Source: EURLEX
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# 52012DC0297

**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 2011 /\* COM/2012/0297 final \*/**

  

1.           Introduction and Legal
Base

The European Research Council (ERC),
established by Commission Decision 2007/134/EC[1], 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)[2] created under the general
regime of executive agencies. 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 2011. This report is complemented by a report
from the Scientific Council on the scientific implementation and achievements
of the programme during the year 2011[3].

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.        Funding
schemes

Two grant schemes 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.

In
order to strengthen the ERC’s role in the innovation chain
from frontier research to socio-economic benefits, the
Scientific Council developed and launched in 2011 a new
granting opportunity – the Proof of Concept – which is offered to ERC grant holders to establish the innovation
potential of ideas arising from their ERC-funded projects. The scheme aims to
cover a funding gap in the earliest stage of an innovation.

2.2.        2011
Work Programme for the Specific Programme "Ideas"

The 2011 Work Programme for the Specific
Programme "Ideas" was established by the Scientific Council on
14 April 2010 and subsequently adopted by the Commission on 19 July
2010[4]. The Work Programme was revised
to include the new granting opportunity, the Proof of Concept. The revised
version, established by the Scientific Council on 29 November 2010, was adopted
by the Commission on 24 March 2011[5].

Apart from the introduction of the Proof of
Concept Grants, few adjustments were made in the scientific strategy: The
eligibility window for the Starting Grant was further expanded; it now stands
from 2 - 12 years from PhD award (2 - 7 for "starters" and 7-12 for
"consolidators"). The restriction on reapplication was also relaxed;
applicants can now reapply to the following call if their proposal was
evaluated as above the quality threshold. The interdisciplinary
domain has been renamed as the "fourth domain" with a 10%
indicative budget.

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 Grant schemes. Proof of Concept proposals
were evaluated by a specific set of peer reviewers working
remotely.

3.           Programme Implementation

In the implementation of the Programme in
2011, commitment credits of € 1.3 billion (global commitment) and payments of €
725 million were fully executed, representing 100% of the operational credits
of the Ideas Specific Programme for 2011. Around 2.2%
of the operational budget was spent on administration.

3.1.        Grants

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

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 2011 ERC Starting Grant call was
published in July 2010 with an indicative budget of €661 million. In total 4080
proposals were received distributed by domain as follows: 1690 proposals in
Physical Sciences and Engineering, 1440 in Life Sciences and 950 in Social
Sciences and Humanities. A total of 485 proposals were selected for funding
with a total of more than € 670 million awarded and an overall average awarded
grant of around €1.4 million.

The 2012 Starting Grant call was published
in July 2011 with an indicative budget of €730 million. A total of 4741
proposals were submitted in response: 2058 for Physical Sciences and
Engineering, 1653 for Life Sciences and 1030 for Social Sciences and
Humanities, representing respectively 43%, 35% and 22%, a split similar to the
2011 Starting Grant call, and the 2010 Starting Grant call.

3.1.2.     ERC
Advanced Grants

The 2011 ERC Advanced Grant call was
published in November 2010 with an indicative budget of €661 million. A total
of 2284 proposals were received distributed by domain as follows: 917 proposals
in Physical Sciences and Engineering (40%), 789 (35%) in Life Sciences and 578
in Social Sciences and Humanities (25%). The evaluation process resulted in a
total of 294 proposals retained for funding with a total of about € 700 million
awarded and an overall average awarded grant of around €2.4 million.

The 2012 ERC Advanced Grant call was
published in November 2011 with deadlines between February and April 2012 and
an indicative budget of € 680 million.

3.1.3.     ERC Proof of Concept

The first Proof of Concept call was
published in March 2011 with an indicative budget of €10 million, approximately
half of which for each of the two evaluation rounds following the two deadlines
for submission set in June and in November 2011 respectively. Only researchers
already holding an ERC Starting or Advanced Grant were eligible to apply for
Proof of Concept funding. A total of 78 proposals were received at the first
deadline and 73 of them were considered eligible for evaluation, with the
following distribution per domain of the original ERC grant held by the
applicant: 58% in Physical Sciences and Engineering, 34% in Life Sciences and
8% in Social Sciences and Humanities. The evaluation resulted in 30 proposals
retained for funding.

At the second deadline, a total of 73
proposals were received and 67 of them were considered eligible for evaluation,
with the following distribution per domain of the original ERC grant held by
the applicant: 61% in Physical Sciences and Engineering, 34% in Life Sciences
and 5% in Social Sciences and Humanities.

3.2.        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 2011 meetings of this committee were held on 5 April and 24
October.

3.3.        Ethical
review

Overall, in 2011 the ethical Review involved
55 external experts and covered 100% of proposals, out of which only 3 were
flagged as dealing with Human Embryonic Stem Cells. These proposals will be
transferred to the Commission for the finalisation of the process.

3.4.        Redress

In 2011, 234 requests for redress were
received, representing 3.6% of the proposals submitted, a significant decrease
compared to 4.6% in 2010. The two successful redress
requests originated in errors on an individual assessment in the first step of
the evaluation process. In both cases a complete re-evaluation took place, which concluded that both proposals should have been
shortlisted for funding; as a consequence, the two proposals were selected for
granting.

3.5.        Communication

During the course of 2011 the ERC
intensified its awareness raising activities on funding opportunities, both in
Europe and beyond, ensuring its presence and involvement in major international
research conferences and exhibitions, as well as career fairs and workshops,
while the visibility of ERC's funded projects was raised among the general
public and the media.

In Europe,
the ERC took part in the annual meetings of the European Molecular Biology
Organisation in Vienna and of the European Sociological Association in Geneva,
the Congress of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies in Torino,
Nature Jobs Career Fair in London, the meeting of the European Universities
Public Relations and Information Officers in Prague, the Falling Walls
Conference in Berlin, as well as the EU Innovation Convention held in Brussels.

Special efforts were deployed in countries
with low participation in ERC schemes. In June, at the occasion of the
Hungarian Presidency of the European Union, the ERC organised in Budapest,
jointly with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a major conference on
“Promoting Excellence in Research in Europe”. The spotlight was on top
researchers who had been successful in obtaining highly competitive ERC grants.
A selection of ERC grant holders gave their testimonials, including 2010 Nobel
Prize winner Konstantin Novoselov. In Riga (Latvia), a public presentation on
the ERC was organised in cooperation with the national Academy of Sciences. In
Poland, a series of awareness raising workshops were organised by the Polish
National and Regional Contact Points.

On 25 May 2011, the ERC was invited for an
exchange of views with the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry,
Research and Energy (ITRE). An exchange of views took place also at the
Competitiveness Council of 30 September 2011 with the Commissioner for
research, innovation and science and the ERC President.

Outside
Europe,
the ERC has again been present in a few priority countries, namely the US
(MIT-European Career, American Association for the Advancement of Science,
Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, American Association for Cancer
Research, Bio International Conference, American Geophysical Union Meeting),
China (visit to research organisations and universities in Beijing), India
(Indian Science Congress in Chennai and participation in an EU campaign
organised by the EU Delegation throughout the country) and Brazil (Sao Paulo
and Brasilia), on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the
Research Foundation Agency of Brazil.

Scientific Council members and Executive
Agency staff have contributed to many of these outreach activities and have
attended other scientific congresses held in the EU and other parts of the
world (such as the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in
Denver, US, the American Anthropological Association Annual Conference in
Montréal and the Material Research Society Fall meeting in Warsaw).

The ERC caught the attention of the media
both in Europe and worldwide throughout the year, both as an organisation and
through its funded projects and its grant holders. Press activities resulted in
a good number of articles in both the scientific and more general press (over
1900 mentions) and in many press releases and updates disseminated to the
media. Numerous interviews with the ERC President, Secretary General or
Scientific Council members have been published, also in major daily newspapers.
Three "Special Features" were published to follow the news on the
occasion of Alzheimer's day, the Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the UN Climate
Change Conference in Durban.

The National Contact Points (NCPs), based
all over Europe and serving as information multipliers to potential applicants,
were continuously kept informed of the ERC developments and of its calls.

Finally, a completely new website was
launched in September, with a new look-and-feel, a new layout, clearer and more
user-friendly navigation, added functionalities and with a more dynamic
approach. A quarterly electronic newsletter called "ideas" was
first published in March, to offer more in-depth information and presentations
of ERC achievements, projects, grantees and partners.

3.6.        Monitoring, Assessment and
Evaluation (MAE) 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 Innovation[6].
Findings from this evaluation include the following:

·
By the end of 2011 more than 2000
frontier-research projects were up and running in around 470 prestigious
research institutions in Europe.

·
As of 2011, thirty-six ERC grantees have
received prestigious international scientific prizes and awards, among which 4
Nobel Prizes and 3 Fields Medals.

·
The number of articles acknowledging ERC funding
published in peer-reviewed journals increased from over 1200 in 2010 to above
1750 in 2011, totalising more than 3400 since 2008. This is a combination of
rising number of projects and maturing projects producing more results.

·
Focusing on articles in the two of the
most-cited scientific journals (Nature and Science) it can be seen that the
ERC footprint is rapidly increasing. In 2011, every week at least one
ERC-funded project published its findings in either Nature or Science. This
corresponded to every two weeks and every seven weeks in 2010 and 2009
respectively.

In 2010, the Commission, the ERCEA and the
Scientific Council took action on the recommendations of the ERC Review of
structures and mechanisms[7].
In a Decision amending the Decision establishing the ERC[8], the Commission confirmed the
arrangements for the local support to the Chair and Vice-Chairs of the
Scientific Council at their places of work and introduced an honorarium for
attendance at the Scientific Council plenary meetings, in recognition of the
personal commitment of the members of the Scientific Council and the time they
have to devote to ERC tasks. The same decision introduced the concept of a
Standing Identification Committee for the identification of future Scientific
Council members. These measures were made operational and were provided with a
budget in the revision of the Ideas Work programme in March 2011[9].

On ERC governance, and in close contact
with the Scientific Council, the Commission undertook a further reflection on a
sustainable and forward-looking solution, in view of Horizon 2020. This
reflection was entrusted to a Task Force, set up in December 2010 and which
included representatives of the Scientific Council, the ERC Review Panel and
the Commission[10].
The report of the ERC Task Force was published on 12 July 2011[11] and was transmitted to the
Council and the European Parliament. Its major conclusion is that in the
timescale of Horizon 2020, the future of the ERC is better assured within the
structure of an Executive Agency. The report is very much in line with the
conclusions of the ERC Review of 2009. It acknowledges the ERC's remarkable
success so far and proposes measures for the improvement of its operations. One
of the recommended innovations is the provision for a quasi full-time,
Brussels-based ERC President, a provision that would dispense with the need for
an ERC Secretary General. The recommendations of the Task Force have been
incorporated in the Commission's proposals for the specific programme implementing
Horizon 2020[12].

4.           Structure of the European
Research Council

4.1.        The Scientific Council

The renewal of one third of the members of
the Scientific Council took effect in January 2011 and was presented in last
year's annual report[13].
The standing Identification Committee continues its search for future members
and in December 2011 announced the consultation of the scientific community[14] for the next identification
exercise, due in October 2012.

Following the renewal of the Scientific
Council, Professors Pavel Exner and Carl-Henrik Heldin, both founding members
of the Scientific Council, were elected as Vice-chairs[15].

In 2011 the Scientific Council selected
Prof. Donald Bruce Dingwell, Professor in Experimental
Volcanology at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich,
as its third Secretary General following Ernst-Ludwig
Winnacker and Andreu Mas-Colell. Prof. Dingwell took office on 1 September 2011[16].

The Scientific Council held 5 plenary
meetings in 2011, two of which were held outside Brussels: in Budapest
(Hungary) in June and in Riga (Latvia) in October. The
summary of the plenary meetings is published on the ERC website[17].

In addition to plenary sessions, members of
the Scientific Council meet in Working Groups addressing specific issues. In
2011, various meetings of the ERC Working Groups on “Innovation and Relations
with Industry”, “Open Access”, “Internationalisation” and “Gender Balance” were
organised by the Executive Agency. The Working Groups carry out analysis and
contribute to the ERC scientific strategy through proposals to be adopted by
the Scientific Council in plenary in the areas covered by their mandates:
examine the ERC’s relationship with the industrial/business sector and the
impact of ERC-funded research on innovation; develop an ERC position on open
access; explore suitable mechanisms to boost the participation of non-European
researchers, particularly from Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRIC
countries), in the ERC schemes; ensure that the ERC is at the forefront of best
practice regarding the gender balance of grantees.

The Scientific Council has two Standing
Committees, one on peer review and one on conflict of interest and scientific
misconduct. A series of working documents containing analysis and key messages
on the specific issues dealt with by the Working Groups and by the Standing
Committees were prepared by the Executive Agency, in conjunction with members
of the groups.

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 2011, in
particular to prepare or to follow up the meetings of the Scientific Council.

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 permanent committees.

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. In line with the
conclusions of the ERC Task Force, the membership of the Steering Committee was
modified to include as external members two members of the Scientific Council,
Profs Sierd Cloetingh and Tomasz Dietl. The Committee is chaired by the
Director-General of DG Research and Innovation and the ERC Secretary-General is
an observer. In 2011, the Steering Committee held four meetings and adopted
decisions related to the Agency's Annual Work Programme, budget and accounts. At
each of its meetings, the Steering Committee received a detailed progress
report from the Director of the Agency.

4.2.1.     Agency Staff

The 2011 operating budget provided for an
establishment plan of 100 temporary agents and a budget for 253 contract staff
and 7 seconded national experts, adding up to a total of 360 agents.

At the end of December 2011, the Agency
employed a total of 350 agents: 97 temporary agents, 245 contract agents and 8
seconded national experts.

Statistics of December 2011 show that the
Agency employs approximately 36% men and 64% women. As regards the gender
balance of highly specialised staff (temporary agents and contract agents in
Function Group IV), 54% of the posts are occupied by women. At the end of 2011
the ERC Executive Agency employed nationals from 24 Member States. Pablo Amor
succeeded Jack Metthey as Director ad interim of the ERC Executive Agency on 1
January 2011.

5.           Conclusions and Outlook
for 2012

The ERC grants have been well received by the research community. Since its start
in 2007 the ERC has completed
eight calls for proposals for the Starting and Advanced Grant schemes. The
competitions yielded a total of over 26000 proposals out of which more than
2500 have been selected for funding through a rigorous peer review.

In 2012, the Scientific Council will
introduce the Synergy Grants to enable small groups of researchers to
bring together complementary skills, knowledge and resources, in order to
jointly address research problems at the frontier of knowledge, going beyond
what the individual researchers could achieve alone. The Synergy grants are
introduced on a pilot basis and with a budget of €150 million[18].

The year 2012
will also see the discussions at the European Parliament and the Council on the
Commission's proposals for Horizon 2020. One major ambition of Horizon 2020 is
to support the EU’s position as a world leader in science with a dedicated
budget of €24.6 billion, including an increase in
funding of 77% for ERC. Boosting the ERC
budget will allow more top rate researchers and their pioneering ideas to be
supported, and especially younger researchers to be provided with a long-term
perspective.

Finally, in
2012, the ERC Executive Agency will have completed 3 years of autonomous
existence and will undergo an external evaluation, which will include a
cost-benefit analysis. The evaluation report will be transmitted to the
European Parliament, the Council and the Court of Auditors.

[1]               OJ L 57, 24.02.2007, p.14.

[2]               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).

[3]               http://erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/file/erc\_annual\_report\_2011.pdf

[4]               C(2010)4898 of 19.07.10, not published

[5]               C(2011)1848 of 24.03.11, not published

[6]               COM(2011) 809 final of 30.11.2011

[7]               Review Panel Report: Towards a world class
Frontier Research Organisation: Review of the European Research Council’s
Structures and Mechanisms (23 July 2009). http://erc.europa.eu/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&topicID=158
Response of the Commission: Communication to the Council and Parliament C(2009)
552 final of 22.10.2009 http://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/pdf/archive/other\_reports\_studies\_and\_documents/commission\_communication\_on\_the\_erc\_review\_-\_22\_october\_2009.pdf

[8]               Decision 2011/12/EU of 12.1.2011, OJ L 9, 13.1.2011,
p.5

[9]               C(2011) 1848 of 24.03.11, not published

[10]             Press
release IP/10/1759 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/1759&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr

[11]             http://erc.europa.eu/about-erc/reviews-and-development-erc

[12]             COM(2011) 811 final of 30.11.2011

[13]             COM(2011) 497 of 17.8.2011

[14]             http://ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfm?pg=newsalert&lg=en&year=2011&na=na-121211

[15]             http://erc.europa.eu/pdf/ERC\_Press\_release\_Vice-Presidents.pdf

[16]             http://erc.europa.eu/pdf/ERC\_Press\_release\_New\_Secretary\_General.pdf

[17]             http://erc.europa.eu/about-erc/organisation

[18]             http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/pdf/wp2012/wp2012\_ideas\_en.pdf

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