Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : iDISC (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Trinity College — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Lower back pain is a global epidemiological and socioeconomic problem. This project envisions a future whereby patients with degenerated intervertebral discs are injected with a self-healing biomimetic adhesive biomaterial which can restore both the biochemical and biomechanical properties to native tissue levels. Current surgical procedures do not replace herniated tissue from the central nucleus pulposus or repair the annulus fibrosus (outer ring of tissue), which can lead to accelerated degeneration, reherniation and recurrent pain. Spinal fusion, whereby the compromised or degenerated tissue is removed, and the vertebral segments are fused together, does not restore biomechanical function leading to degeneration of adjacent discs with long-term failure rates as high as 40%. My lab has developed a biomimetic injectable hydrogel (iDISC) consisting of the main components (collagen and chondroitin sulfate) of native disc tissue that can be tailored to match the biochemical and biomechanical properties of native disc tissue. In addition, the iDISC hydrogel demonstrates self-healing and adhesive properties to facilitate tissue integration and exhibits excellent cell biocompatibility. The objective of this proposal is to perform in depth in vitro characterisation (WP1), multiaxial biomechanical testing (WP2), pre-clinical evaluation (WP3) and marketing and commercialisation evaluation (WP4). The development of these injectable biomimetic hydrogel systems may facilitate earlier interventions aimed at halting the degenerative process, restore natural biomechanical function, enhancing patient accessibility, improving quality of life, reduce healthcare expenses and lost productivity in the European Union. The platform technology and knowledge generated through this research are beyond the current state-of-the-art and will provide a significant transformative scientific and clinical step change opening new horizons in minimally invasive spine treatment strategies.

Mots-clés : spine intervertebral disc back pain injectable hydrogels biomimetics
Projet ERC : AICAP (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Trinity College — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

AICAP (Artificial Intelligence for Conflict Analysis and Prediction) aims to revolutionize conflict prediction and risk estimation by turning fundamental ideas into practical tools. Leveraging advanced AI and multi-scale temporal pattern analysis, AICAP intends to create a predictive model outperforming existing methods in forecasting conflict escalation and risk.  The project's objectives are to: (1) identify and analyze patterns driving conflict escalation across time scales and regions, (2) create an AI-driven predictive model incorporating temporal and cross-regional analysis, and (3) develop practical tools and user interfaces, such as interactive dashboards for a wide range of users. Our multidisciplinary team of experts in conflict studies, AI, and data science will partner up with market analysts, business developers and IPR specialists to ensure the project's success. AICAP's value proposition lies in translating cutting-edge research into tangible, actionable insights for governments, companies, NGOs, and media corporations.  Applications include early warning systems for governments, enabling proactive diplomacy and strategic resource allocation; targeted interventions for NGOs, optimizing humanitarian aid and conflict resolution efforts; political risk assessment for insurance companies, enhancing risk modeling and pricing strategies; informed investment decisions for multinational corporations, minimizing exposure to geopolitical uncertainty; and data-driven reporting for media corporations, delivering insightful, accurate, and timely conflict analysis to inform public discourse and decision-making.

Mots-clés : artificial intelligence conflict prediction risk assessment early warning systems temporal pattern analysis machine learning forecasting political risk
Projet ERC : MACHINE-DRUG (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université du Luxembourg — Pays : Luxembourg — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Correctly developing and predicting crystalline forms with specific physico-chemical properties is essential to the pharmaceutical industry. The main challenge this industry faces is the fact that most active pharmaceutical ingredients in most drugs can interconvert into a different (usually more stable) polymorph, potentially reducing the solubility of the drug, slowing down the release of the API and affecting the pharmacokinetics, bioavailability and efficacy of the drug. For instance, due to the complex interplay between thermodynamics and kinetics, it often happens that unexpected polymorphs emerge either in development (best case scenario) or long after the drug has been approved for market (worst case scenario). A previously known stable form that disappears or the sudden appearance of an even more stable form can have grave consequences. For instance, the new form may have new properties that are not suitable for the intended purpose of the drug, leading to significant economic and public health repercussions. This ERC Proof of Concept project aims to implement new machine learning approaches that would allow to accelerate the process of predicting crystal structures by a factor of 100, thereby making it sustainable and enabling industry to investigate other crystal structures of the same drug to find the most suitable formulation (e.g. hydrates, salts, co-crystals, etc). Beyond pharma (which is our target application for MACHINE-DRUG), polymorphism of chemical structures has significant importance across many other different industries. For instance, the polymorphism of a pigment can generate a different colour, or the polymorphism of a chemical structure can lead to a material with significantly different properties (thermal, plastic, etc.). As such, MACHINE-DRUG is a lean, targeted project with a clear scope, but its potential applications are limitless.
Projet ERC : HYDROCOLTON (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université nouvelle de Lisbonne — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 113000.0 €

Cotton is the world's most important non-food crop, accounting for 35% of global fiber production, but it is environmentally demanding and resource-intensive. Its production, especially the dyeing process, pollutes and depletes water and soil resources. The current strategies for cotton dyeing still rely on old manufacturing processes that yield large quantities of chemical and water waste. Thus, it is urgent to seek sustainable alternatives to meet acceptable environmental and social standards.  This Proof of Concept (PoC) project aims to prepare the commercialization of novel molecules able to modify cotton fibers in planta for textile applications, providing them with color. This innovative approach minimizes chemical waste associated with dyeing, plus achieving up to a 90% reduction in water usage through hydroponic cotton growth. By growing cotton fibers with built-in colors in hydroponic settings, we seek to pioneer a zero-chemical-waste dyeing process while significantly reducing water consumption. Our innovation addresses the fashion industry's need for distinctive, eco-friendly textile products, presenting exciting opportunities to meet the growing consumer demand for more sustainable products.  For this endeavor, our objective is to craft a diverse set of molecules strategically designed to navigate and surpass inherent biochemical barriers. Moving forward, we will seek to demonstrate the efficacy of these novel molecules on cotton plants. Simultaneously, we aim to evaluate the commercial viability and potential market of HYDROCOLTON's groundbreaking innovation within the cotton value chain. We will validate our business model and commercialization plans with the constant engagement of relevant market stakeholders.
Projet ERC : Encast (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université polytechnique de Valence — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Disastrous building collapses often occur due to the propagation of local-initial failures. Although effective for small initial failures, current design approaches addressing this issue can inadvertently increase the risk of catastrophic collapse propagation after large initial failures. The ERC Consolidator Grant Endure has introduced a novel fuse-based segmentation design approach to overcome this alarming limitation, successfully testing a full-scale precast building to validate its effectiveness. While this approach can be advantageous for different types of structures, its implementation in precast concrete buildings is key to maximizing its impact. Due to several advantages in terms of efficiency and sustainability, precast structures are being increasingly used for high-occupancy and critical buildings. Incorporating fuse-based segmentation in these structural systems would thus provide a new last line of defence against catastrophic failures in the buildings for which the consequences of such an occurrence are most severe. However, at this stage of development, the design of a fuse-based segmented precast building requires advanced computational analysis and several iterative procedures that are unfeasible for most building projects. Such complexity can hinder the adoption of fuse-based segmentation in practice. Therefore, truly unlocking the market penetration potential of fuse-based segmentation solutions for precast buildings requires cost-effective implementation tools and validation across a broader range of precast systems. Encast aims to bridge these gaps by simplifying design procedures, developing user-friendly software, performing experimental demonstrations, and crafting a tailored exploitation strategy for fuse-based segmentation solutions for precast buildings. The project’s success will lead to wider adoption of robust precast systems, helping deliver more affordable and sustainable buildings that contribute to improving societal resilience.

Mots-clés : building precast collapse robustness
Projet ERC : APPSAFE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de Tilbourg — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

This project aims to develop a new approach for rating mental health apps, taking into account the subjective needs of users in the mental health community. In particular, our aims are to show that 1) an automatic rating of safety in relation to mental health apps is possible, and 2) such an automatic rating system can take into account subjective needs of app users. Our goal is to build a prototype of an automatic rating system for affective safety, while also demonstrating the limitations of what cannot be automated in such a rating system. The Covid-19 pandemic has driven demand for apps as key tools, either mandatory or voluntary in nature, for responding to social and scientific challenges including both mental health and public health in general. Yet we have not updated app regulation standards or rating procedures for a world where apps are often mandatory, and where people in a situation of vulnerability increasingly use apps based on business models originaging in the commercial sphere. This scaling up and the public concern over health apps during the pandemic have created an explicit need for the definition and rating of apps with regard to affective user safety. This project aims to contribute to giving apps a sounder basis in standards and regulatory clarity, and in turn to make informed trust in apps more possible.
Projet ERC : ICONIC (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université de technologie d'Eindhoven — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 53000.0 €

Iron Power is a new technology to store and transport sustainable energy. An iron aerosol mixture is burned in a flame and the heat is used in high temperature processes. The formed iron-oxide powder is collected and transported to places with a surplus of green hydrogen, where it is regenerated back to iron powder. As such, Iron Power is a very promising CO2-free circular energy carrier of sustainable energy, which has a very high energy density, is easy to handle, safe, environmentally friendly and cheap. Within the fast growing Iron Power community, existing solid fuel combustion concepts are applied mostly, but these show severe problems caused by the specific character of iron aerosol flames: a) flame stabilisation is difficult to establish, b) nano-particles and c) high NOx emissions are also difficult to circumvent. A completely new combustion concept is needed to solve the problems. The ERC program MetalFuel creates the basic knowledge on metal aerosol combustion with the right ingredients to do solve these problems. The combustion concept developed is called ICONIC (Ignition COntrolled low-Nox Iron Combustion). Within this ERC PoC a well-controllable ICONIC burner will be developed, designed, tested and patented. A small-scale system will be developed and studied first, after which a conceptual design of Mega-Watt size will be developed which will enable future implementation in an industrial-scale system. Furthermore, the possible future market will be evaluated. A start-up is already interested and a launching customer seems to be in view, if the PoC is successful.
Projet ERC : SCOPE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Wageningen University & Research — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : WUR
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Monitoring of human health and the prevention/treatment of (infectious) diseases strongly depend on accurate and efficient detection, identification and tracking of pathogens or biomarkers. Key features of such a diagnostic tool that enable this are speed, accuracy and availability at the point-of-care. Current molecular diagnostic solutions do not meet these requirements due to the fact that they often need to be performed in a centralized fashion. However, the incredible advances in CRISPR-Cas technology in recent years provide an opportunity to change this. By taking advantage of the innate specificity of CRISPR-Cas we have previously developed a highly sensitive and accurate proof-of-concept diagnostic tool with promising results. The potential for implementation is unfortunately impaired by the fact that the workflow comprises of multiple steps that increases hands-on time, room for human error and the undesirable implications this has. To mitigate this, we propose a solution that entails developing a novel approach based on a thermostable RNA polymerase that allows for the condensation of the current workflow into a shorter 1-step protocol. Once such a protocol has been developed, an assay will be developed for one of the causative pathogens of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Technical feasibility of the assay will be demonstrated, in collaboration with an academic hospital, by characterizing the developed assay on relevant clinical samples. This will provide insight into the real-life performance when compared to the current gold standard (PCR) as well as ease-of-use in a relevant context. Furthermore, the feasibility of the value proposition and potential for commercialization will be thoroughly assessed. Not only will this ERC-PoC project shed light on the potential for our improved CRISPR-Cas based diagnostic tool in the context of COPD, a sense of broad applicability in other human Point-of-Care diagnostics applications will be gained.
Projet ERC : visionPRINT (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université nationale d'Irlande à Galway — Pays : Irlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

A critical bottleneck in bioprinting hardware is the lack of integrated quality monitoring features for characterising print accuracy and cellular composition during fabrication. This limitation makes it challenging to develop reproducible and standardised bioprinting protocols, which are essential for GMP-compliant production. The lack of integrated quality monitoring also leads to a reliance on destructive, post-printing analysis methods that are incompatible with clinical translation. To address this problem, visionPRINT will develop a 3D bioprinting platform with an optical imaging system and complementary use of Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy (LSFM). Unlike current bioprinting hardware systems, visionPRINT will provide volumetric quality assessment of bioprinted constructs. visionPRINT will be the first bioprinting system to offer this level of integrated quality control, and this technological differentiation will help facilitate market adoption as the industry progresses toward standardised protocols and clinical applications.  visionPRINT’s integrated data-driven quality monitoring features will transform bioprinting workflows across research, development, and clinical applications. Comprehensive volumetric data logging capturing both construct shape and cell composition will help end users enhance the accuracy and reproducibility of their bioprinting protocols. Furthermore, the technology will make it easier for end-users to standardise protocols and demonstrate GMP-compliant production for regulatory approval. Ultimately, visionPRINT will accelerate the development of safe and functional bioprinted tissues for clinical applications, benefiting patients worldwide.
Projet ERC : NASPA (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Wageningen University & Research — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : WUR
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic highlighted the need for versatile diagnostics tools. Detecting presence of specific nucleic acid sequences is a powerful method for pathogen diagnostics, phenotyping, and determination of single nucleotide polymorphisms or other mutations underlying genetic diseases. PCR-based methods, the gold standard in nucleic acid detection, require specialized equipment and trained personnel, limiting its applicability at point-of-care or in-field locations. Alternative isothermal amplification/CRISPR-Cas-based detection methods suffer from technical limitations and a crowded patent landscape.  Nucleic Acid detection with Short Prokaryotic Argonautes (NASPA) is a versatile, sensitive, and specific one-pot nucleic acid detection method that can be used for point-of-care or in-field diagnostics. NASPA builds on our research in which we characterized short prokaryotic Argonaute (pAgo) systems. In NASPA, short pAgos are programmed with synthetic 15-21 nt guide RNAs to detect complementary DNA sequences. Upon detection of the DNA, breakdown of reporter ε-NAD+ is triggered, resulting in a traceable fluorescent signal. As there are no sequence requirements for the guide RNA, and guide RNAs can readily be synthesized, NASPA facilitates detection of virtually any sequence of choice. We have proof of concept for NASPA-based diagnostics in a laboratory setting (technology readiness level (TRL) 3), and intellectual property has been protected through patent applications. The proposed ERC PoC project has two main objectives 1) enhance NASPA and enable detection of RNA and DNA sequences of economic and/or medical relevance in point-of-care and in-field settings, reaching TLR 5, and 2) build a network of stakeholders including academic and commercial partners to expedite the development of NASPA-based applications and establish a valorisation strategy. Achieving these objectives will pave the way for further development and valorisation of NASPA-based diagnostics.
Projet ERC : Low Cost Isolation (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Université Nationale Technique d'Athènes — Pays : Grèce — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : NTUA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Even though earthquakes are a global phenomenon, their impact is tremendously disproportionate, with most deaths concentrated in the developing world. The main reason is that structural codes are not followed. However, this is not due to a “propensity for delinquency” but because earthquake-resistant methods developed in high-income countries are highly expensive. Therefore, there is an urgent need for cost-effective methods tailored to the financial resources of the developing world.  Seismic isolation is a mature yet expensive design method applied in high-importance structures in wealthier countries. This project explores an innovative, low-cost seismic isolation method based on rubber balls rolling on concrete conical surfaces. A variation using cement-filled, upcycled tennis balls will also be examined, as this would be of extremely low cost while promoting circular economy practices. This rolling isolation system could be a viable solution for the seismic design of masonry structures.  The project aims to demonstrate the efficiency of the method, address weaknesses identified in our ERC StG tests, and further engage engineers from developing nations. Specifically, it will: a) conduct shake table tests on a masonry structure isolated with rubber and tennis balls; b) explore ways to increase the vertical bearing capacity of cement-filled tennis balls; c) study the durability and aging behavior of the system; d) draft design guidelines and code chapters, as well as provide engineers with analysis tools for implementing this seismic design method; and e) Build a prototype structure in Cuba.  This concept will be shared with Cuba’s engineering community—a country with limited material resources, where the high seismicity in the east prevents masonry construction. Providing a way to design earthquake-resistant masonry structures will help address the challenge of safe, affordable housing, aligning with the sustainable development goals of Agenda 2030.

Mots-clés : seismic isolation,affordable housing,low cost seismic design,developing world