Established by the European Commission The European Research Council: Funding Opportunities in Europe for Creative Minds from Anywhere in the World © Art & Build Architect / Montois Partners / credits: S. Brison Veronica Beneitez Pinero ERCEA, PoC Call coordinator

Established by the European Commission After 8 Years of Existence…  50,000 proposals have been evaluated  Over top researchers funded during FP7 ( )  5000th ERC grant agreement signed this month  65% are at an early-career stage  65 nationalities represented  Highly competitive (overall success rate 10%)  Working in almost 600 different institutions in 32 countries  Benchmarking effect: impact on national programmes and agencies │ 2

Established by the European Commission Advanced Grants track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years up to € 3.5 Mio for 5 years Proof-of-Concept bridging gap between research - earliest stage of marketable innovation up to €150,000 for ERC grant holders ERC Grant Schemes Starting Grants starters (2-7 years after PhD) up to € 2.0 Mio for 5 years Consolidator Grants consolidators (7-12 years after PhD) up to € 2.75 Mio for 5 years │ 3

Established by the European Commission │ 4 ERC Funding Schemes Who can apply? Any nationality, any age or any current place of work In conjunction with a Host Institution  based in EU or associated countries  At least 50% of the time spent in EU or AC

Established by the European Commission  Maternity leave: 1.5 years per child before or after PhD  Paternity leave: for documented paternity leave taken before or after the PhD  National service: documented time after PhD  long-term illness: documented time after PhD  Clinical training: MD date plus 2 years (+ proof of doctoral equivalency) StG/CoG: Eligibility extensions

Established by the European Commission │ 6 The date of the first degree that makes the applicant eligible that takes precedence.  To try and ensure that those with comparable research experience are evaluated in the same group. StG/CoG Applicants: MD versus PhD

Established by the European Commission │ 7 StG/CoG Applicants with MDs For applicants holding both an MD and a PhD : MD takes precedence over PhD only when the applicant has held an appointment that requires a doctoral equivalency (e.g. post-doctoral fellowship, professorship appointment) before the PhD award date. Proof of completion of clinical training: does not make an MD applicant eligible. Clinical training: counts as reason for extension of the eligibility window.

Established by the European Commission │ 8 Submission to Panels Panel structure: 3 domains and 25 panels  Proposals are submitted to a Panel of PI's choice  Can flag one “Secondary Review Panel”  PI should explain the interdisciplinary nature of the proposal  Transfer of proposals between panels may occur if  clear mistake on part of applicant  necessary expertise is available in a different panel  But: In case of proposals spanning more than one panel or domain, evaluation by members of other panels possible

Established by the European Commission Remote assessment by Panel members of section 1 – PI and synopsis Panel meeting Proposals retained for step 2: Score A STEP 1 Remote assessment by Panel members and reviewers of full proposals Panel meeting + interview (StG and CoG) Ranked list of proposals: Score A STEP 2 Evaluation of proposals: review procedure │ 9 Score: B or C Score: B

Established by the European Commission Remote assessment by Panel members of section 1 – PI and synopsis Panel meeting Proposals retained for step 2: Score A STEP 1 Remote assessment by Panel members and reviewers of full proposals Panel meeting + interview (StG and CoG) Ranked list of proposals: Score A STEP 2 Evaluation of proposals: review procedure │ 10 Score: B or C Score: B

Established by the European Commission │ 11 Part B1 and Part B2 : References no longer count towards the page limits. Part B2 : Budget table - applicants are asked to indicate the % of working time that they will spend in an EU Member State or Associated Country during the period of the grant Calls : New Features Changes in the Proposal Templates

Established by the European Commission 2016 Calls : New Features Restrictions of reapplications Increasing number of applications results in low success rates and high panel workload Applicants with a B at Step 1 will have to wait out one year Applicants with a C will have to wait out two years

Established by the European Commission │ 13 Questions to ask yourself as an applicant  Am I internationally competitive?  Does my proposal promise to go substantially beyond the state of the art? (Are your competitors doing the same/similar research?)  Is it high risk/high gain? Think BIG!  Do I have a plan B (when necessary)?  Why am I the best/only person to carry it out?  Do I have preliminary results? Is it feasible?  Is it timely? (Why wasn't it done already?)

Established by the European Commission  Ambitious / risky / innovative project  Innovative aspects clearly presented  Two level of readings: generalists and experts  Methodology (how?, when?...)  Intermediate steps/ alternatives in case of failure Points to emphasize 14

Established by the European Commission In Step 1: Panel members see only Part B1 of your proposal and are expected to act as generalists:  Pay particular attention to the ground-breaking nature of the research project – no incremental research. State-of-the-art is not enough. Think big!  Know your competitors – what is the state of play and why is your idea and scientific approach outstanding?  Only the extended Synopsis is read at Step 1: concise and clear presentation is crucial (evaluators are not necessarily all experts in the field)  Outline of the methodological approach (feasibility)  Show your scientific leadership in your CV (model CV provided in the part B1 template) │ 15 Submission of Proposals Differences in Part B1 and Part B2

Established by the European Commission Submission of Proposals Differences in Part B1 and Part B2  In Step 2: Both Part B1 and B2 are assessed by internal panel members and sent to specialists around the world (specialised external referees)  Do not just repeat the synopsis  Provide details on methodology, work plan, selection of case studies etc. (15 pages)  Check coherency of figures, justify requested resources  Explain involvement/profile of team members  Provide alternative strategies to mitigate risk │ 16

Established by the European Commission │ 17 ERC applications – Budget Tips  Additional funding: 500 k€ for StG and 750 k€ for CoG  Budget and cost items: need to be justified and reasonable in light of the proposal requirements (keep in mind 25% overhead)  Check consistency between online budget forms and part B2 budget table

Established by the European Commission │ 18 Typical reasons for rejection Principal investigator  Insufficient/non-competitive track-record  Insufficient/non-competitive leadership profile Proposed project  Scope: Too narrow  too broad/unfocused  Incremental research/continuation of previous work  Work plan/team composition not detailed enough/unclear  Insufficient risk management

Established by the European Commission Preparing an application  Register early via the Participants Portal, get familiar with the submission system and templates and start filling in the forms  A submitted proposal can be revised until the call deadline by submitting a new version and overwriting the previous one  Follow the formatting rules and page limit.  Download and proof-read the proposal before submitting  Show to colleagues and friends to check for clarity │ 19

Established by the European Commission Projects funded by the ERC Search by: Call Year HI country 20

Established by the European Commission │ 21 Objective: The ERC Proof of Concept Grants aim to maximise the value of the excellent research that the ERC funds, by funding further work to verify the innovation potential of ideas arising from ERC funded projects. What kind of activities that can be financed: establishing viability, technical issues and overall direction market research clarifying IPR strategy investigating business opportunities Initial expenses for start-up PoC : Principles Objective and activities

Established by the European Commission │ 22 The financial contribution will be up to a maximum of EUR for a period of 18 months. "The ERC expects that normally, proof of concept projects should be completed within 12 months. However, to allow for those projects that require more preparation time, projects will be signed for 18 months. Given this initial flexibility, extensions of the duration of proof of concept projects may be granted only exceptionally." The ERC contribution will take the form of the reimbursement of up to 100% of the total eligible and of flat-rate financing of indirect costs of a maximum of 25% of the total eligible direct costs PoC : Principles Financial contribution and duration

Established by the European Commission │ 23 RECEPTION OF PROPOSALS BY THE ERC ELIGIBITY CHECK REMOTE EVALUATION EVALUATION RESULTS PANEL MEETING COMMUNICATION TO APPLICANTS PoC : Evaluation Process REDRESS

Established by the European Commission │ 24 Experts are not researchers!!!! 5 reviews/proposal No discussions between reviewers Remote PASS/FAIL mark on each criterion Succinct explanatory comment for each mark PoC : Evaluation Process Remote Evaluation

Established by the European Commission PoC : Evaluation Process Remote Evaluation │ 25 Not a scientific evaluation of the idea ! Activities should NOT be  “aimed at extending the original research or […] overcoming technical obstacles”. Activities should be  “at the very early stage of turning research outputs into a commercial or socially valuable proposition”.

Established by the European Commission Only the material that is presented within this limit will be evaluated !! │ 26 PoC : Evaluation Process Remote evaluation

How to write a good PoC proposal Read carefully the reference documents: Work programme Information for applicants (everything can be found on the participant portal) Talk to existing PoC grantees in your institution: Did they get external help? Why did they failed? Look at the list of PoC Grantees published on ERC website. Talk to them!

Established by the European Commission PoC : How to write Part B Criterium 1 Excellence-Tips  Try to answer the following questions: State the expected output of you project. Why is your proposal innovative? If you are going to improve a product,method, process…. how will you do it? Shortly mention how is it done today and how will your project will do it better. Do you know the state of the art in the industry sector?! Find out! │ 28

Established by the European Commission PoC : How to write Part B Criterium 2 Impact -Tips Answer the first three questions (Compulsory): Impact: who will benefit form your idea? Why? Name your final users Generation of financial of social profit: We don't expect you to know how much profit you will made, but at least a process should be indicated….prove that you have been thinking about it! Market research: PoC will provide funding for further market research, but an idea on how this will be carried on, is important. Know your competitors! │ 29

Established by the European Commission Present the plan having in mind the technical and the commercial needs. ( Do not mess it up) Write a management plan! Do not forget to mention the risk and contingency! Don't waste too much space in people's CVs. Make it short. Justify the budget items. Subcontracting in PoC is allowed. Give names of subcontractors ( they will be deleted later but are important for the evaluation). │ 30 PoC : How to write Part B Criterium 3 PoC plan -Tips

Established by the European Commission Invest some time on your idea. If you have a good idea with good innovation potential, the plan can be modified! Take a look at the market, try to identify beforehand the competitors and who will benefit from it. Experts also expect external help, you are researchers no business people! Submit your proposal, you will get feedback from experts Restriction One proposal a year. │ 31 PoC : How to write Part B General Tips

Established by the European Commission Success Rates/Country of Host Institution in FP7 ( ) *) First legal signatories of the first grant agreement taken into account │ 32

Established by the European Commission │ 33 H2020 StG 2014 Funded Projects by Country of HI StG 2014 success rate: 11.7 %

Established by the European Commission │ 34 CoG 2014 success rate: 15% H2020 CoG 2014 Funded Projects by Country of HI

Established by the European Commission │ 35 H2020 StG 2014 and CoG 2014 First submissions vs Resubmissions Starting Grant 2014 Consolidator Grant 2014 Eligible submissions Success rate First submissions % Re- submissions % T otal % Eligible submissions Success rate First submissions % Re- submissions % T otal %

Established by the European Commission │ 36 H2020 StG 2013 – 2014 Funded proposals by years past PhD

Established by the European Commission │ 37 H2020 StG 2013 – 2014 Success rates by years passed PhD │ 37

Established by the European Commission │ 38 CoG 2014 Funded proposals by age and gender

Established by the European Commission │ 39 *) full-year budget ERC callsBudgetCall Publication Submission Deadline(s) Starting Grants ERC-2016-StG M€M€4 August November 2015 Consolidator Grants ERC-2016-CoG M€M€Mid October February 2016 Advanced Grants ERC-2016-AdG M€May September 2016 Proof of Concept ERC-2016-PoC 20 M€*7 August 2015 DL1: 5 Feb DL2: 28 May 2015 DL3: 1 Oct Forthcoming ERC Calls

Established by the European Commission Apply via the Participants Portal at (for StG 2016) 20/calls/erc-2016-stg.html Read the Information for Applicants and the Work Programme erc.europa.eu To find the National Contact Points in Denmark (NCP) erc.europa.eu/national-contact-points Follow us on │ 40 EuropeanResearchCouncil ERC_Research More information:

Established by the European Commission THANK YOU ANY QUESTIONS? │ 41

Established by the European Commission │ 42 Part B1 template

Established by the European Commission │ 43 Part B2 template

Established by the European Commission  Initiated to help ERC grant-holder to bridge the gap between their research and the earliest stage of a marketable innovation  Supporting grant-holders during the pre-demonstration  Up to Euro per grant FP7 ERC Proof of Concept Frontier Research and Innovation