The European Research Council (ERC) has published the outcomes of the last 2025 round of its Proof of Concept grants. In this round, 136 grantees will each receive €150 000 to explore how their scientific results can move towards practical application or early commercial use.
With these awards, the total number of Proof of Concept grants under the ERC 2025 Work Programme reached 300, representing an overall budget of €45 million.
Click here for examples of funded projects.
Proof of Concept Grants 2025 in numbers
The ERC’s 2025 Work Programme included two rounds of the Proof of Concept call. In total, 879 proposals were evaluated. The 300 new grantees will work in 23 EU Member States and Associated Countries.
The highest number of projects will be carried out in Germany (51 grants), Spain (42), Italy (33) and the United Kingdom (31).
Eligibility for the 2026 ERC PoC call
Eligibility for the 2026 ERC Proof of Concept Grant is restricted to Principal Investigators whose ERC main frontier research grant is ongoing or ends on or after 1 January 2025.
Please note that grantees whose proposals were evaluated by the ERC, but funded by the UKRI Guarantee, are not eligible for this call.