Access to Funding

ERC funds 45 excellent scientists to commercialise their research results

The European Research Council (ERC) announced 45 grant holders who will receive top-up funding to investigate commercial applications of their frontier research results. The grants, worth up to €150,000, cover costs of activities to verify the innovation potential of ERC-funded projects.   

The Proof of Concept scheme is open to ERC grant holders only. This year's call will be done in instalments with three deadlines for applications. In this first round, 45 researchers based in 13 countries are being funded (see list of winners below). Their projects cover a spectrum of topics: from improving the cultivation of medicinal plants, to building car engines using nanomaterials and boosting turnout in elections by increasing the satisfaction of first-time voters.


The total budget of the 2015 Proof of Concept competition is € 20 million, of which € 6.7 million is earmarked for this first round. Projects submitted in the second round of the call are now under evaluation and the results will be known later this year. ERC grant holders can still apply for the third round of the call (deadline on 1 October 2015). This is the first time that applicants can only submit their project proposals in one of the three rounds (see ERC Work Programme 2015)


Two of the 45 grant recipients are based at UMC Utrecht. Timothy Radstake is professor of Translational Immunology and is involved in various businesses that focus on the development of novel therapeutics. The ERC grant will be used to discover new early diagnostic tools for the autoimmune disease systemic sclerosis.  Nicolas Ramsey works at the Brain Center Rudolf Magnus as Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience. He previously received the Phase 1 and Phase 2 Valorisation Grants from Technology Foundation STW. With the ERC grant he will develop a prototype implant that monitors brain function and has the potential to influence damaged parts in the brain to reactivate. The grant will support the development of a business plan and optimising opportunities for product commercialisation. 


See the list of the 45 winners by country of host institution. 

Companies who perform R&D-projects can lower their R&D costs with the fiscal schemes WBSO and RDA. With WBSO and RDA the ministry of Economic Affairs aims to stimulate entrepreneurs to increase their investments in research. In this way the ministry wants to contribute to more innovative power and a greater competitiveness of Dutch companies. Starting 2016, the WBSO and RDA will be combined.

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With the WBSO, companies can lower the wage costs for R&D, and the RDA provides an extra deduction item for other R&D costs and expenditures, such as prototypes or research equipment. You can only make use of the RDA if you also apply for a WBSO. This can be done at the same time in a joint WBSO/RDA application. You can set off the tax benefit in your tax return to the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration. Companies pay less income tax and national insurance contributions and self-employed individuals can make use of a fixed deduction.


Details of the combined WBSO/RDA will be published at Prinsjesdag. 


Source: RVO

Development voucher of € 10,000 for HOLISAN; the company that markets food supplement Prostaprev in the Netherlands!

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