2. Úvod
  3. Science
  4. Grants
  5. Apply
  6. Grants
  7. ERC PoC

ERC Proof of Concept Grants

ERC H2027 logo

What are the ERC Proof of Concept Grants?

ERC Proof of Concept Grants (PoC) maximise the value of the excellent ERC research by funding further work to verify the innovation potential of ideas arising from ERC funded projects. Innovations can be commercialised through licenses to a new or existing company or through a venture funded start-up, depending on the nature of the invention/idea, its potential markets, and the inventor's plans for future involvement in the commercialisation. For more details see ERC Proof of Concept 2025 PoC summary  .

Who can apply for the ERC Proof of Concept Grant?

All PIs in an ERC frontier research project (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced or Synergy) that is either on going or has ended after 01 Jan 2024 for the ERC PoC 2025 call. The applicant must be able to demonstrate the relation between the idea to be taken to proof of concept and the ERC project in question.

Why apply for the ERC Proof of Concept Grant?

  • You can get financial support up to 150 000 € for 18 months. Up to 3 PoC grants may be awarded per ERC Starting, Consolidator and Advanced grant and up to 6 PoC grants may be awarded per ERC Synergy grant. These PoC grants can run in parallel.
  • The grant can cover up to 100% of the total eligible costs: (i) Establish viability, technical issues and overall direction; (ii) Clarify intellectual property rights position and strategy; (iii) Provide feedback for budgeting and other forms of commercial discussion; (iv) Provide connections to later stage funding; (v) Cover initial expenses for establishing a company.
  • You can do your research in any of the EU Member States (MS) or Associated Countries (AC).

When to apply for the ERC Proof of Concept Grant?

The nearest call deadlines are:

  Please inform the Project Office about your intention to apply.  
  Do not hesitate to contact us anytime for consulting, discussion or help.  

How to apply for the ERC Proof of Concept Grant?

  1. Find and read programme guidelines.
  2. Use your account on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. Choose the call and activate your access to the call on the EU Participant Portal.
  3. Contact the host institution and negotiate institutional support. For IOCB official agreement with grant submission it is necessary to complete the project request form. Please, contact the Project Office.
  4. Fill in your online Administrative form (Part A) at the Funding and Tenders Portal.
    • General information, Abstract & objectives (will be publicly available), Declarations;
    • Participants & contacts: PI & HI, and gender equality plan;
    • Budget;
    • Ethics and security;
    • Call specific questions.
  5. Complete the ERC PoC 2024 offline Research proposal Research proposal and make a PDF from the final version (max 10 pages + references). Visual figures, tables and graphs are highly recommended in the proposal. Discuss your proposal with other scientists, the Project Office and the Czech national contact point.
    • The idea – Breakthrough innovation potential (max 3 pages);
    • Approach and methodology (max 6 pages);
    • The PI – strategic lead and project management (max 1 page);
  6. Finalise your application at the Funding and Tenders Portal.
    • Administrative form online Part A (applicant & Project Office)
    • Research proposal offline Part B in PDF (applicant & Project Office)
    • Commitment letter of the host institution (Project Office)
    • Other documentation needed on eligibility and ethics and security issues, i.e. ethical and security self-assessment if relevant (applicant & Project Office)
  7. Submit your application before Wed 13 Mar 2025 17:00 CET (IOCB deadline is on Wed 6 Mar 2025). A further deadline for the 2025 PoC call will be Thu 18 Sep 2025.

Final evaluation results will be announced to applicants on 27 Jun 2025 (or 14 Jan 2026 for the further deadline).
The grant start date is expected to be in October 2025 (or May 2026 for the further deadline).

Czech national contact point: Technology Centre CAS
Lyudmyla Tysyachna, tysyachna@tc.cz, ☎: +420 234 006 161 / +420 607 006 110 and Zuzana Šimek (Čapková), simekz@tc.cz, ☎: +420 702 179 875.


Other ERC Grants

  • ERC Advanced Grants (AdG) up to 2.5 M € for 5 years for established research leaders with a recognised track record of research achievements (see more details).
  • ERC Consolidator Grants (CoG) up to 2 M € for 5 years for excellent researchers with 7-12 years experience after Ph.D. (see more details).
  • ERC Starting Grants (StG) up to 1.5 M € for 5 years for promising early-career researchers with 2–7 years experience after Ph.D. (see more details).
  • ERC Synergy Grants (SyG) up to 10 M € for 6 years to address ambitious research questions that can only be answered by the coordinated work of a small group of 2-4 principal Investigators (see more details).


IOCB

IOCB participation (1) in ERC Proof of Concept Grants

  • Milan VRÁBEL: CHEMCELL: Chemical Engineering of Natural Killer Cells for Cancer Immunotherapy (2022-2024; ERC link)