REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on the European Research Council's operations and realisation of the objectives set out in the Specific Programme "Ideas" in 2012
Date: 2013-05-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU financing, EU programme, operation of the Institutions, research programme, scientific research

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 30.5.2013  
COM(2013) 318 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT 

on the European Research Council's operations and realisation of the objectives set out 
in the Specific Programme "Ideas" in 2012 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT 

on the European Research Council's operations and realisation of the objectives set out 
in the Specific Programme "Ideas" in 2012 

1. 

INTRODUCTION AND LEGAL BASE 

The European Research Council (ERC), established by Commission Decision 2007/134/EC1, 
has  as  its  essential  task  the  implementation  of  the  Specific  Programme  "Ideas",  with  an 
overall budget of € 7.51 billion. 

The  ERC  consists  of  an  independent  Scientific  Council  supported  by  a  dedicated 
implementation  structure,  which  took  the  form  of  the  ERC  Executive  Agency  (ERCEA), 
created under the general regime of executive agencies2. Responsibility for implementing the 
"Ideas" programme and supporting the Scientific Council was delegated to the Agency by the 
Commission in 2008 and autonomy was granted to the Agency in July 2009.  

In  conformity  with  Article  4.4  and  Annex  I  of  the  Council  Decision  on  the  Specific 
Programme  "Ideas",  this  Annual  Report  of  the  Commission,  drawn  up  in  co-operation  with 
the  ERC  Scientific  Council  and  the  ERC  Executive  Agency,  presents  the  Commission's 
assessment of the ERC's operations and the achievement of its objectives in 2012. This report 
is complemented by a report from the Scientific Council on the scientific implementation and 
achievements of the programme during the year 20123. 

2. 

STRATEGY MATTERS 

The  Scientific  Council  is  responsible  for  setting  the  ERC's  scientific  strategy,  including 
establishing the ERC's most important strategy document, the annual Ideas Work Programme. 

2.1. 

Types of action 

Two types of grant form the core of the Ideas Work Programme:  

Starting  Grants,  supporting  researchers  at  the  early  stage  of  their  careers,  with  the  aim  of 
providing working conditions that enable them to become independent research leaders.  

Advanced  Grants,  designed  to  support  outstanding  and  established  research  leaders  by 
providing  resources  necessary  to  enable  them  to  continue  the  work  of  their  teams,  seeking 
new breakthroughs in their line of research. 

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OJ L 57, 24.02.2007, p.14. 
2008/37/EC:  Commission  Decision  of  14  December  2007  setting  up  the  European  Research  Council 
Executive  Agency  for  the  management  of  the  specific  Community  programme  Ideas  in  the  field  of 
frontier research in application of Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 (OJ L9, 12.01.2008, p.15). 
http://erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/file/erc_annual_report_2012.pdf 

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An additional granting opportunity – the Proof of Concept – is offered to ERC grant holders 
to establish the innovation potential of ideas arising from their ERC-funded projects. It aims 
to cover a funding gap in the earliest stage of an innovation. 

In 2012, the Scientific Council introduced, on a pilot basis, the Synergy Grants, addressed to 
small groups of Principal Investigators and their teams. In contrast to consortia, the Synergy 
Grant targets individual investigators whose complementary skills, knowledge and resources 
enable them to jointly address research problems at the frontier of knowledge, going beyond 
what  the  individual  researchers  could  achieve  alone.  Synergy  Grants  follow  the  strict  ERC 
excellence-only  approach,  and  are  open  to  proposals  from  all  fields  of  science  and 
scholarship. 

2.2. 

2012 Work Programme for the Specific Programme "Ideas" 

The  2012  Work  Programme  for  the  Specific  Programme  "Ideas"  was  established  by  the 
Scientific  Council  on  21  March  2011  and  subsequently  adopted  by  the  Commission  on  19 
July 20114. 

Apart  from  the  introduction  of  the  Synergy  Grants,  few  adjustments  were  made  in  the 
scientific  strategy  and  they  relate  to  the  peer  review:  interdisciplinary  proposals  are  now 
evaluated by the panel indicated by the applicant, with the assistance of other relevant panels; 
and  a  new  "scoring"  system  (A,  B  or  C  accompanied  by  the  rank  of  the  proposal)  was 
introduced to provide better feedback to applicants. 

2.3. 

Peer review methodology 

The ERC employs a structure of high-level peer review panels whose members are selected 
by the Scientific Council and include scientists, engineers and scholars from both within the 
EU and beyond. These panels cover all research disciplines and are organised in a framework 
of three main research domains: Physical Sciences and Engineering, Life Sciences, and Social 
Sciences  and  Humanities.  Consistent  with  previous  calls,  the  number  of  panels  was  25  for 
both Starting and Advanced Grants. Proof of Concept proposals were evaluated by a specific 
set of peer reviewers working remotely. The Synergy Grants were evaluated by five different 
panels in a 2-step evaluation procedure specifically designed for this purpose.  

3. 

PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION 

In the implementation of the Programme in 2012, commitment credits of €1.6 billion (global 
commitment)  and  payments  of  €871  million  were  fully  executed,  representing  100%  of  the 
operational credits of the Ideas Specific Programme for 2012. Around 2.4% of the operational 
budget was spent on administration. 

3.1. 

Grants 

Since the 2008 Work Programme, ERC calls involve a one-stage submission process, where 
applicants are required to submit their full proposal, and a two-step evaluation. 

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C(2011)4961 of 19.07.11, not published 

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Grants are offered to the best proposals depending on the budget available. The offer is made 
on  the  basis  of  the  proposal  itself  and  the  funding  recommended  by  the  peer  review 
evaluation.  

3.1.1.  ERC Starting Grants 

The  2012  ERC  Starting  Grant  call  was  published  in  July  2011  with  an  indicative  budget  of 
€730 million (representing a 10% increase compared  to 2011). In total, 4741 proposals were 
received,  distributed  by  domain  as  follows:  2058  proposals  in  Physical  Sciences  and 
Engineering  (43%),  1653  in  Life  Sciences  (35  %)  and  1030  (22  %)  in  Social  Sciences  and 
Humanities. A total of 566 proposals were selected for funding. More than €790 million was 
awarded with an overall average grant size of around €1.4 million. 

The 2013 Starting Grant call was published in July 2012 for applicants qualifying as ‘starters’ 
(i.e. Principal Investigators that have been awarded their first PhD at least 2 and up to 7 years 
from the call date) with an indicative budget of €398 million.  A total of 3329 proposals were 
submitted:  1486  in  Physical  Sciences  and  Engineering,  1073  in  Life  Sciences  and  770  in 
Social Sciences and Humanities, representing respectively 45%, 32% and 23%. A small, but 
constant,  increase  of  the  share  of  proposals  in  Physical  Sciences  and  Engineering  can  be 
noticed from 41% in 2011 to 43% in 2012 and 45% in 2013. 

3.1.2.  ERC Advanced Grants 

The  2012  ERC  Advanced  Grant  call  was  published  in  November  2011  with  an  indicative 
budget  of  €680  million.  A  total  of  2304  proposals  were  received,  distributed  by  domain  as 
follows:  978  proposals  in  Physical  Sciences  and  Engineering  (42%),  773  in  Life  Sciences 
(34%) and 553 in Social Sciences and Humanities (24%). The evaluation process resulted in a 
total  of  313  proposals  being  retained  for  funding  for  a  total  of  about  €720  million  and  an 
overall average grant size of around €2.3 million. 

The 2013 ERC Advanced Grant call was published in July 2012 with an indicative budget of 
€662  million.  A  total  of  2408  proposals  were  submitted:  1053  in  Physical  Sciences  and 
Engineering,  788  in  Life  Sciences  and  567  in  Social  Sciences  and  Humanities,  representing 
respectively 44%, 33% and 23%. The share of Physical Sciences and Engineering proposals 
increased from 40% in 2011 to 42% in 2012 and 44% in 2013. 

3.1.3.  ERC Proof of Concept  

In the first call for the Proof of Concept (PoC) in 2011, a total of 51 grants were awarded, of 
which the final 22, selected at the end of 2011, were announced in February 2012. The first 29 
grants were announced in October 2011. 

In  2012,  a  further  33  PoC  grants  were  awarded  at  the  May  deadline  and  another  27  at  the 
October deadline, bringing the total number of PoCs selected for granting by the end of 2012 
to 111.  

3.1.4. 

Synergy Grants 

The first call for Synergy Grants attracted 710 applications, which were assessed following an 
evaluation procedure specifically designed for this purpose. In an extremely competitive call, 
11 projects were finally selected in December 2012 to receive funding for up to 6 years. The 
average  Synergy  Grant  selected  for  funding  is  worth  €11.5  million  and  the  total  budget 

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allocated in 2012 was €126 million. As each Syne rgy Grant project involves between two and 
four Principal Investigators, 38 outstanding researchers are being supported through these 11 
grants. The high number of proposals received attests to a very substantial interest from the 
scientific community for this new type of grant.  

3.2. 

Co-operation between the ERC and the NSF 

On 13 July 2012, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation 
and  Science,  and  Dr  Subra  Suresh,  Director  of  the  National  Science  Foundation  of  USA 
(NSF),  signed  an  ''implementing  arrangement''  in  the  framework  of  the  EU-US  Science  and 
Technology Agreement. This initiative is designed to help young top talent, based in the U.S. 
and  pre-selected  by  the  NSF,  to  spend  some  time  –  between  6  and  12  months  –  in  Europe, 
hosted as members of ERC grantees' teams. To date, 2330 ERC grantees have been contacted 
and 760 positive replies have been received. The initiative aims to connect researchers with 
shared  interests  and  complementary  strengths  in  their  endeavour  to  advance  the  frontiers  of 
science and to enhance scientific and technological cooperation between the two continents. 

3.3. 

Programme Committee 

The  Programme  Committee  of  the  Specific  Programme  "Ideas"  serves,  in  addition  to  its 
formal duties, as an important communication network between the Member States and FP7 
Associated  Countries,  the  Scientific  Council,  the  ERC  Secretary  General  and  the 
Commission. In 2012 meetings of this committee were held on 18 April and 12 October. 

3.4. 

Ethical review 

In  2012  three  proposals  involving  research  on  Human  Embryonic  Stem  Cells  were  cleared 
following  an  ethics  review  and  obtained  the  approval  of  the  Ideas  Programme  Committee. 
Another three proposals underwent ethics review and are currently under consideration by the 
Ideas Programme committee. 

3.5. 

Redress 

In 2012, the total number of redress cases decreased from 234 to 204 (- 13%), despite the fact 
that in 2012 the total number of proposals increased by 21.24 %. This number, representing 
2.58% of the proposals received, indicates a positive downward trend of redress cases, thanks 
to the continuous improvement of working methods and compliance with procedures. 

3.6. 

Communication  

In  February  2012,  the  ERC  celebrated  its  5th  anniversary,  an  occasion  for  presenting  its 
achievements so far. The two-day event brought together policy makers and beneficiaries of 
ERC grants. Three European Commissioners, the European Parliament's ITRE President, the 
Danish  Science  Minister  representing  the  EU  Presidency,  and  the  ERC  leadership  had  the 
opportunity to listen to research results, success stories and, more importantly, plans for the 
future.  

In  2012,  the  Scientific  Council  launched  the  "ERC  goes  Global"  campaign,  headed  by  the 
ERC Secretary General Professor Donald Dingwell. In less than a year, he visited 26 cities in 
9 countries and has given 70 presentations. National Contact Points (NCP) are being set up in 
the  wake  of  these  visits  and  two  of  them  (Brazil,  Taiwan)  have  attended  the  annual  NCP 
meeting  in  Brussels  in  November.  The  ERC  was  present  for  the  first  time  at  the  Annual 

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Meeting  of  the  New  Champions  (also  known  as  Summer  Davos)  held  in  China.  In  North 
America,  the  ERC  attended  the  NSF  career  fair  and  the  MIT  European  career  fair,  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  (AAAS)  conference,  and  the  annual 
meetings  of  the  American  Association  for  Cancer  Research,  Society  for  Neuroscience,  the 
American Anthropological Association and the American Geophysical Union. 

In  addition  to  initiatives  aimed  at  raising  the  visibility  of  ERC’s  funding  opportunities  at  a 
global  level,  the  ERC  increased  its  presence  in  major  international  scientific  conferences, 
events and exhibitions, as well as career fairs and workshops in Europe. The ERC President, 
Professor  Helga  Nowotny  attended  the  European  Excellence  Conference  2012  organised  in 
Aarhus under the Danish Presidency and the Falling Walls Conference in Berlin. Additional 
conferences were attended by Scientific Council members and ERCEA staff, where an ERC 
stand or session was organised to inform of ERC funding opportunities: the Euroscience Open 
Forum (ESOF) conference held in Dublin, the Lindau Nobel Laureates’ meeting, the Nature 
Jobs  Career  Fair,  the  World  Congress  of  Political  Sciences  and  the  European  Congress  of 
Mathematics, to name but a few. 

The national contact points (NCPs), based across Europe, serving as information multipliers 
to  potential  applicants,  were  continuously  kept  informed  about  ERC  calls  via  e-mail  and 
through biannual meetings organised in Brussels, in June and November.  

This year, the ERC has received extensive media coverage worldwide and in Europe, both as 
a  funding  organisation  and  through  its  funded  projects  and  its  grant  holders.  Through  its 
"ERC  goes  Global"  campaign,  it  has  intensified  its  efforts  in  international  press  relations, 
which resulted in more coverage around the globe than ever before. The landmark event on 
the occasion of the ERC’s fifth anniversary also attracted a great deal of media attention and 
so did the Nobel laureates’ initiative against possible cuts in the EU research budget, where 
the  ERC  was  mentioned  as  a  European  success  story.  In  addition  to  the  media  events 
organised  throughout  the  year,  the  ERC  regularly  issued  press  releases  and  updates. 
Numerous press interviews with the ERC President, the ERC Secretary-General and Scientific 
Council  members  have  been  published.  These  press  activities  have  resulted  in  a  significant 
number  of  articles  in  both  the  scientific  and  the  general  press  (over  2100  mentions). 
Concerning  the  presence  of  the  ERC  on  social  media,  a  Facebook  account  and  a  Twitter 
account  were  launched  in  2012.  The  ERC  has  more  than  1  100  followers  on  Facebook  and 
more than 1 800 followers on Twitter. 

3.7.  Monitoring, Assessment and Evaluation of the Specific Programme "Ideas" 

An evaluation of the ERC main results was prepared in conjunction with the ex-ante impact 
assessment of the Commission's proposal on Horizon 2020, the next Framework Programme 
for  Research  and  Innovation5.  Findings  from  the  continuous  monitoring  of  the  programme 
include the following: 

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The  ERC  counts  five  Nobel  laureates  and  three  Fields  Medalists  among  its  grant 
holders.  A  total  of  76  ERC  grantees  have  received  other  prestigious  international 
scientific prizes and awards. 

Over  7900  articles  acknowledging  ERC-funding  have  appeared  in  peer-reviewed 
high impact journals between 2008 and 2012. 

COM(2011) 809 final of 30.11.2011 

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Each ERC grantee employs on average six other researchers, contributing in this way 
to the training of a new generation of excellent researchers. 

The analysis of a significant sample of projects shows that around half of ERC team 
members  hold  a  nationality  that  is  different  from  that  of  the  Principal  Investigator. 
ERC  team  members  come  from  38  of  the  41  European  Research  Area  (ERA) 
countries.  In  addition,  researchers  of  55  different  nationalities  outside  the  ERA  are 
present in the teams working on ERC projects, with Americans, Chinese, Indians and 
Russians taking the lead.  

The same analysis shows positive figures in terms of gender balance: around 37% of 
ERC team members are women, which is a higher share than the number of female 
ERC Principal Investigators (20%). The majority of these women are at the start of 
their  research  career,  so  this  can  be  seen  as  an  encouraging  sign  for  a  better 
representation of women in cutting-edge research in the future. 

In July 2012, the ERC Executive Agency completed 3 years of autonomous existence and is 
currently  undergoing  an  external  evaluation,  which  includes  a  cost-benefit  analysis.  The 
evaluation  report  is  expected  in  spring  2013  and  will  be  transmitted  to  the  European 
Parliament, the Council and the Court of Auditors.  

4. 

STRUCTURE OF THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL 

4.1. 

The Scientific Council 

A staged renewal of  the  members  of the Scientific Council  will take effect in February and 
April 2013. The standing Identification Committee presented its proposals to the Commission 
in  July  2012  and  its  report6  was  transmitted  to  Council  and  Parliament.  Based  on  these 
proposals,  the  Commission  nominated  as  new  members  of  the  Scientific  Council  the 
following:  Professor  Klaus  Bock  (Danish  National  Research  Foundation),  Professor  Athene 
Donald  (University  of  Cambridge),  Dr  Barbara  Ensoli  (Istituto  Superiore  di  Sanità,  Rome), 
Professor Nuria Sebastian Galles (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona), Professor Reinhard 
Genzel (Max Planck Institute for Extra-terrestrial Physics), Professor Dr Ing. Matthias Kleiner 
(University  of  Dortmund),  Professor  Eva  Kondorosi  (Hungarian  Academy  of  Sciences)  and 
Professor Dr Reinhilde Veugelers (KU Leuven)7.  

The  Scientific  Council  held  5  plenary  meetings  in  2012,  two  of  which  were  held  outside 
Brussels: in Sofia (Bulgaria) in April and in Limassol (Cyprus) in October. The summary of 
the plenary meetings is published on the ERC website8. 

The  members  of  the  Scientific  Council  also  met  in  Working  Groups  (WGs)  addressing 
specific  issues:  innovation  and  relations  with  industry,  internationalisation,  gender  balance 
and open access.  

In July 2012, the Scientific Council took a further step to strengthen its policy on open access, 
by  encouraging  ERC-funded  researchers  to  use  discipline-specific  repositories.  Since  its 

6 http://erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/file/ERC_Identification_Committee_Final_Report_2012.pdf 
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http://erc.europa.eu/about-erc/organisation 

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creation,  the  ERC  has  been  a  strong  supporter  of  the  idea  that  the  wide  range  of  research 
results  —  including  publications  and  primary  data  —  should  be  made  freely  accessible.  In 
2007,  the  Scientific  Council  laid  down  specific  guidelines  requiring  that  all  peer-reviewed 
publications springing from ERC-funded projects be deposited on publication into appropriate 
research or institutional repositories and subsequently made open access within 6 months of 
publication.  

The Scientific Council has two Standing Committees, one on peer review and one on conflict 
of interest, scientific misconduct and ethical issues.  

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In May 2012, the ERC participated in the Global Summit on merit (peer) review in 
Washington  hosted  by  the  National  Science  Foundation  (NSF).  Heads  of  research 
councils  from  about  50  countries  agreed  upon  a  set  of  merit  review  principles  and 
established a Global Research Council (GRC).  

Based on the work of its committee on conflicts of interest, scientific misconduct and 
ethical issues, at its plenary meeting of 4 and 5 October 2012, the Scientific Council 
adopted  a  strategy  for  identifying  and  addressing  scientific  misconduct  concerning 
ERC applicants and projects9. The strategy institutionalises what has been the ERC 
practice  so  far  in  dealing  with  scientific  misconduct.  It  ensures  that  all  concerns 
about  potential  scientific  misconduct  or  suspected  breaches  of  research  integrity 
concerning  an  ERC  applicant  or  project  will  be  addressed  by  the  ERC  within  the 
legal  and  procedural  framework  applicable  to  an  agency  established  within  the 
European Commission framework. 

The  Scientific  Council's  plenary  meetings  and  the  meetings  of  its  members  with  ERC 
stakeholders are prepared with the organisational and administrative support of the Executive 
Agency. The Agency also provides advice and analysis to facilitate the Scientific Council to 
fulfil its tasks as described in Annex 1 of the Ideas Specific Programme, as well as support to 
the operational activities of its Working Groups and Standing Committees. 

To  further  assure  its  liaison  with  the  European  Commission  and  the  Executive  Agency,  the 
Chair and vice Chairs of the Scientific Council, the ERC Secretary General and the Director 
of  the  Agency  meet  regularly  as  the  ERC  Board.  These  meetings  are  also  attended  by  the 
senior management of the Agency. The Board met in Brussels 10 times in 2012, in particular 
to prepare or to follow up the meetings of the Scientific Council. 

4.2. 

The ERC Executive Agency 

Since  July  2009  the  Agency  has  been  responsible  for  all  aspects  of  administrative 
implementation and programme execution as provided for in the Work Programme.  

The  operations  of  the  Agency  are  supervised  by  a  Steering  Committee,  appointed  by  the 
Commission.  It  is  chaired  by  the  Director-General  of  DG  Research  and  Innovation  and 
includes  as  external  members  two  members  of  the  Scientific  Council.  In  2012,  the  Steering 
Committee  held  four  meetings  and  adopted  decisions  related  to  the  Agency's  Annual  Work 
Programme,  budget  and  accounts,  as  well  as  its  organisational  structure.  Pablo  Amor  was 
appointed Director of the ERC Executive Agency on 25 July 2012. 

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4.2.1.  Agency Staff 

The  2012  operating  budget  provided  for  the  employment  of  100  temporary  agents,  281 
contract staff and 8 seconded national experts, adding up to a total of 389 agents. 

At  the  end  of  December  2012,  the  agency  employed  indeed  a  total  of  380  agents:  96 
temporary agents, 275 contract agents and 9 seconded national experts. 

Statistics of December 2012 show that the agency employs approximately 35% men and 65% 
women.  As  regards  the  gender  balance  of  highly  specialised  staff  (temporary  agents  and 
contract agents in Function Group IV), 61% of the posts are occupied by women. At the end 
of 2012, the ERC Executive Agency employed nationals from 26 Member States. 

5. 

CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK FOR 2013 

The  year  2012  saw  several  significant  developments  for  the  ERC.  It  was  marked  by  the 
ERC’s fifth anniversary celebration, the launch of the "ERC goes Global" campaign, the first 
international  agreement  with  the  US  National  Science  Foundation,  an  ERC  Principal 
Investigator  winning  the  Nobel  Prize  for  physics,  and  ERC  grantees  participating  in  the 
Summer Davos meeting. By the end of 2012, the ERC had completed ten calls for proposals 
for  the  Starting  and  Advanced  Grants,  two  calls  for  the  Proof  of  Concept  and  one  for  the 
Synergy Grants. The competitions yielded a total of over 34000 proposals out of which more 
than 3500 have been selected for funding through a rigorous peer review. 

The  year  2013  is  eagerly  awaited  for  the  decisions  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council on the Commission's proposals for Horizon 2020, including an anticipated increase of 
funding  for  the  ERC.  Boosting  the  ERC  budget  will  allow  more  top  researchers  and  their 
pioneering  ideas  to  be  supported,  and  especially  younger  researchers  to  be  provided  with  a 
long-term perspective.  

Two further developments are foreseen in 2013: 

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Since  2010,  the  Starting  Grant  has  been  "streamed"  to  allow  applicants  to  be 
compared with researchers of a similar level. In general, “Starters” (from 2 and up to 
7 years from their PhD award) are still in the process of setting up their own research 
group, while “Consolidators” (from 7 up to 12 years from their PhD award) are very 
often  already  working  with  their  own  group,  but  need  to  consolidate.  As  a 
development  from  this  practice,  and  in  response  to  the  rapidly  rising  number  of 
applications  for  Starting  Grants,  the  Scientific  Council  will  introduce  two  separate 
calls in the 2013 Work Programme10. 

In  line  with  the  recommendations  of  the  ERC  Task  Force,  incorporated  in  its 
proposals  for  Horizon  2020,  the  Commission  has  set  up  a  high  level  independent 
search  committee  for  the  next  ERC  President11.  Under  Horizon  2020,  the  ERC 
President will also ensure the tasks of the ERC Secretary General, will be based in 
Brussels  and  devote  most  of  her/his  time  to  ERC  activities.  The  search  committee, 
chaired  by  Lord  Sainsbury  of  Turville,  is  expected  to  report  to  the  Commission  in 

http://erc.europa.eu/documents/erc-work-programme-2013 
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-1393_en.htm 

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time  for  the  appointment  of  the  next  ERC  President  upon  the  entry  into  force  of 
Horizon 2020.  

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