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UNIVERSITY STRATEGY AND THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL

UNIVERSITY STRATEGY AND THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL. Mathias Dewatripont June 2007. ERC and FP7. Original focus: For the first time, broader interpretation of research as a source of European competitiveness: ‘Frontier research’, ‘Bottom-up’ / ‘investigator-driven’.

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UNIVERSITY STRATEGY AND THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL

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  1. UNIVERSITY STRATEGY AND THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL Mathias Dewatripont June 2007

  2. ERC and FP7 Original focus: For the first time, broader interpretation of research as a source of European competitiveness: • ‘Frontier research’, • ‘Bottom-up’ / ‘investigator-driven’. • Centered solely on scientific quality. • Not bureaucratic, flexible. • High-quality evaluation, organized by the scientific community.

  3. ERC and FP7 • ERC = around 15% of the budget of FP7, that is, around one billion Euros a year (NSF: 4 billion Euros a year). • Natural complementarity: ‘bottom-up’ versus ‘targeted’ research.

  4. Objectives of funding schemes • Keep (young) researchers in Europe • Favour “brain gain” and “reverse brain drain” • Improve career opportunities and independence - especiallyfor young researchers: ERC Starting Grant attract & retain the next generation • Increase competition, recognition and international visibility for excellent individual scientists and scholars in Europe: ERC Advanced Grant attractive & prestigious grants for established leaders

  5. ERC Starting Grant(ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant) • Key ideas: Retain, Repatriate, Recruit • Support researchers at the start of their independent research career and establishment of their first research team • Provide a structure for transition from working under a supervisor to independent research • Supply grantsto support the creation of excellent new teams of which bring energy and new ideas to their disciplines

  6. ERC Starting Grant(ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant) • ~ €300M initially (approximately ⅓ of ERC annual budget) • €100k – 400k per year (increments of € 50k) • 2000+ Starting Grants over 7 years of FP7

  7. ERC Advanced Grant(ERC Advanced Investigator Researcher Grant) • Designed to support excellent investigator-initiated research projects by established investigators • Should complement the ERC Starting Grant scheme by targeting researchers who have already established their independence as team leaders • €100k-500k per year • max € 2-3 million per grant

  8. ERC budget 2007-2013 • Total (FP7 Ideas budget): € ≈7.5 bn • ≈1/3 Starting Grants, ≈ 2/3 Advanced Grants • Less than 5% for operational ERC management • 1st Call • StG only, € 300 Mio. • 2nd Call • AdG only, late 2007, € 550 Mio. • 3rd call onwards: • 1/3 StG + 2/3 AdG (up to € 1.7 bn in 2013).

  9. Who can apply ? Individual Teams • The Team Leader (“Principal Investigator”) has the • power to assemble his/her research group; • freedom to choose the research topic. • Individual teams should consist of a grouping of researchers which meets the needs of the project, without “artificial” administrative constraints; thus members may be drawn from one or several legal entities, from either within or across national boundaries, including third countries

  10. Who can apply? European and International Teams • Ideas (ERC specific programme) encourages participation of researchers from European and non-European countries • Level of participation varies with regard to roles and funding • Roles: • Principal Investigator • Can be of any nationality • But: PI’s host organisation needs to be established in EU Member States or Associated Countries, or be a international European Interest Organisations (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.) or the JRC • Team Members • Can be of any nationality and established in almost any country • International Cooperation Partner Countries (ICPC) • Industrialised Countries, e.g. Australia, Canada, Japan, USA

  11. ERC Grant Agreement Key Principles • Financially Attractive • 100% direct costs plus 20% flat rate for indirect costs • Up to 5 year duration • Flexible in application • Easy to adjust during execution • Portability • Administration simple and transparent • Preparation of grant agreements without “negotiations” • Short annual reports plus detailed final report

  12. Some general considerations • How ‘elitist’? • Success rate low: around 3% this time. • ‘Champions’ League’, not Structural Fund. • Still, no desire to favor ‘top universities’: key is quality of PI + project. • Desire to help PI: flexibility of use of budget, max 20% for institution, portability. • On the other hand, freedom of contracting; moreover, grant can be used to pay wage of PI. • Questions: (i) Do these schemes ‘help’ European universities compete internationally? (ii) : How can ERC do more to help?

  13. Further Information Website of the ERC:http://erc.europa.eu

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