On 14 July 2025, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the first round of recipients for its 2025 Proof of Concept Grants. A total of 150 projects were awarded €22.5 million, with each receiving €150,000 in funding. These grants aim to bridge the gap between frontier research results and their early commercialization or societal implementation. The scheme is a component of Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation framework program.
The selected projects span a diverse range of disciplines. Examples include the use of artificial intelligence to forecast conflict escalation, innovations to reduce the environmental footprint of paracetamol production, the development of a tool to detect electricity market distortions, and a portable device for PFAS detection in water. These projects aim to transform cutting-edge academic research into practical applications.
Grantees are based across 21 EU Member States and associated countries, with the largest number in Germany (27 grants), followed by Spain (20), the UK (17), and France and the Netherlands (12 each). Awardees include researchers of 29 nationalities, with German, Spanish, and Italian nationals among the top recipients. The call received 480 proposals, and approximately 31% were selected for funding.
The ERC’s 2025 Work Programme will include two calls for Proof of Concept Grants, totaling €45 million. These grants are available exclusively to researchers who currently hold or have previously held ERC frontier research grants, allowing them to explore the commercial or societal potential of their discoveries.
A recent report highlights the scheme’s significant impact. Between 2014 and 2023, the ERC invested just 1% of its total budget (€259 million) into 1,700 Proof of Concept projects, yielding strong results in innovation, commercialization, and cross-sectoral impact.
For researchers based in Switzerland, the list of awardees remains provisional due to pending finalization of the association agreement between Switzerland and Horizon Europe. If the agreement is not signed by the grant date, Swiss-based applicants may need to transfer their projects to eligible institutions in EU or associated countries to receive funding.
The next deadline to apply for the ERC Proof of Concept Grant is 18 September 2025.
