Proof of Concept
The ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) provides additional funding for ERC grant holders to establish proof of concept, identify a development path and an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) strategy for ideas arising from an ERC-funded project. The objective is to provide funds to enable ERC-funded ideas to be brought to a pre-demonstration stage where potential commercialisation opportunities have been identified.
Innovations can be commercialised through licences 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. Innovations can also feed into ventures aimed at addressing social and environmental goals which may be in the voluntary and not-for-profit sectors.
The PoC aims at supporting an ERC grant holder during the pre-demonstration phase to prepare a "package" to be presented to venture capitalists, companies or social entrepreneurs that might invest in the technology and take it through the early commercialisation or roll-out phase.
Please note that the PoC call is only open to Principal Investigators (PIs) who hold either an ERC Starting Grant or an Advanced Grant that is either ongoing or where the project has ended less than 12 months before the publication date of the call. There are three evaluation criteria for proposals: Innovation Potential, Quality of the PoC Plan and Budget (there will be no scientific evaluation).