European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept
The European Research Council (ERC) supports frontier research in any field. It is open to investigators worldwide, as long as the host institution (HI) of the Principal Investigator (PI) that receives ERC funding is established in a Member State or a country associated to Horizon Europe.
The ERC Proof of Concept programme supports the further development of projects funded by other ERC support programmes in an earlier stage.
A call for proposals was published in November 2024, with multiple cut-off dates in 2025.
European Research Centre (ERC) Proof of Concept
European Research Council (ERC)
The ERC is a programme under Horizon Europe.
The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than EUR 16 billion. The total indicative budget for the ERC 2025 Proof of concept calls is EUR 30 million for approximately 200 grants.
For each project, the financial contribution will be awarded as a lump sum of EUR 150,000 for a period of 18 months.
Grant, no contribution required
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.
The ERC Proof of Concept Grants aim at facilitating exploration of the commercial and social innovation potential of ERC funded research.
Only Principal Investigators (PIs) who are drawing funding from 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. Applicants are required to carry out their research in a host institution (HI) based in EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe.
Depending on the specific project (up to 18 months). The ERC expects that, normally, proof of concept activities should be completed within 12 months.
Please refer to the ‘Status’ section.
Later stages
Under Horizon Europe, beneficiaries of ERC grants must ensure open access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to their results as set out in the Model Grant Agreement used for ERC actions. Beneficiaries must ensure that they or the authors retain sufficient intellectual property rights to comply with their open access requirements.
Overview here
ERC-2025-PoC: Open
- Publication of the call: 13 November 2024
- Submission deadline: 13 March 2025, 18 September 2025