Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : ECSTATIC (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Muséum national d'histoire naturelle — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : MNHN
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Over the past decade, the Extreme Citizen Science group has developed a methodology to engage low literate participants in the co-production of scientific knowledge, in an inclusive and ethical methodology that ensures community involvement and shared benefits. The methodology involved a set of technical tools, that are named Sapelli Collector, Sapelli Viewer, Sapelli Designer, and GeoKey. Prototypes of these tools were developed through the ERC-AdG-2015 ECSAnVis project and have been shown to be effective and useful in over twenty case studies in twelve countries in the Global South. Our research has thus demonstrated that any community with low technical literacy can play a part and collect data with smartphones in all the different landscapes of the planet, from rainforest to drylands and croplands. Enabling this has the potential of engaging 1 billion people, currently excluded from knowledge co-production.  The ECSTATIC project is taking the next step in scaling up the use of this novel socio-technical approach to develop large scale community-led social-ecological services. The approach holds the potential of addressing a wide range of social and environmental issues - from protecting resources that are critical for Indigenous people, to mitigating climate change risks, and monitoring supply chains in remote locations through co-created citizen science. The aim of the project is to develop the next generation of Sapelli technology so it is streamlined and integrated, and therefore can be used more easily by third parties, as well as identify the necessary pathway for the development of a knowledge-based social business with Software as a Service and support services at its core. This way, the technology can remain free and open source, including guidelines and tutorials, while securing the necessary funding to develop it further. Collaborations with Non-Governmental Organisations in Cameroon and Ethiopia will ensure the efficacy and relevance of the project.

Mots-clés : citizen science,indigenous knowledge,participatory mapping,
Projet ERC : LIGHT (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : EURECOM — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Communicating video-on-demand (VoD) over various networks is very costly. VoD drives up the costs for purchasing bandwidth and overprovisioning infrastructures, as well as the costs to content providers (Netflix, Amazon, etc.) that must pay large fees to network operators to deliver content to their clients. To reduce the massive VoD fees, networks employ caches. Our findings in our ERC project DUALITY reveal a new method of exploiting caches that boosts the performance of various networks. We wish to explore the practical ramifications of these findings in practical networks. This project will explore the algorithmic and testing work needed to render these ideas practical.
Projet ERC : TRANSMETECH (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Société Max-Planck pour le développement des sciences — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Société Max Planck
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Industrial biotechnology plays a key role on the road to a sustainable, climate-neutral and circular economy. However, disruptive innovations are needed to substantially increase the efficiency of bio-based processes for the production of chemicals. The ERC CoG project StrainBooster aimed to develop a generic metabolic engineering strategy to maximize the productivity of microbial cell factories. It is based on the concept of enforced ATP wasting (EAW), a targeted intervention in the energy metabolism of the cell that enhances the overall metabolic activity boosting also product synthesis. The project reached its central goals and could demonstrate in several case studies the enormous potential of EAW to improve productivity (up to tenfold increase) and product yield. With these results, StrainBooster’s innovation is now mature to initiate a transfer from small-scale example processes in an academic lab to realistic industrial applications. This is the goal of the PoC project TRANSMETECH. Two companies, one younger startup (COLIPI) and one established big biotech player (BASF), have already indicated their high interest to collaborate with us within this PoC project to jointly explore the potential of EAW for their innovative bioprocesses (oil production by oleaginous yeast (COLIPI) and synthesis of terpenoid-based products (BASF)). In addition, to further improve the efficiency of EAW in industrial applications, we will validate different expression systems for autoinduction of EAW in two-stage processes, which are also directly relevant for our partners. In summary, through TRANSMETECH we will establish partnerships with biotech companies to facilitate the translation of the StrainBooster approach and showcase its power in concrete industrial applications. On the long run, our method will enable higher efficiencies of commercial bioprocesses and thus contribute to the establishment of sustainable production routes, one of the most urgent societal challenges.
Projet ERC : RescuePace (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Amsterdam University Medical Centers — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Congenital heart block is the most commonly observed type of foetal bradycardia, occurring in one in 15.000 live births. A significant subset of foetuses develops towards congenital complete heart block (CCHB), i.e., complete failure of the electrical excitation wavefront to be conducted over the atrioventricular (AV) node. CCHB is the most severe and life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia in utero. Current medicinal treatments cannot significantly alter the cause of CCHB and therapeutic attempts at human foetal cardiac pacing have been unsuccessful. For CCHB patients at high risk for life-threatening disease progression and death due to severe bradycardia before 34 weeks of gestation, this project develops a gene therapy medicinal product (GTMP) that is based on adenoviral vector-mediated ion channel overexpression, to transiently increase heart rates over the course of several months. When successful, such a GTMP would rescue these patients and allow for permanent pacemaker implantation in the first months after birth.
Projet ERC : TInTraMaC (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Oslo — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UiO
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

This PoC project aims to alleviate the hesitancy of scholars working on texts preserved in manuscripts or other handwritten media, to adopt advanced digital methodologies in their research, by developing a free, shareable, flexible, low-threshold research tool, which may be used as a starting point for researchers interested in studying the textual transmission of information in manuscript cultures. It will take the form of a pre-designed but flexible data model, data-input framework, and database solution, through which data can be queried and exported for further analysis using relevant tools for statistical and network analysis. It will be accompanied by a detailed user manual guiding users through the workflow from data input to analysis, and tutorial videos explaining in non-specialist terms to scholars of historical textual corpora the procedures leading from database design and population to the application of relevant analytical tools. It will also contain a description of best practices and recommendations for the organization of collaborative team-based project implementation. The tool will be designed in such a way as to be easily adapted to a wide range of research projects on any type of textual corpus, regardless of its language or genre. The TInTraMac research tool will be freely downloadable and non-profit, but aims to save significant time and resources for researchers and research projects focusing on large-scale textual corpora, based on handwritten sources from manuscript cultures, promoting groundbreaking research by clearly demonstrating the benefits of employing such advanced digital methods in their fields. At the same time it aims to lower the threshold of adoption by making the TInTraMac research tool freely available, and it aims to flatten the learning curve for non-specialist users by making it highly accessible.
Projet ERC : TRYP (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Lyon-I université — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Lyon I
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Over the last five decades, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) have become indispensable in analytical chemistry and medical diagnostics. Progress in high magnetic fields has elevated resolution and sensitivity, enabling faster data collection at minimal concentrations. However, the sensitivity of magnetic resonance has bounds. Hyperpolarization techniques, particularly Dissolution Dynamic Nuclear Polarization, are gaining attention for enhancing sensitivity. The downside is that hyperpolarization equipment is costly, operationally expensive, and technically challenging, hindering its widespread adoption in MRI facilities. A promising solution involves using transient photoexcited agents like triplets or photogenerated radicals. Our recent innovation leverages phase separation to extend hyperpolarization lifetimes of certain 13C-labelled targets to several hours. This facilitates the storage and transport of hyperpolarized molecules at 4.2 K. The upcoming TRYP validation will adapt this phase-separation approach to various samples, such as molecules and biological fluids, without using contaminating solvents. This method could democratize hyperpolarization benefits for the broader NMR and MRI communities. Specialized centers could produce and distribute hyperpolarized "consumables" that can be easily introduced into NMR or MRI systems. These matrices can polarize almost any water-based molecular solution for extended periods, enabling their long-distance transport to MRI centers, and can be easily filtered using conventional technologies.
Projet ERC : MusclePlate (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Institute for Systems Engineering and Computers — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : INESC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 0.0 €

Neuromuscular disorders (NMDs) are a collection of pathologies that affect the skeletal muscle (SkM) function and lead to reduced mobility, breathing issues and death. Most NMDs are incurable and existing therapies are generally ineffective. The major contributor for the lack of NMD therapies is the absence of human NMD research models, applicable for the screening and validation of therapeutic candidates. Our goal for this project is to develop an in vitro platform containing highly biomimetic and functional SkM analogues, where NMDs can be modelled with the aim of testing drug candidates, in a reliable, high-throughput (HT), and quick manner. The platform will consist of 96 individual 3D tissue units, generated from the myogenic differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). To induce biomimetic and mature tissue formation, the platform will combine a unique topographical design with a light-stimulation system for optogenetic control of SkM contraction. Using image-based assays and computational algorithms, we will be able to automatically extract and quantify the SkM phenotypical (e.g. intracellular structure) and functional (e.g. contraction speed/force) parameters. To show NMD modelling ability within the platform, we will knockout BIN1, a gene whose mutated form is involved in the onset of centronuclear myopathy (CNM), a fatal and incurable NMD. The validity of the NMD model as a drug discovery platform will be demonstrated by testing compounds with known therapeutic activity. This proof of concept project will lay the ground work for a spin-off company devoted to HT drug screening for NMDs.  The successful development of this platform will provide an invaluable tool for pharmaceutical research, allowing accurate, convenient and cost-effective identification of novel drugs and therapeutic targets for NMDs and, ultimately contributing to the acceleration of novel therapies for NMD patients.
Projet ERC : MemStabSol (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Zurich University of Applied Sciences — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ZHAW
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The European Green Deal aims for a climate neutral EU in 2050. This can only be achieved by novel technologies, amongst them renewable energy sources. Photovoltaics has proven viable but requires improvements in terms of its environmental footprint. Thus, efficiency must be maximized and energy and raw materials used for production minimized. The recently emerged research field of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) might provide an answer to these challenges. However, PSCs face one huge obstacle on their way towards commercialization: They are not stable under all operational conditions, in particular they are easily damaged when they are integrated into solar modules, where part of the module(s) might be shaded. This work provides a fully novel and unique solution, which protects the PSC and allows harvesting the energy of the non-shaded cells. Our goal is to develop a fully integrated and mass-production compatible version of our protecting element. We will fabricate a larger-area demonstrator, which will show non-deteriorated efficiency or stability compared to the PSC itself. To assess the long-term performance of our cointegrated device, we will develop a suitable test protocol for the lab and operate a series-connected module under real-world shading conditions. We will consult with solar-cell manufacturing companies to solely focus on materials and processes relevant and feasible for large-scale production. We will optimize our current vacuum processing steps and expand to solution processing technologies compatible with industrial printing processes. By the end of the project, we will have established R&D collaborations with the industry and found partners for licensing our technology.

Mots-clés : perovskite solar cells,photovoltaics
Projet ERC : POQUB (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Rome « La Sapienza » — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 120000.0 €

A Bernoulli factory is a randomness manipulation routine that takes as input a Bernoulli random variable and provides as output another Bernoulli variable whose bias is a function of the input bias. Recently proposed Quantum-to-Quantum Bernoulli Factory schemes encode both input and output variables in qubit amplitudes. This primitive could be used as a key ingredient for quantum networking at the interface of quantum computing and cryptography, as well as a subroutine for more complex quantum algorithms thus extending current approaches of randomness generation and manipulation. An open challenge is to design an approach for the implementation of a general and “low-cost” Quantum-to-Quantum Bernoulli Factory. Via a photonics technological platform, the goal of POQUB is 1) to develop a general scheme of Quantum-to-Quantum Bernoulli Factory; 2) to identify relevant use cases within blind quantum computing, via interaction with industries; 3) to design a roadmap for the innovation technological transfer of all the PoC outcomes. As a technological platform, POQUB will exploit reconfigurable photonic circuits which represent a compact, stable and scalable solution due to its natural potential for unlocking versatile and high-speed applications. The developed scheme is expected to have relevant applications also in several other scenarios for quantum technologies.
Projet ERC : UR4energy (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Inventas (Norway) — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Organismes privés (hors enseignement)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 90000.0 €

The renewable energy input in the grid is not sufficient to cover the European energy demand, which largely still depends on fossil fuels. To reach the goal of climate neutrality by 2050, Europe needs to diversify and improve the adoption of renewable energy technologies. A yet-untapped source of energy can be found in the ocean. While wave and tidal energy have been explored, the reliable and predictable vortex wake energy has not been harvested yet as a renewable energy source. UR4energy will tap into this energy source by developing an efficient way to harvest it by using Underwater Robots. In this project, Prof. Pettersen will prove the technical and commercial feasibility of an underwater robot for ocean energy harvesting. Prof. Pettersen’s group will integrate the expertise of two partners, i.e., Inventas AS and NTNU Technology Transfer AS, for the development of the prototype and the monitoring of the patent landscape, respectively. UR4energy contributes to the ocean energy market, one of the fastest growing renewable energy markets (CAGR 2022-2030 = 33.5%) with a versatile technology that has the potential to support the EU’s independence from fossil fuels, while contributing to research on robotics and autonomy for underwater robots.
Projet ERC : HIP-Bore (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : AWI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The Earth’s climate system is experiencing an accelerating energy imbalance, with unprecedented heat accumulation driving rapid transformations across the ocean, land, cryosphere, and atmosphere. Despite the critical need for high-precision subsurface ice and soil temperature measurements—to assess land energy storage1, reconstruct past climate evolution2,3, refine ice models4, and determine permafrost stability5 — existing solutions are either insufficiently precise, prohibitively expensive, or incapable of long-term operation in extreme environments. Based on my ERC SPACE research, we started to develop HIP-Bore, a system that delivers unmatched milli-kelvin long-term precision, operates reliably in the harshest conditions, and transmits long-term subsurface temperature data with minimal maintenance. No comparable solution exists today. By bridging a key technological gap, HIP-Bore is set to revolutionize environmental monitoring and advance climate science. Its ability to capture transient subsurface thermal data in previously unmonitored regions will unlock new insights into ice sheet stability, permafrost response to global warming, and the planet’s shifting energy balance. To bring HIP-Bore from research to real-world application, we seek funding to finalize development, assess market potential, and define a commercialization strategy. This project will drive technology transfer, positioning HIP-Bore for deployment. With its scalable, cost-effective design, HIP-Bore has strong market potential across research institutions, government agencies, and industries focused on environmental and infrastructure risk assessment. By delivering unprecedented insights into subsurface temperature changes, HIP-Bore can set a new standard in monitoring and play a pivotal role in mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Mots-clés : requested starting date 01 11 2025
Projet ERC : FireBacteria (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université Masaryk — Pays : Rép. Tchèque — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a critical global health threat, associated with approximately 5 million deaths annually and a severe economic burden. To combat this threat, this project aims to advance the development of our de novo designed antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) towards novel therapeutics. These AMPs, developed within our ERC Consolidator project "Peptide Killers of Bacteria", utilize a mechanism distinct from traditional antibiotics, namely the disruption of bacterial cell membranes. This potentially novel class of antibiotics has already achieved nanomolar antibacterial activity, while exhibiting low toxicity to human cells in our in vitro tests. The susceptible bacteria include antibiotic-resistant strains of the Gram-negative A. baumannii, K. pneumoniae, and P. aeruginosa, which are on the CDC's and WHO's list of priority pathogens. Within this project, we aim to perform key preclinical tests with our AMPs. Our goal is five-fold: [1] determine the activity spectrum against genetically diverse bacterial species and strains; [2] evaluate the stability and efficacy of our AMPs in biological fluids, as well as their ADMET properties; [3] expand the scope of our preliminary in vivo data with murine models to include an additional administration route and infected sites; [4] analyze the prevalence and incidence of target infections to better understand the market size and societal impact; and [5] investigate the market potential, secure intellectual property rights, and develop a business strategy for clinical development. Successful implementation of this project will pave the way for future clinical testing and development of our AMPs, which could lead to effective treatments for the emerging AMR crisis of antibiotic-resistant infections.