ERC Proof of Concept Grant is sponsored by European Research Council (ERC) under Horizon Europe. These grants help transform groundbreaking research into practical innovations, bridging the gap between academia and industry. They provide financial support to Principal Investigators who have received ERC funding to verify the innovation potential of their ideas.

ERC Proof of Concept Grant: Bridging Research and Innovation Have you already received an ERC grant for your frontier research project and now want to explore the commercial or societal potential of your work? The ERC Proof of Concept Grant could be for you.

All Principal Investigators in one of the ERC frontier research main grants (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced or Synergy) are eligible to participate and apply for an ERC Proof of Concept Grant. Principal Investigators in an ongoing main grant, or Principal Investigators in a main grant that has ended after 1 January 2025, are eligible to apply.

The Principal Investigator must be able to demonstrate the relation between the idea to be taken to proof of concept and the ERC frontier research project (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced or Synergy) in question. A Principal Investigator may submit only one application per call.

A maximum of three Proof of Concept Grants may be awarded per main grant project, except for Synergy Grant, in which case a maximum of six Proof of Concept Grants may be awarded per ERC funded project. Synergy Grant Principal Investigators are eligible to apply only with the written consent of all Principal Investigators in the same Synergy Grant project. UK’s participation in Horizon Europe What proposals are eligible?

The ERC Proof of Concept funding is made available only to those who already have an ERC award to establish proof of concept of an idea that was generated in the course of their ERC-funded projects. Frontier research often generates radically new ideas that drive innovation and business inventiveness and tackle societal challenges.

The ERC PoC Grants aim at facilitating exploration of the commercial and social innovation potential of ERC funded research and are therefore available only to PIs whose proposals draw substantially on their ERC funded research.

Proof of Concept Grants aim at maximising the value of the excellent research that the ERC funds, by funding further work (i.e. activities which were not scheduled to be funded by the original ERC frontier research grant) to verify the innovation potential of ideas arising from ERC funded projects. The objective is to enable ERC-funded ideas to progress on the path from ground-breaking research towards innovation .

Proof of Concept Grant would help among others: testing, experimenting, demonstrating and validating the idea; conducting research required to carry out the above activities and to address the weaknesses uncovered by them; establishing viability, technical issues and overall direction; clarifying IPR protection or knowledge transfer strategy; involving industrial partners, societal or cultural organisations, policymakers or any other potential stakeholder supporting the translation of research results into innovation; assessing potential “end users” of the expected innovation.

The Host Institution must engage the Principal Investigator for at least the duration of the Proof of Concept project.

The Host Institution must either be established in an EU Member State or associated country (AC) as a legal entity created under national law, or it may be an International European Interest Organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.), the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) or any other entity created under EU law.

International organisations with headquarters in an EU Member State or AC will be deemed to be established in this Member State or AC. Any type of legal entity, public or private, including universities, research organisations and undertakings can host PIs and their teams. The ERC welcomes applications from PIs hosted by private for-profit research centres, including industrial laboratories.

The PI can submit the PoC proposal with a different HI than the one where the ERC main frontier research grant is currently (or was) implemented, provided that this other HI complies with the eligibility criteria described in the Work programme. Work Programme 2026 will continue to award Proof of Concept Grants on the basis of a lump sum of EUR 150,000 for a period of 18 months .

Applications can be submitted at any time from the opening date of the chosen call until the specified submission deadline. As of 2024, applications to the Proof of Concept Grant will be evaluated and selected in two instead of three rounds, based on two specific cut-off dates.

” For an ERC Proof of Concept grant application to be complete, it needs to include the administrative form, the proposal (part B) and the supplementary documents (Host Institution binding statement of support and if applicable ethics self-assessment, additional ethics documentation and letters of support or intent from the relevant stakeholders).

The completed proposal should be submitted by the specified submission deadline of the chosen call. Calls are published on this page, the EU Funding & Tenders Portal and in the Official Journal of the European Union. How does the ethics review work?

In order to ensure that the excellent science we fund is in line with ethical principles and relevant Union, national and international law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, each proposal that is selected for funding must undergo an ethics review.

This is a legal requirement under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme - Regulation 2021/695: Eligible actions and ethical principles (Article 18) and Ethics (Article 19). The basis for this ethics review is Part A (including the Ethics Issues Table – EIT – and the Ethics Self-Assessment – ESA) and Part B of the application.

A well-detailed ESA is crucial to facilitate the process as it clarifies what issues are linked to the proposed research activities and how these will be dealt with.

The ethics review comprises 3 stages: Performed internally by ERCEA staff To clear proposals without ethics issues or with simple ethics issues Panels of Independent ethics reviewers Identification of proposals with potentially Serious and/or Complex ethics issues The clearance of proposals with non-Serious and/or Complex ethics issues can include observations and references to documents to be kept on file and provided to ERCEA, upon request only.

After the screening panel, applicants might be contacted to provide additional information on the ethics handling of their proposals. This typically happens one week after the screening panel and applicants are given 3 weeks to reply.

Panels of independent ethics reviewers Discussion of the Serious and/or Complex ethics issues of the proposals In case a follow-up of certain Serious and/or Complex ethics issues is needed during the project implementation, ethics deliverables might be formulated.

Please note that research proposals involving the use of hESCs will need to undergo all of the steps of the Ethics review and also a specific EC approval following a consultation to the HE programme committee comitology procedure, as this is a legal requirement under HE framework programme. How does the evaluation process work?

The Proof of Concept projects to be funded will have arisen from scientifically excellent ERC-funded research that has already been subject to rigorous peer review.

The Proof of Concept Grant is evaluated based on the sole criterion of excellence, which comprises the following three evaluation elements: Breakthrough innovation potential: Proposals will have to demonstrate that the proposed Proof of Concept activity has the potential to drive innovation and business inventiveness and/or tackle societal challenges, and that the proposed expected outcomes are innovative or distinctive compared to existing solutions.

Approach and methodology: The proposed Proof of Concept activities and planning are feasible within the proposed timescales and resources , and are appropriate and effective to explore the pathway from ground-breaking research towards innovation.

Principal Investigator - strategic lead and project management: The Principle Investigator needs to demonstrate a clear vision on how to organise the management of the project, the consolidation of information and data needed to take strategic decisions and implement the proposed plan, including risk and contingency measures. Proof of Concept calls have a single-stage submission and single-step evaluation procedure .

External independent experts will evaluate independently each admissible and eligible proposal and mark it as “very good”, “good” or “fail” for each of the three evaluation elements. In order to be considered for funding, proposals will have to be awarded a pass mark (”very good” or “good”) by a majority of the experts on each of the three evaluation elements.

A Seal of Excellence will be awarded to proposals that have received a pass mark in all three of the evaluation elements set out in this Work Programme, but cannot be funded due to lack of budget available to the call. EIC Tech to Market programme ERC Proof of Concept grantees who are also eligible for European Innovation Council Transition Grants in 2026 can now also avail of the EIC Tech to Market programme .

It aims to support innovative researchers in their transition from lab to market, with free training provided by experienced mentors, experts, investors and market representatives. For information about upcoming training courses, as well as deadlines for expressions of interest, visit the EIC Community . Searching for data on ERC funded projects and proposals?

You can use two different platforms for views and analysis of ERC funded projects and evaluated proposals.

This dashboard allows you to: Filter by multiple criteria: Refine your search by funding scheme, country, year, panel, and more Export data: Export results and graphs data for further analysis and presentation Discover how to use the ERC dashboard with the quick start guide ERC Research Information System (ERIS) ERIS provides advanced features to analyze research data: Rich filters: Apply filters on any available data field for more precise searches Text mining: Use text mining capabilities to uncover patterns and insights Dynamic visualizations: Access a variety of visual tools, including interactive word clouds and clustering tools Project outputs & bibliometrics: Search and view comprehensive data on project outputs and bibliometrics Export data: Export results and graphs data for further analysis and presentation Interested to learn more?

Watch our instructional videos describing the full ERC grant application and evaluation process, step by step. How to get started with your ERC grant? Thinking about applying for an ERC grant?

In this video, Line Volkers, shares key advice on how to get started, from what makes an ERC grant unique to the essential steps in the application process. Whether you're just exploring or already preparing your proposal, this video will help you understand what to expect and how to prepare effectively.

Tentative Timeframe Proof of Concept 2026 evaluation Deadline date: 17 September 2026 17:00:00 Brussels time Timeframe Proof of Concept 2025 evaluation Timeframe Proof of Concept 2025 Ethics review Results of ERC-2025-PoC-DL1 Results of ERC-2025-PoC-DL2 ERC Work Programme 2025 | 2026 Info for applicants PoC 2026 Application form (HE ERC PoC) Guide for Peer Reviewers: Proof of Concept calls Gender Equality Plans guidance Q&As on ERC-2026-PoC call For questions contact your National Contact Point or the ERCEA ERC Proof of Concept 2025 See all evaluation panels ERC Proof of Concept 2025 Second deadline: List of selected projects Cracking bacteria’s defences From war damage to heart repair: ERC grantees supported to turn their science into practice Proof of Concept Grants 2025: Examples of projects The power of images in virtual environments