The European Research Council (ERC) announced on 14 July, 2025 the first group of researchers to be awarded ERC Proof of Concept Grants in 2025. In this initial round of the 2025 competition, 150 projects will receive €22.5 million in funding. Each grant is worth €150,000 and is designed to help ERC grantees to bridge the gap between the results of their pioneering research and the early phases of its commercialisation or societal application. The grant scheme is part of Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation framework programme.
The list of researchers whose proposal received an ERC Proof of Concept Grant includes two Greek researchers: Mr. George Kollias (Professor at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) with Inolysis Private Company, and Mr. Michalis Vassiliou, Assistant Professor at the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens.
You may find more info on the call’s results and the full list of winners here.
The ERC 2025 work programme includes two calls for proposals for Proof of Concept Grants with a total budget of €45 million.
The scheme is open only to researchers who currently hold, or have previously been awarded, ERC frontier research grants. These top-up grants help to explore the commercial or societal potential of the findings researchers made through their ERC projects. The objective is to enable ERC-funded ideas to progress on the path from ground-breaking research towards innovation.
The next funding ERC Proof of Concept round is now open for applications, with the deadline set for 18 September 2025.
