l’erc in europa, in italia e nel veneto: bilancio ... · !cos’è l’erc e cosa ha realizzato...

Established by the European Commission

Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation

Il Consiglio Europeo della Ricerca

© Art & Build Architect / Montois Partners / credits: S. Brison

L’ERC in Europa,

in Italia e nel Veneto: bilancio provvisorio e sfide per il futuro

Fabio Zwirner Membro del Consiglio Scientifico

Padova, 13 ottobre 2015 │ 1



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Programma

Ø Cos’è l’ERC e cosa ha realizzato finora

Ø La performance di Italia e (Tri-) Veneto Ø Criticità, sfide future, possibili azioni



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The ERC supports excellence in frontier research through a bottom-up, individual-based, pan-European competition

Legi

slat

ion

What is the ERC?

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

Stra

tegy

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



ERC in the context of Horizon 2020

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

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ERC H2020 Budget (2014-2020)

ERC 2014-2020 budget € 13 billion

(1.9 billion/year)

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ERC 2007-2013 budget € 7.5 billion

(1.1 billion/year)



Star%ng Grants

starters (2-7 years after PhD)

up to € 2.0 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

ERC Grant Schemes

Consolidator Grants

consolidators (7-12 years after PhD)

up to € 2.75 Mio for 5 years

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To be described in detail in the talk by V. Monsurrò



ERC main funding schemes complementarities

Post-docs

Senior Professor

Students

Post Graduates

Junior Professor/ Junior Researcher

Associated Professor

Full Professor

Erasmus

Marie Curie

ERC AdG - Advanced

ERC StG - Starters

ERC CoG – Consolidators



Physical Sciences & Engineering – 10 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

Life Sciences – 9 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 §  LS8 Evolutionary, population & environmental

biology §  LS9 Applied life sciences & biotechnology

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ERC evaluation process 3 domains and 25 panels

Social Sciences and Humanities – 6 Panels §  SH1 Markets, individuals & institutions §  SH2 The social world, diversity, institutions & values §  SH3 Environment, space & population §  SH4 The Human Mind and its complexity §  SH5 Cultures & cultural production §  SH6 The study of the human past

support for & emphasis on interdisciplinary proposals



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

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Creative Freedom to Individual Grantee

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After 8 Years, a Success Story

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

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Priority to Young Scientists

Two-thirds of ERC grants to early-stage

Principal Investigators.

+ 22 000 PhD and post-doc researchers

in ERC teams



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ERC Delivers

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)



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May-Britt Moser

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 Representation in the Entorhinal Cortex” Science 2004) Edvard

Moser

The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2014 was awarded to Jean Tirole "for his analysis of market power and regulation". 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”.

Artur Avila

22/10/2014 f3.jpg (300×358)

http://plus.maths.org/content/sites/plus.maths.org/files/news/2014/Seoul/f3.jpg 1/1

Martin Hairer

22/10/2014 Hairer.jpg (310×233)

https://royalsociety.org/~/media/people/new-fellows-2014/Hairer.jpg 1/1

2014 Distinctions to ERC Grantees



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Italy in the ERC Calls 2007 - 2014 Evaluated Proposals by Country of HI

Italian Host Institutions Evaluated proposals: 6249

Funded proposals: 296 Success rate 5%

488 Italian PIs: 269 in Italy and 219 abroad



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Italy in the FP7 ERC Calls Grant Distribution Per Country of HI

*) Host institution refers to the organisation with which the first grant agreement was signed

4,354 projects have been selected, one fifth corresponding to women PIs



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Italy in the H2020 ERC Calls (2014) Grant Distribution Per Country of HI



ERC Calls 2007 - 2014 Top Host Institutions in Italy

Current host institutions; data as of 02/06/2015

More than 60 HIs with

ERC grants



FP7 ERC - Success Rate Per Country of Host Institution

*) First legal signatories of the first grant agreement taken into account │ 18



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H2020 ERC – Success Rate Per Country of Host Institution



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H2020 ERC Calls 2014



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FP7 evaluated and funded projects By nationality of Principal Investigator

evaluated

funded



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ERC Calls 2007 - 2014 Grantees at Home and Abroad

269 grantees with Italian nationality in Italy

27 foreign grantees in Italy, from DE, the UK, US, BE, FR, NL, NO etc.

219 Italian grantees abroad, mainly in the UK(72), FR(36), CH(34), DE(24), NL(17), ES(16), etc.



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Portability to/from Italy



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ERC Grants versus National R&D Effort



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FP7 ERC Grants per country Top Publications

*) Host institution refers to the current host organisation of the grant; data as of 12/01/2015 │ 25



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ERC Calls FP7–H2020 Triveneto 52 grants (31 StG/CoG, 21 AdG), 4PoC



FP7 calls Success rates in Triveneto

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Interpretation of HI / PI discrepancy

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)



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Interpretation of StG weakness (least performing scheme in Italy)

•  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



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Possible actions (some ongoing, see e.g. the following talk on Lombardia)

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?)



•  More information: erc.europa.eu

•  National Contact Point: erc.europa.eu/national-contact-points

•  Sign up for news alerts: erc.europa.eu/keep-updated-erc

•  Follow us on

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www.facebook.com/EuropeanResearchCouncil

twitter.com/ERC_Research

www.linkedin.com/company/european-research-council

The European Research Council



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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

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

ERC Structure



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Attracting Researchers to Europe

Nationality of ERC project teams (PIs not included) Analysis of 1,901 Starting and Advanced Grants

+ 6,500 non-ERA team members most from

China, US, India, and Russia

EU: 71% Assoc. Countries: 10%

non-ERA: 17% unknown: 2%



FP7 Top European

Institutions Hosting

at least 30 ERC

Grantees by Funding

Schemes

ERC calls 2007-2013

First legal signatories of the grant agreement

Data as of 2/06/2015



FP7 – H2020 calls Success rates per domain Italy and all countries

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FP7 ERC Success Rates versus Applications

*) First legal signatories of the first grant agreement taken into account



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ERC Calls 2007 - 2014 Host Institutions in Triveneto

52 ERC grants in Triveneto

(31 StG/CoG - 21 AdG) + 4 PoC

Current host institutions; data as of 02/06/2015



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FP7 ERC grants in NUTS-2 regions (at the end of application stage)



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FP7 Total success rates in NUTS-2 regions



National initiatives in support of finalist projects in the ERC calls

A new partnership between National Funding Councils and ERC

BE Flanders: FWO supports the best ranked PIs on the StG reserve list (until 2014)

CY: Research Promotion Foundation supported StG 2009 finalists

FI: support scheme for finalists in reserve lists since 2009 calls

FR: ANR launched an initiative to support unfunded StG2007 finalists

HU: Call for unfunded ERC finalists of StG2007 and StG2009

IE: New scheme open since 2012 for proposals that obtained A in step 2 in ERC calls. Previous scheme for StG2007 finalists

IT: Call open to all unfunded StG2007 finalists

LU: FNR supports unfunded StG and AdG finalists since 2009 calls

NO: The Research Council supports unfunded StG finalists (until 2014)

SI: Scheme for unfunded finalists in step 2 since 2010 calls

ES: support for unfunded finalists of StG calls since 2007 until 2012

CH: SNSF launched an initiative to back unfunded StG2007 finalists

TR: Considers a scheme to support unfunded ERC finalists

PL: Support scheme for finalists since 2009 calls

EL: support for unfunded StG and AdG finalists in 2010, 2011 and 2012 calls

BG: Considers a scheme to financially support projects in the ERC reserve list

CZ: opened support scheme for finalists in 2012

PT: New national initiative in support of ERC finalists being developed

RO: opened support scheme for finalists of 2011 calls

SE: support for unfunded finalists of StG calls since 2007

l’erc in europa, in italia e nel veneto: bilancio ... · !cos’è l’erc e cosa ha realizzato...

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