European Research Council - a new element in the UE research policy ?

1. European Research Council - a new element in the UE researchpolicy? Michał Kleiber President of the Polish Academy of Sciences Member of the European Research Council Senior Advisor to the President of Poland Taipei, September 2008

2. Challenges for Research in Europe • Limited career opportunities • Appealing career opportunities from third countries attracting European graduates • Dropping private R&D investment • Fragmentation of research and funding activities → lack of competition • Complex Administration: not helping to attract and maintain the best researchers • Fewer students taking Science subjects

3. European Science Policy Paradox How to do ground-breaking research with: • no significant investment • no scientists involved in policy-making

4. Why an ERC ? • 1.93% of Europe’s GDP is invested in R&D compared with 2.59% in US and 3.15% in Japan (European Commission, July 2005) • US scientists dominate in each of the 21 subject areas of science (Basu, 2004) • Public opinion influenced by the most spectacular, ground-breaking achievements

5. Source: Basu, 2004

6. FP7 ca. € 54.5 bn → ca. € 7.8 bn per year, 40% more than in FP6 • Cooperation • Ideas • People • Capacities →European ResearchCouncil (ERC) → ca. € 7510 m →more than € 1 bn per year,ca. 14% of FP7 total

7. ERC • The Scientific Council Independent scientific governance • The Executive Agency Practical implementation and management of operations

8. The mandate of the Scientific Council includes: • Scientific strategy • Monitoring and quality control • Communication and dissemination

9. Members of the ERC Scientific Council: • Dr. Claudio BORDIGNON (IT) – medicine (hematology, gene therapy) • Prof. Manuel CASTELLS (ES) – information society, urban sociology • Prof. Paul J. CRUTZEN (NL) – atmospheric chemistry, climatology • Prof. Mathias DEWATRIPONT (BE) – economics, science policy • Dr. Daniel ESTEVE (FR) – physics (quantum electronics, nanoscience) • Prof. Pavel EXNER (CZ) – mathematical physics • Prof. Hans-Joachim FREUND (DE) – physical chemistry, surface physics • Prof. Wendy HALL (UK) – electronics, computer science • Prof. Carl-Henrik HELDIN (SE) – medicine (cancer research, biochemistry) • Prof. Michal KLEIBER (PL) – computational science and engineering, materials science • Prof. Maria Teresa V.T. LAGO (PT) – astrophysics • Prof. Fotis C. KAFATOS (GR) – molecular biology, biotechnology • Prof. Norbert KROO (HU) – solid-state physics, optics • Dr. Oscar MARIN PARRA (ES) – biology, biomedicine • Lord MAY (UK) – zoology, ecology • Prof. Helga NOWOTNY (AT) – sociology, science policy • Prof. Christiane NÜSSLEIN-VOLHARD (DE) – biochemistry, genetics • Prof. Leena PELTONEN-PALOTIE (FI) – medicine (molecular biology) • Prof. Alain PEYRAUBE (FR) – linguistics, asian studies • Dr. Jens R. ROSTRUP-NIELSEN (DK) – chemical and process engineering, materials science • Prof. Salvatore SETTIS (IT) – history of art, archeology • Prof. Rolf M. ZINKERNAGEL (CH) – medicine (immunology)

10. Members of the ERC Scientific Council: • Dr. Claudio BORDIGNON (IT) –medicine (hematology, gene therapy) • Prof. Manuel CASTELLS (ES) – information society, urban sociology • Prof. Paul J. CRUTZEN (NL) – atmospheric chemistry, climatology • Prof. Mathias DEWATRIPONT (BE) – economics, science policy • Dr. Daniel ESTEVE (FR) – physics (quantum electronics, nanoscience) • Prof. Pavel EXNER (CZ) – mathematical physics • Prof. Hans-Joachim FREUND (DE) – physical chemistry, surface physics • Prof. Wendy HALL (UK) – electronics,computer science • Prof. Carl-Henrik HELDIN (SE) – medicine (cancer research, biochemistry) • Prof. Michal KLEIBER (PL) – computational science and engineering, materials science • Prof. Maria Teresa V.T. LAGO (PT) – astrophysics • Prof. Fotis C. KAFATOS (GR) – molecularbiology, biotechnology • Prof. Norbert KROO (HU) – solid-state physics, optics • Dr. Oscar MARIN PARRA (ES) – biology, biomedicine • Lord MAY (UK) – zoology, ecology • Prof. Helga NOWOTNY (AT) – sociology, science policy • Prof. Christiane NÜSSLEIN-VOLHARD (DE) – biochemistry, genetics • Prof. Leena PELTONEN-PALOTIE (FI) – medicine(molecular biology) • Prof. Alain PEYRAUBE (FR) – linguistics, asian studies • Dr. Jens R. ROSTRUP-NIELSEN (DK) – chemical and process engineering, materials science • Prof. Salvatore SETTIS (IT) – history of art, archeology • Prof. Rolf M. ZINKERNAGEL (CH) – medicine (immunology)

11. Members of the ERC Scientific Council: • Dr. Claudio BORDIGNON (IT) – medicine (hematology, gene therapy) • Prof. Manuel CASTELLS (ES) – information society, urban sociology • Prof. Paul J. CRUTZEN (NL) – atmospheric chemistry, climatology • Prof. Mathias DEWATRIPONT (BE) – economics, science policy • Dr. Daniel ESTEVE (FR) – physics (quantum electronics, nanoscience) • Prof. Pavel EXNER (CZ) – mathematical physics • Prof. Hans-Joachim FREUND (DE) – physical chemistry, surface physics • Prof. Wendy HALL (UK) – electronics, computer science • Prof. Carl-Henrik HELDIN (SE) – medicine (cancer research, biochemistry) • Prof. Michal KLEIBER (PL) – computational science and engineering, materials science • Prof. Maria Teresa V.T. LAGO (PT) – astrophysics • Prof. Fotis C. KAFATOS (GR) – molecular biology, biotechnology • Prof. Norbert KROO (HU) – solid-state physics, optics • Dr. Oscar MARIN PARRA (ES) – biology, biomedicine • Lord MAY (UK) – zoology, ecology • Prof. Helga NOWOTNY (AT) – sociology, science policy • Prof. Christiane NÜSSLEIN-VOLHARD (DE) – biochemistry, genetics • Prof. Leena PELTONEN-PALOTIE (FI) – medicine (molecular biology) • Prof. Alain PEYRAUBE (FR) – linguistics, asian studies • Dr. Jens R. ROSTRUP-NIELSEN (DK) – chemical and process engineering, materials research • Prof. Salvatore SETTIS (IT) – history of art, archeology • Prof. Rolf M. ZINKERNAGEL (CH) – medicine (immunology)

12. Members of the ERC Scientific Council: • Dr. Claudio BORDIGNON (IT) – medicine (hematology, gene therapy) • Prof. Manuel CASTELLS (ES) – information society, urban sociology • Prof. Paul J. CRUTZEN (NL) – atmospheric chemistry, climatology • Prof. Mathias DEWATRIPONT (BE) – economics, science policy • Dr. Daniel ESTEVE (FR) – physics (quantum electronics, nanoscience) • Prof. Pavel EXNER (CZ) – mathematical physics • Prof. Hans-Joachim FREUND (DE) – physical chemistry, surface physics • Prof. Wendy HALL (UK) – electronics, computer science • Prof. Carl-Henrik HELDIN (SE) – medicine (cancer research, biochemistry) • Prof. Michal KLEIBER (PL) – computational science and engineering, materials science • Prof. Maria Teresa V.T. LAGO (PT) – astrophysics • Prof. Fotis C. KAFATOS (GR) – molecular biology, biotechnology • Prof. Norbert KROO (HU) – solid-state physics, optics • Dr. Oscar MARIN PARRA (ES) – biology, biomedicine • Lord MAY (UK) – zoology, ecology • Prof. Helga NOWOTNY (AT) – sociology, science policy • Prof. Christiane NÜSSLEIN-VOLHARD (DE) – biochemistry, genetics • Prof. Leena PELTONEN-PALOTIE (FI) – medicine (molecular biology) • Prof. Alain PEYRAUBE (FR) – linguistics, asian studies • Dr. Jens R. ROSTRUP-NIELSEN (DK) – chemical and process engineering, materials research • Prof. Salvatore SETTIS (IT) – history of art, archeology • Prof. med. Rolf M. ZINKERNAGEL (CH) – medicine (immunology)

13. Frontier Research • Classical distinctions between basic and applied research have lost much of theirrelevance at a time when many emerging areas of science andtechnology (e.g.biotechnology, ICT, materials and nanotechnology) oftenembrace substantial elements of both. • Frontier research pursues questions irrespective of established disciplinaryboundaries. It may well involve multi- or trans-disciplinaryresearch that brings together researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds, withdifferent theoretical and conceptual approaches, techniques, methodologies and instrumentation, perhaps even different goals and motivations. • The task of funding agencies is confined to supporting the bestresearchers with the most exciting ideas. • Need to confront the intrinsic risk involved in frontier research projects.

14. ERC challenges Avoid outmoded distinctions : • Between “basic” and “applied” research • Between “science” and “technology” • Between “traditional” disciplines

15. ERC – Guiding Principles • Significant funding for ambitious frontier research projects – allfields of research, cross-disciplinary and unconventional (high-risk) projects • Simple and flexible application procedures • Scientific excellence (of person and proposal) as sole criterion • Investigator-driven research – individual research teams led by a single Principal Investigator are supported(PI located in or moving to EU – nonationality criterion – open to the entire world) • Grants are awarded to the host institution that engages the Principal Investigator • The host institution guarantees the Principal Investigator’s independence and provides the research environment to carry out the project and manage its funding • Special emphasis on young researchers • An ERC grant can cover up to 100% of the total eligible direct costs of the research plus a contribution towards indirect costs, which cannot exceed 20% of the total eligible direct costs

16. Evaluation • Sole criteria for success – "excellence" of proposal and principal investigator; critical importance of the evaluation panels and process. • Setting up the peer review system for the evaluation process – establishing across the three domains a number of panels covering a broad range of topics – rather than being focused on traditional disciplines, ensuring that consideration given to high quality, interdisciplinary proposals. • Selection of Panel Chairs and members of the highest international reputation in EU and beyond. • Enthusiasm amongst Europe's scientists towards the ERC and ScC strategy seen in unprecedented acceptance approaching 95% of the persons invited to participate in the peer review evaluation panels.

17. ERC Grants • The ERC Starting Independent Researchers Grants (ERC Starting Grants; StG). The objective is to provide adequate support to the independent careers of excellent researchers, whatever their nationality, located in or moving to the EU and associated countries, who are at the stage of establishing and leading their first research team or program. • The ERC Advanced Investigator Grants (ERC Advanced Grants; AdG). The objective is to encourage and support excellent, innovative investigator-initiated research projects by leading advanced investigators across the EU member states and countriesassociated to the framework programme. It will complement the Starting Grant scheme by targeting the population of researchers who have already established themselvesas being independent leaders in their own right.

18. Who can apply ? Individual Teams • The Team Leader (“Principal Investigator”) has: • the power to assemble his/her research group, • the 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.

19. Who can apply? • Principal Investigator • 27 EU Member States • Associated Countries (e.g. NO, IS, CH, IL), including ACC (TR, HR) • Team Members • 27 EU Member States • Associated Countries (e.g. NO, IS, CH, IL), including ACC (TR, HR) • International Cooperation Partner Countries (ICPC) • Other industrialised countries, e.g. Australia, Canada, Japan, USA, Taiwan

20. Funding of International Teams • Possibility of funding • 27 EU Member States • Associated Countries (e.g. NO, IS, CH, IL), including ACC (TR, HR) • International Cooperation Partner Countries (ICPC) • Funded only if indispensable • Other industrialised countries

21. The Principal Investigator (PI) • The PI is the team's lead researcher who has the scientific responsibility for the corresponding project. He/she can be of any age, nationality or country of residence. • In order to be eligible for a grant, the PI must be independent or, for the ERC Starting Grant, at the stage at which she/he is establishing independence (i.e. beginning to lead or leading an independent research team) or, depending on the field, establishing an independent research programme. • Independence implies that the PI has the authority to: • Apply for funding independently of senior colleagues; • Direct the research project, manage the funding and make appropriate resourceallocation decisions; • Publish as senior author and invite as co-authors only those who havecontributed substantially to the reported work; • Supervise team members, including research students or others; • Have access to reasonable space and facilities for conducting the research.

22. ERC Starting Grant - Profile of the Principal Investigator (PI) • The PI must have been awarded his/her first PhD (or equivalent doctoral degree) more than2 and less than 9 years prior to the deadline of the call for proposals. • Extensions to this period may be allowed in case of eligible career breaks which must beproperly documented: maternity (1 year per child born after the PhD award) and paternity leave(accumulation of actual time off, max. 1 year per child born after the PhD award) and leavetaken for long-term illness, national service. Leave taken for unavoidable statutory reasons(e.g. clinical qualifications) may also count as an extension. No allowance will be made forpart-time working (2 years of half-time working count as 2 full-time years). • The cumulative eligibility period should not in any case surpass 12 years following the awardof the first PhD.

23. ERC Advanced Grant - Profile of the Principal Investigator (PI) • PIs applying for the ERC Advanced Grant must be established research leaders who have made exceptional contributions to research in terms of originality and significance. They must be active researchers with an outstanding track record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years. There is little prospect of an application succeeding in the absence of such an outstanding track record. • In most fields, PIs of ERC Advanced Grant proposals are expected to demonstrate a • record of research achievements in the last 10 years matching at least one or more of the following benchmarks (depending on the field): • Normally 10 publications as senior author (or in those fields where alphabetic order of authorship is the norm, joint author) in major international peerreviewed multidisciplinary scientific journals, and/or in the leading international peer-reviewed journals of their respective fields; • Normally 3 major research monographs, of which at least one is translated into another language. This benchmark is relevant to research fields where publication of monographs is the norm (e.g. humanities and social sciences).

24. ERC Advanced Grant - Profile of the Principal Investigator (PI) • Other alternative benchmarks that may be considered (individually or in combination) as indicative of an exceptional record and recognition in the last 10 years: • Normally 5 granted patents; • Normally 10 invited presentations in well-established internationally organised conferences and advanced schools; • Normally 3 research expeditions led by the applicant; • Normally 3 well-established international conferences or congresses where the applicant was involved in their organisation as a member of the steering and/or organising committee; • Internationally recognition through scientific prizes/awards or membership in well-recognised Academies.

25. Evaluation Criteria - Principal Investigator • Quality of research output/track-record: • How well qualified is the Principal Investigator (and any co-Investigator if applicable) to conductthe project (reviewers are expected to evaluate the quality of the prior work such as publishedresults in top peer review journals as well as other elements of the Principal Investigator’s CV). • To what extent are the publications and achievements of the Principal Investigator groundbreakingand demonstrative of independent creative thinking and capacity to go significantlybeyond the state of the art? To what extent does the quality and quantity of funding the Principal • Investigator has attracted during the last ten years demonstrate his/her reputation as aperformer of ground-breaking research? • Intellectual capacity and creativity: • To what extent does the Principal Investigator's record of research, collaborations, projectconception, supervision of students and publications demonstrate that he/she is able to confrontmajor research challenges in the field, and to initiate new productive lines of thinking?

26. Evaluation Criteria - Research project • Ground-breaking nature of the research: • Does the proposed research address importantchallenges at the frontiers of the field(s) addressed? Does it have suitably ambitious objectives,which gosubstantially beyond the current state of the art (e.g. including inter- and transdisciplinarydevelopments and novel or unconventional concepts and/or approaches)? How wellconceived and organized is the proposed activity? • Potential impact: • Does the research open new and important, scientific, technological or scholarly horizons? • Will the project significantly enhance the research environment and capabilities for frontierresearch in Europe (including the host institution)?

27. Evaluation Criteria - Research project • Methodology: • Is the outlined scientific approach (including the activities to be undertaken by the individualteam members) feasible? • Is the proposed research methodology (including when pertinent the use of instrumentation,other type of infrastructures etc.) comprehensive and appropriate to the project? Will it enablethe goals of the project convincingly to be achieved within the timescales and resourcesproposed and the level of risk associated with a challenging research project? • High-gain/High-risk balance: • Does the proposed research involve highly novel and/or unconventional methodologies,whose high risk is justified by the possibility of a major breakthrough with an impact beyond aspecific research domain/discipline?

28. Evaluation Criteria - Research Environment • Contribution of the research environment to the project: • Does the host environmentprovide most of the infrastructure necessary for the research to be carried out? Is it in aposition to provide an appropriate intellectual environment and infrastructural support and toassist in achieving the ambitions for the project and the Principal Investigator? • Participation of other legal entities: • If it is proposed that other legal entities participate in theproject, in addition to the applicant legal entity, is their participation fully justified by the scientificadded value they bring to the project?

29. The Scientific Council has established, based on world-wide practice, the following indicativebudget for each of the 3 main scientific domains: • Physical Sciences and Engineering: 45% • Biological and Life Sciences: 40% • Social Sciences and Humanities: 15% • A reserve in the overall budget, not exceeding 20% of the total, may be retained for fundingproposals that have been judged of comparable merit but beyond the budget allocated to thespecific scientific domain, and can be used to further promote frontier research andinterdisciplinarity.

30. Panel structure:Social Sciences and Humanities SH1 INDIVIDUALS, INSTITUTIONS AND MARKETS: economics, finance andmanagement. SH2 INSTITUTIONS, VALUES, BELIEFS AND BEHAVIOUR:sociology, social anthropology, political science, law, communication, social studies of science and technology. SH3 ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY: environmental studies, demography, social geography, urban and regional studies. SH4 THE HUMAN MIND AND ITS COMPLEXITY: cognition, psychology, linguistics, philosophy and education. SH5 CULTURES AND CULTURAL PRODUCTION: literature, visual and performing arts,music,cultural and comparative studies. SH6THE STUDY OF THE HUMAN PAST: archaeology, history and memory.

31. Panel structure:Physical Sciences and Engineering PE1 MATHEMATICAL FOUNDATIONS : all areas of mathematics, pure and applied, plus mathematical foundations of computer science, mathematical physics and statistics. PE2 FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUENTS OF MATTER : particle, nuclear, plasma, atomic,molecular, gas and optical physics. PE3 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS: structure, electronic properties, fluids,nanosciences. PE4 PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMICAL SCIENCES : analytical chemistry, chemical theory, physical chemistry/chemical physics. PE5 MATERIALS AND SYNTHESIS: materials synthesis, structure-properties relations, functional and advanced materials, molecular architecture, organic chemistry.

32. Panel structure:Life Sciences LS1MOLECULAR AND STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY: molecular biology,biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology, biochemistry of signal transduction. LS2 GENETICS, GENOMICS, BIOINFORMATICS AND SYSTEMS BIOLOGY: genetics, population genetics, molecular genetics, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, bioinformatics, computational biology, biostatistics, biological modelling and simulation, systems biology, genetic epidemiology. LS3 CELLULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY: cell biology, cell physiology, signal transduction, organogenesis, evolution and development, developmental genetics, pattern formation in plants and animals. LS4 PHYSIOLOGY, PATHOPHYSIOLOGY, ENDOCRINOLOGY: organ physiology, pathophysiology, endocrinology, metabolism, ageing, regeneration, tumorygenesis, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome. LS5 NEUROSCIENCES AND NEURAL DISORDERS: neurobiology, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology, neuroimaging, systems neuroscience, neurological disorders, psychiatry.

33. Indicative statistics – ERC Advanced Grants

34. Preliminary assessment of the wider ERC impact • ERC has influenced the discussion at the national level on how to support high risk projects (changing research funding culture). • Research institutions as well as industry have intensified discussion on the increasing need of frontier research to close the existing and growing knowledge gap. • ERC addresses researchers all over the world. A high proportion of non-European reviewer and panel members. ERC as a global player. • ERC is a learning and flexible institution. • The ERC will provide financial support for projects, studies, services and associated initiatives for the monitoring, assessment and evaluation of the ERC Activities. • BUT measures are needed: • to simplify the evaluation procedure • to reduce the number of submitted proposals • to increase resources • …

35. ERC Starting Grant Calls Indicative Schedule 2007 - 2010

36. ERC Advanced Grant Calls Indicative Schedule 2007 - 2010

37. 7FP

38. 7FP

39. 7FP

40. Further Information Website of the ERC Scientific Council athttp://erc.europa.eu

41. New ideas and goals of FP7 • Concentration on large research and technology initiatives • Focus on coordination and cooperation, programming of research • Large number of participants, oversubscription, 37 countries 7FP

42. Preliminary results of the first FP7 Calls bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbbbbb bbbbbb

43. 7FP

44. 7PR In submitted proposals 11 research teams from Taiwan (two on MAINLIST for funding), no Polish partners in consortia China: 283 (48 with Polish partners)  45 (9 with Polish partners) on MAINLIST 7FP

45. Polish Technology Platforms correlation ETP – PTP (1)

46. Polish Technology Platforms correlation ETP – PTP (1) 7FP

47. Objectives of Polish Technology Platforms • Integration of key industrial and research partners of a specific economy sector for joint research, technology development and technology initiatives • Formal coordination structure, cooperation agreement • Close links to Ministry of Research, Ministry of Economy and other related Ministries • Technology regulatory framework, legal problems • Promotion, lobbying • Active participation in European Technology Platforms • Active role in development of Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) • Transfer of Polish initiatives to ETP • Preparation of joint proposals, initiatives • Participation in FP7 collaborative projects • Optimal use of european structural funds (67 billion euro) 7FP

48. TECHNOLOGY CLUSTER Aviation Valley • Regional initiative • Supply chain • 70 years of tradition • 70 companies • 10000 employed • Turnover 600M€ • Cooperation with research units 7FP

49. Thank you for your attention EUROPEAN COMMISSION 7FP