The European Research Council has now funded over 1000 innovative ideas within its three years of activity. Among the package of funded projects, ERC covers a vast range of scientific disciplines, public policy areas and commercial sectors. There is currently a further 661 M € envelope still available for early-career researchers which has been launched within the FP7 Calls for proposals in 20 July 2010. These grants will be awarded over the next 14 months and are expected to create more than 165.000 jobs.
 

The European Research Council, the first pan-European funding body for cutting-edge research, has funded more than 1000 projects on innovative ideas and awarded grants to the best Europan researchers in support to their carreers.

A car travelling without a driver from Italy to Shanghai to test autonomous driving in extreme conditions; volcanic eruptions created in a laboratory to study the interaction of volcanic ash with the atmosphere; a microscopic "chemical robot" that delivers medicine to the correct places inside a human body. These are just a few of the 1000 innovative research projects with useful applications that can come from the "curiosity-driven" research funded by the ERC.

According to Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn the ERC has come a very long way in a very short time and is delivering excellent results for science and for Europe. Investing in top talent in cutting-edge research is pivotal, now more than ever, if we are to boost innovation as well as the competitiveness of Europe vis-à-vis the rest of the world, she explained.

As part of the EU's biggest ever investment in research and innovation (nearly €6.4bn for smart growth and jobs) funded through FP7 grants, a further 661 M€ envelope granted by the ERC is still available for young researchers in actions which are part of efforts made by the European Union on investment in research and innovation and contribute to the implementaciónd and the 2020 Strategy.

In this occasion, these 661 M€ granted to starting independent researchers through the Specific Programme Ideas as part of the 7th Framework Programme, are focused on early stage researchers. Alongside these grants, the ERC also supports the work of advances researchers who in 2009 received over 590 M€ for career support. Both grants are allocated solely on the basis of scientific excellence.

Created just over 3 years ago, under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and with the new President, Helga Nowotny, the ERC awards grants to the best researchers of any nationality and age, and from any scientific discipline. ERC has a EUR 7.5 billion budget for the period from 2007 to 2013.