Il Consiglio Europeo della Ricerca
Established by the European Commission
L’ERC in Europa,
in Italia e nel Veneto:
bilancio provvisorio
e sfide per il futuro
Fabio Zwirner
Membro del Consiglio Scientifico
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
Padova, 13 ottobre 2015│ 1
Programma
Established by the European Commission
Ø Cos’è l’ERC e cosa ha realizzato finora
Ø La performance di Italia e (Tri-) Veneto
Ø Criticità, sfide future, possibili azioni
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│2
What is the ERC?
Established by the European Commission
Strategy
Ø  Support for individual scientists
Ø  International peer-review
Ø  No predetermined subjects (bottom-up)
Ø  Support for frontier research in all fields of science and humanities
Ø  Look for high gain/high risk ambitious projects
Legislation
The ERC supports excellence in frontier research through
a bottom-up, individual-based, pan-European competition
Ø  Scientific governance: independent Scientific Council (22 members),
with full authority over funding and evaluation
Ø  Support by the ERC Executive Agency (autonomous)
Ø  Only criterion: quality of research aiming for excellence
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│3
ERC in the context of Horizon 2020
Established by the European Commission
Ø  The HORIZON 2020 three main pillars:
§  Excellent Science
è  World class science is foundation of technologies, jobs, well-being
è  Europe needs to develop, attract, retain research talent
è  Researchers need access to the best infrastructures
§
§
Industrial leadership
Societal challenges
Ø  Excellent Science:
§  European Research Council (H2020 budget: € 13 billion)
§  Future and Emerging Technologies
§  Marie Skłodoswka Curie Actions
§  Research Infrastructures
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│4
ERC H2020 Budget (2014-2020)
Established by the European Commission
ERC 2014-2020
budget € 13 billion
(1.9 billion/year)
ERC 2007-2013
budget € 7.5 billion
(1.1 billion/year)
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│5
ERC Grant Schemes
To be described in detail
in the talk by V. Monsurrò
Established by the European Commission
Star%ng Grants
Consolidator Grants
starters
(2-7 years after PhD)
up to € 2.0 Mio
for 5 years
consolidators
(7-12 years after PhD)
up to € 2.75 Mio
for 5 years
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 Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│6
ERC main funding schemes
complementarities
Established by the European Commission
ERC AdG - Advanced
ERC CoG – Consolidators
ERC StG - Starters
Full Professor
Marie Curie
Erasmus
Junior Professor/
Junior Researcher
Associated Professor
Post-docs
Post
Graduates
Students
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
Senior
Professor
ERC evaluation process
3 domains and 25 panels
Established by the European Commission
Physical Sciences & Engineering – 10 Panels
§
§
LS1 Molecular & Structural Biology &
§
Biochemistry
§
LS2 Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics &
§
Systems Biology
§
LS3 Cellular and Developmental Biology
§
LS4 Physiology, Pathophysiology &
Endocrinology
§
LS5 Neurosciences & neural disorders
§
LS6 Immunity & infection
§
LS7 Diagnostic tools, therapies & public health
Life Sciences – 9 Panels
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
PE1 Mathematics
PE2 Fundamental constituents of matter
PE3 Condensed matter physics
PE4 Physical & Analytical Chemical sciences
PE5 Materials & Synthesis
PE6 Computer science & informatics
PE7 Systems & communication engineering
PE8 Products & process engineering
PE9 Universe sciences
PE10 Earth system science
LS8 Evolutionary, population & environmental Social Sciences and Humanities – 6 Panels
§  SH1 Markets, individuals & institutions
biology
§  SH2 The social world, diversity, institutions & values
LS9 Applied life sciences & biotechnology
§  SH3 Environment, space & population
support for & emphasis on
§  SH4 The Human Mind and its complexity
interdisciplinary proposals
§  SH5 Cultures & cultural production
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
§
SH6 The study of the human past
│8
Creative Freedom to Individual Grantee
Established by the European Commission
ERC offers independence, recognition & visibility
•  to work on a research topic of own choice, with a team of own choice
•  to gain true financial autonomy for 5 years
•  to negotiate with the host institution the best conditions of work
•  to attract top team members (EU and non-EU) and collaborators
•  to move with the grant to any place in Europe if necessary (portability
of grants)
•  to attract additional funding and gain recognition: ERC is a quality
label
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│9
After 8 Years, a Success Story
Established by the European Commission
Ø  Highly recognised by the research community
Ø  Over 4 300 top researchers funded during FP7 (2007-2013)
Ø  65% are at an early-career stage
Ø  Other 937 researchers supported after the three ERC calls of 2014
Ø  66 nationalities represented
Ø  Highly competitive (overall success rate tending to 10%)
Ø  Working in almost 600 different institutions in 32 countries
Ø  50% of grantees in 50 institutions : “Excellence attracts excellence”
Ø  Benchmarking effect: impact on national programmes and agencies;
national funding for best "runners-up”
Ø  Efficient and fast grant management
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 10
Priority to Young Scientists
Established by the European Commission
+ 22 000 PhD
and post-doc
researchers
in ERC teams
Two-thirds of ERC
grants to early-stage
Principal Investigators.
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 11
ERC Delivers
Established by the European Commission
Ø  30 000 publications acknowledging ERC support by
September 2014
Ø  7% of these publications were in the top 1% most cited in
their scientific field and year of publication
Ø  20% of completed LS and PE projects reported at least one
patent (on average 2 patents reported per project)
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 12
2014 Distinctions to ERC Grantees
Established by the European Commission
22/10/2014
f3.jpg (300×358)
22/10/2014
Hairer.jpg (310×233)
The Nobel Prize in
Economic Sciences 2014
was awarded to Jean
Tirole "for his analysis
Artur Avila
Martin Hairer
Jean Tirole
Two of the Fields Medals
2014 awarded to researchers
based in Europe: Artur Avila
"for his work in dynamical
systems” and to Martin
Hairer “for his work on
stochastic singularities”.
http://plus.maths.org/content/sites/plus.maths.org/files/news/2014/Seoul/f3.jpg
May-Britt
Moser
1/1
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
https://royalsociety.org/~/media/people/new-fellows-2014/Hairer.jpg
for Research & Innovation
of market power and
regulation".
The Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine
2014 was awarded to May-Britt Moser
and Edvard Moser, together with John
O'Keefe,
"for their discoveries of cells that
constitute a positioning system in the
brain”.
The research leading to these discoveries
was supported by FP5. ("Spatial
Edvard
Moser
Representation in the Entorhinal Cortex”
Science 2004)
1/1
│ 13
Italy in the ERC Calls 2007 - 2014
Evaluated Proposals by Country of HI
Established by the European Commission
Italian Host Institutions
Evaluated proposals: 6249
Funded proposals: 296
Success rate 5%
488 Italian PIs:
269 in Italy and 219 abroad
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 14
Italy in the FP7 ERC Calls
Grant Distribution Per Country of HI
Established by the European Commission
4,354 projects have been selected,
one fifth corresponding to women PIs
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 15
*) Host institution refers to the organisation with which the first grant agreement was signed
Italy in the H2020 ERC Calls (2014)
Grant Distribution Per Country of HI
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
Established by the European Commission
│ 16
ERC Calls 2007 - 2014
Top Host Institutions in Italy
Established by the European Commission
More than 60
HIs with
ERC grants
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
Current host institutions; data
as of &02/06/2015
for Research
Innovation
FP7 ERC - Success Rate
Per Country of Host Institution
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
*) First legal signatories of the first grant agreement taken into account
Established by the European Commission
│ 18
H2020 ERC – Success Rate
Per Country of Host Institution
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
Established by the European Commission
│ 19
H2020 ERC Calls 2014
Established by the European Commission
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 20
FP7 evaluated and funded projects
By nationality of Principal Investigator
Established by the European Commission
evaluated
funded
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 21
ERC Calls 2007 - 2014
Grantees at Home and Abroad
Established by the European Commission
27 foreign grantees in Italy, from DE, the UK, US, BE, FR, NL, NO etc.
269 grantees with Italian nationality in Italy
219 Italian grantees abroad,
mainly in the UK(72), FR(36), CH(34), DE(24), NL(17), ES(16), etc.
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 22
Portability to/from Italy
Established by the European Commission
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 23
ERC Grants versus National R&D Effort
Established by the European Commission
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 24
FP7 ERC Grants per country
Top Publications
Established by the European Commission
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
*) Host institution refers to the current host organisation of the grant; data as of 12/01/2015 │ 25
ERC Calls FP7–H2020 Triveneto
52 grants (31 StG/CoG, 21 AdG), 4PoC
Established by the European Commission
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 26
FP7 calls
Success rates in Triveneto
Established by the European Commission
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 27
Interpretation of HI / PI discrepancy
Established by the European Commission
Ø National support for research declining
education system still competitive up to MSc
Ø Salary of researchers not competitive, ERC
contributions often difficult to implement
Ø Still too rigid administrative structure
(national+local rules+practice) (improving)
Ø Suboptimal HI support both in the proposal
and in the management phase (improving)
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 28
Interpretation of StG weakness
(least performing scheme in Italy)
Established by the European Commission
•  Obsolescence of `traditional’ model
for researchers in early career stages
•
•
•
•
Msc, PhD, postdoc, tenure-track all in the same institution
Publications mostly as secondary author with senior advisor
Delayed independence (including funding ID)
Often limited international mobility/exposure
Role of ERC in promoting best practices: funding agencies
and research institutions should discourage such a model
•  Delays and inefficiencies in identifying a
career path in HIs for grantees (improving)
•  In some Universities, heavy teaching duties
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 29
Possible actions (some ongoing, see
e.g. the following talk on Lombardia)
Established by the European Commission
Ø National (regional?) support for reserve list
Ø Simplified procedures for PI employment
and hiring of fixed-term team members
Ø Avoid too restrictive local regulations
beyond national and ERC requirements
Ø Foresee extra benefits for grant holders
Ø Support PI beyond duration of the grant
Ø Former grant holders in local support teams
Ø Concentrate excellence & infrastructures
(beginning from Ph.D. Schools?)
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 30
The European Research Council
Established by the European Commission
•  More information: erc.europa.eu
•  National Contact Point: erc.europa.eu/national-contactpoints
•  Sign up for news alerts: erc.europa.eu/keep-updated-erc
•  Follow us on
www.facebook.com/EuropeanResearchCouncil
twitter.com/ERC_Research
www.linkedin.com/company/european-research-council
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 31
ERC Structure
Established by the European Commission
The ERC Scientific Council
•
Up to 22 prominent researchers proposed by an independent
identification committee
•
•
Appointed by the Commission (4 years, renewable once)
Establishes overall scientific strategy; annual work programmes
(incl. calls for proposals, evaluation criteria); peer review methodology;
selection and accreditation of experts
•
•
Controls quality of operations and management
Ensures communication with the scientific community
The ERC Executive Agency
•
•
•
•
•
•
Executes annual work programme as established by
the Scientific Council
Implements calls for proposals
Organises peer review evaluation
Establishes and manages grant agreements
Administers scientific and financial aspects
Carries out communications activities
The European Commission
•
•
•
•
Provides financing through the EU framework programmes
Guarantees autonomy of the ERC
Assures the integrity and accountability of the ERC
Adopts annual work programmes as established by
the Scientific Council
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 32
Attracting Researchers to Europe
Established by the European Commission
Nationality of ERC project teams (PIs not included)
Analysis of 1,901 Starting and Advanced Grants
EU: 71%
Assoc. Countries: 10%
non-ERA: 17%
unknown: 2%
+ 6,500 non-ERA team members
most from
China, US, India, and Russia
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
│ 33
FP7 Top
European
Institutions
Hosting
at least 30
ERC
Grantees
by Funding
Schemes
Established by the European Commission
ERC calls 2007-2013
First legal
signatories
of the grant
agreement
Data as of 2/06/2015
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
FP7 – H2020 calls
Success rates per domain
Italy and all countries
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
Established by the European Commission
│ 35
FP7 ERC
Success Rates versus Applications
Established by the European Commission
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
*) First legal signatories of the first grant agreement taken into account
│ 36
ERC Calls 2007 - 2014
Host Institutions in Triveneto
Established by the European Commission
52 ERC grants in
Triveneto
(31 StG/CoG - 21 AdG)
+ 4 PoC
Horizon 2020
European
Union
funding
Current host institutions; data
as of
02/06/2015
for Research & Innovation
│ 37
FP7 ERC grants in NUTS-2 regions
(at the end of application stage)
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
Established by the European Commission
│ 38
FP7 Total success rates
in NUTS-2 regions
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
Established by the European Commission
│ 39
National initiatives
in support of
finalist projects
in the ERC calls
NO: The Research Council
supports unfunded StG
finalists (until 2014)
A new partnership between
National Funding Councils
and ERC
FI: support scheme
for finalists in reserve
lists since 2009 calls
Established by the European Commission
SE: support for unfunded
finalists of StG calls since 2007
IE: New scheme open since 2012
for proposals that obtained A in
step 2 in ERC calls. Previous
scheme for StG2007 finalists
FR: ANR launched
an initiative to
support unfunded
StG2007 finalists
BE Flanders: FWO
supports the best
ranked PIs on the StG
reserve list (until 2014)
LU: FNR supports
unfunded StG and
AdG finalists since
2009 calls
CH: SNSF launched
an initiative to back
unfunded StG2007
finalists
PT: New national initiative
in support of ERC finalists
being developed
ES: support for unfunded
finalists of StG calls since
2007 until 2012
Horizon 2020
European Union funding
for Research & Innovation
PL: Support scheme for
finalists since 2009 calls
CZ: opened
support scheme
for finalists in 2012
HU: Call for unfunded
ERC finalists of
StG2007 and StG2009
RO: opened support scheme
for finalists of 2011 calls
SI: Scheme for
unfunded finalists in
step 2 since 2010 calls
IT: Call open to all
unfunded StG2007
finalists
TR: Considers a
scheme to support
unfunded ERC finalists
BG: Considers a
scheme to financially
support projects in the
ERC reserve list
EL: support for unfunded
StG and AdG finalists in 2010,
2011 and 2012 calls
CY: Research
Promotion
Foundation
supported StG
2009 finalists