidator Grants in 2017. The ERC is now starting evaluation of proposals. The selected projects will be announced at the end of 2017.