In the final round of the 2024 European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept grant competition, 134 projects will receive support, bringing the total number of grants awarded under the 2024 work programme to 245 worth €36.75 million. Each grant is worth €150,000 and helps ERC grantees to bridge the gap between the results of their pioneering research and the early phases of its commercialisation. The grant scheme is part of the EU’s research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe.

The ERC’s 2024 work programme included two rounds of the Proof of Concept (PoC) call. In total, over the two rounds, 698 proposals were evaluated, and 245 projects were selected for funding.

The winners of the first round of the 2024 PoC competition, announced in July 2024, included the 2000th project to receive such a grant. Other projects will for example combat food fraud, repurpose existing medicines to fight cancer, and better visualise blood microcirculation, to improve the treatment of many life-threatening conditions. Read more.

The 134 new grantees of this second round work in 20 different countries across Europe . The highest number of grants will be hosted in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands (15 each), followed by Spain and the UK (14 each), Israel (12), Belgium (11), France (10), Denmark (6), Austria (5), Sweden (4), Ireland (3), Finland and Norway (2), Croatia, Czechia, Cyprus, Poland, Portugal, Turkey (1 each).