PART I

The ERC will promote world-class frontier research. Research at and beyond the frontiers of current understanding is both of critical importance to economic and social welfare, and an intrinsically risky venture, progressing on new and most challenging research areas and characterised by an absence of disciplinary boundaries. In order to stimulate substantial advances at the frontiers of knowledge, the ERC will support individual teams to carry out research in any field of basic scientific and technological research which falls within the scope of Horizon 2020, including engineering, social sciences and the humanities. As appropriate, specific target groups (e.g. starting researchers/emerging teams) may be taken into account, following the objectives of the ERC and needs for efficient implementation. Particular attention will be paid to emerging and fast-growing areas at the frontier of knowledge and at the interface between disciplines. Independent researchers of any age and gender, including starting researchers making the transition to being independent research leaders in their own right, from any country in the world will be supported to carry out their research in Europe. The ERC shall give particular priority to assisting the best starting researchers with excellent ideas to make the transition to independence by providing adequate support at the critical stage when they are setting up or consolidating their own research team or programme. The ERC will also continue to provide appropriate levels of support for established researchers. An "investigator-driven" approach will be followed. This means that the ERC will support projects carried out by researchers on subjects of their choice within the scope of calls for proposals. Proposals will be evaluated on the sole criterion of excellence as judged by peer review, taking account of excellence in new groups, starting researchers, as well as established teams, and paying particular attention to proposals which are highly pioneering and involve correspondingly high scientific risks. The ERC will operate as an autonomous science-led funding body consisting of an independent Scientific Council, supported by a lean and cost-effective dedicated implementation structure. The Scientific Council will establish the overall scientific strategy and will have full authority over decisions on the type of research to be funded. The Scientific Council will establish the work programme to meet the ERC's objectives based on its scientific strategy as set out below. It will establish the necessary international cooperation initiatives in line with its scientific strategy, including outreach activities to increase the visibility of the ERC for the best researchers from the rest of the world. The Scientific Council will continuously monitor the operation of the ERC and its evaluation procedures and consider how best to achieve its broader objectives. It will develop the ERC's mix of support measures as necessary to respond to emerging needs. The ERC will aim for excellence in its own operations. The administrative and staff costs for the ERC relating to the Scientific Council and the dedicated implementation structure will be consistent with lean and cost-effective management. Administrative expenditure will be kept to a minimum, consistent with ensuring the resources necessary for world-class implementation, in order to maximise funding for frontier research. ERC awards will be made and grants operated according to simple, transparent procedures that maintain the focus on excellence, encourage initiative and combine flexibility with accountability. The ERC will continuously look for further ways to simplify and improve its procedures in order to ensure that these principles are met. Given the unique structure and role of the ERC as a science-led funding body the implementation and management of the activities of the ERC will be reviewed and evaluated on an ongoing basis with the full involvement of the Scientific Council to assess its achievements and to adjust and improve procedures and structures on the basis of experience. In order to carry out its tasks, as set out in Article 7, the Scientific Council will: Scientific strategy: establish the overall scientific strategy for the ERC, in the light of scientific opportunities and European scientific needs; on a permanent basis, in accordance with the scientific strategy, ensure the establishment of the work programme and necessary modifications, including calls for proposals and criteria and, as may be required, the definition of specific target groups (e.g. starting/emerging teams); Scientific management, monitoring and quality control: as appropriate, from a scientific perspective, establish positions on implementation and management of calls for proposals, evaluation criteria, peer review processes including the selection of experts, the methods for peer review and proposal evaluation and the necessary implementing rules and guidelines, on the basis of which the proposal to be funded will be determined under the supervision of the Scientific Council, and establish positions on any other matter affecting the achievements and impact of the ERC's activities and the quality of the research carried out, including the principal provisions of the ERC Model Grant Agreement; monitor quality of operations and evaluate implementation and achievements and make recommendations for corrective or future actions. Communication and dissemination: assure transparency in communication with the scientific community, key stakeholders and the general public on the ERC's activities and achievements; regularly report to the Commission on its own activities. The Scientific Council has full authority over decisions on the type of research to be funded and is the guarantor of the quality of the activity from the scientific perspective. Where appropriate, the Scientific Council shall consult with the scientific, engineering and scholarly community, regional and national research funding agencies and other stakeholders. The members of the Scientific Council shall be compensated for the tasks they perform by means of an honorarium and, where appropriate, reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses. The President of the ERC will reside in Brussels for the duration of the appointment and devote most of his/her working time In principle at least 80 %. to ERC business. He/she will be remunerated at a level commensurate with the Commission's top management. The Scientific Council shall elect from amongst its members three Vice-Chairs who shall assist the President in its representation and the organisation of its work. They may also hold the title of Vice-President of the ERC. Support will be provided to the three Vice-Chairs to ensure adequate local administrative assistance at their home institutes. The dedicated implementation structure will be responsible for all aspects of administrative implementation and programme execution, as provided for in the work programme. It will, in particular, implement the evaluation procedures, peer review and selection process in accordance with the strategy established by the Scientific Council and will ensure the financial and scientific management of the grants. The dedicated implementation structure will support the Scientific Council in the conduct of all of its tasks as set out above, provide access to the necessary documents and data in its possession, and keep the Scientific Council informed of its activities. In order to ensure an effective liaison with the dedicated implementation structure on strategy and operational matters, the leadership of the Scientific Council and the Director of the dedicated implementation structure will hold regular coordination meetings. The management of the ERC will be carried out by staff recruited for that purpose, including, where necessary, officials from the Union institutions, and will cover only the real administrative needs in order to assure the stability and continuity necessary for an effective administration. In order to fulfil its responsibilities as set out in Articles 6, 7 and 8 the Commission will: ensure the continuity and renewal of the Scientific Council and provide support for a standing Identification Committee for the identification of future Scientific Council members; ensure the continuity of the dedicated implementation structure and the delegation of tasks and responsibilities to it taking into account the views of the Scientific Council; appoint the Director and the Senior Staff of the dedicated implementation structure taking into account the views of the Scientific Council; ensure the timely adoption of the work programme, the positions regarding implementing methodology and the necessary implementing rules as provided by the ERC Rules of Submission and the ERC Model Grant Agreement, taking into account the positions of the Scientific Council; regularly inform and consult the Programme Committee on the implementation of the ERC activities. Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) activities will concretise different logics of intervention, from completely open to varying degrees of structuring of topics, communities and funding, structured around three strands - FET Open, FET Proactive and FET Flagships. Supporting a large set of early stage, high-risk visionary science and technology collaborative research projects is necessary for the successful exploration of new foundations for radically new future scientific knowledge and technologies. By being explicitly non-topical and non-prescriptive, this activity allows for new ideas, whenever they arise and wherever they come from, within the broadest spectrum of themes and disciplines, and it actively stimulates creative out-of-the-box thinking. Nurturing such fragile ideas requires an agile, risk-friendly and highly interdisciplinary research approach, going well beyond the strictly technological realms. Attracting and stimulating the participation of new high-potential actors in research and innovation, such as young researchers and high-tech SMEs, is also important for nurturing the scientific and industrial leaders of the future. Novel areas and themes need to be matured, by working towards structuring emerging communities and supporting the design and development of transformative research themes. The main benefits of this structuring yet explorative approach are emerging novel areas that are not yet ready for inclusion in industry research roadmaps, and building up and structuring of research communities around them. It makes the step from collaborations between a small number of researchers, to a cluster of projects that each address aspects of a research theme and exchange results. This will be done in close association with the priorities "Industrial leadership" and "Societal challenges". Research initiatives within this strand are science- and technology-driven, large-scale, multidisciplinary and built around a visionary unifying goal. They tackle grand science and technology challenges requiring cooperation among a range of disciplines, communities and programmes. The scientific and technological advance should provide a strong and broad basis for future innovation and economic exploitation, as well as novel benefits for society of a potential high impact. The overarching nature and magnitude implies that they can only be realised through a collaborative long-term and sustained effort. A FET Advisory Board, including scientists and engineers of the highest repute and expertise, will provide stakeholder input on the overall scientific and technological strategy, including advice on the definition of the work programme. FET will continue to be science- and technology-led, supported by a light and efficient implementation structure. Simple administrative procedures will be adopted to maintain the focus on excellence in science-driven technological innovation, encourage initiative and combine speed in decision-making and flexibility with accountability. The most appropriate approaches will be used for probing the FET research landscape (e.g. portfolio analysis) and for involving communities of stakeholders (e.g. consultations). The aim will be for continuous improvement and for the search for further ways to simplify and improve procedures in order to ensure that these principles are met. Assessments of the effectiveness and impact of the FET activities will be carried out, complementing those at programme level. Given its mission of fostering science-driven research towards future technologies, FET strives to bring together actors from science, technology and innovation, including, where appropriate, users, and to the extent possible from both public and private sectors. FET should therefore play an active and catalytic role in stimulating new thinking, new practices and new collaborations. FET Open groups activities for an entirely bottom-up search for promising new ideas. The high risk implied by each such idea is countered by exploring many of them. Efficiency in terms of time and resources, low opportunity cost for the proposers, and undisputable openness to non-conventional and interdisciplinary ideas are the key characteristics for these activities. Light and fast continuously open submission schemes will seek for promising new high-risk research ideas and will include tracks for new and high-potential innovation actors such as young researchers and high-tech SMEs. To complement FET Open activities, activities under the priorities "Industrial Leadership" and "Societal Challenges" may foster radically new use of knowledge and technologies. FET Proactive will regularly open calls on several high-risk, high-potential innovative themes, funded at such a level that several projects can be selected. These projects will be supported by community building actions that foster activities such as joint events, development of new curricula and research roadmaps. The selection of themes will take into account excellence in science-driven research towards future technologies, potential for creating a critical mass and impact on science and technology. A number of large-scale focused initiatives (FET Flagships) could be implemented subject to the positive outcome of FET preparatory projects. They should be based on open partnerships that enable the voluntary combination of Union, national and private contributions, with a balanced governance that allows programme owners to have appropriate influence, as well as a large degree of autonomy and flexibility in the implementation, enabling the Flagship to follow closely a broadly supported research roadmap. The selection of topics to be implemented as Flagships will be based on scientific and technologial excellence and will take into account the unifying goal, the potential impact, the integration of stakeholders and resources under a cohesive research roadmap and, where appropriate, the support from stakeholders and national/regional research programmes. These activities shall be realised using the existing funding instruments. Activities in the three FET strands are complemented by networking and community-based activities for creating a fertile and vibrant European base for science-driven research towards future technologies. They will support the future developments of the FET activities, foster the debate on implications of new technologies, and accelerate impact. Europe needs a strong and creative human resource base, mobile across countries and sectors, with the right combination of skills to innovate and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit. This will be achieved in particular by structuring and raising excellence in a substantial share of the high-quality initial training of early stage researchers and doctoral candidates throughout Member States and associated countries including, where appropriate, participation from third countries. By equipping early stage researchers with a diversity of skills that will allow them to face current and future challenges, the next generation of researchers will benefit from enhanced career perspectives in both public and private sectors, thereby enhancing also the attraction of young people to research careers. The action will be implemented through support to Union-wide competitively selected research training programmes implemented by partnerships of universities, research institutions, research infrastructures, businesses, SMEs and other socio-economic actors from different countries across Europe and beyond. Single institutions able to provide the same enriching environment will also be supported. Flexibility in the implementation of the objectives will have to be ensured in order to address the different needs. Typically, successful partnerships will take the form of research training networks that may offer innovative types of training such as joint or multiple doctoral degrees or industrial doctorates, while single institutions will usually be involved in innovative doctoral programmes. Industrial doctorates are an important element to foster an innovative spirit among researchers and create closer links between industry and academia. In this frame, support is foreseen for the best early stage researchers from any country to join these excellent programmes, which may include, inter alia, mentoring to transfer knowledge and experience. These training programmes will address the development and broadening of core research competences, while equipping researchers with a creative mind, an entrepreneurial outlook and innovation skills that will match the future needs of the labour market. The programmes will also provide training in transferable competences such as team-work, risk-taking, project management, standardisation, entrepreneurship, ethics, intellectual property rights (IPR), communication and societal outreach which are essential for the generation, development, commercialisation and diffusion of innovation. Europe has to be attractive for the best researchers, European and non-European alike. This will be achieved in particular by supporting attractive career opportunities for experienced researchers in both public and private sectors and by encouraging them to move between countries, sectors and disciplines to enhance their creative and innovative potential. Funding will be given to the best or most promising experienced researchers, regardless of their nationality, who want to develop their skills through a transnational or international mobility experience. They can be supported along all the different stages of their career, including the most junior ones just after their doctoral degree or equivalent experience. These researchers will receive funding on the condition that they move from one country to another to broaden or deepen their competences in universities, research institutions, research infrastructures, businesses, SMEs or other socio-economic actors of their choice (e.g. civil society organisations), working on research and innovation projects fitting their personal needs and interests. They will be encouraged to move from public to private sector or vice versa through the support of temporary postings. This should enhance the innovativeness of the private sector and promote cross-sector mobility. Part-time opportunities allowing combined positions in both public and private sectors will also be supported to enhance the transfer of knowledge between sectors and also to encourage the creation of start-ups. Such tailor-made research opportunities will help promising researchers to become fully independent and to facilitate career moves between public and private sectors. In order to fully exploit the existing potential of researchers, possibilities to be trained and to acquire new knowledge in a third-country high-level research institution, to restart a research career after a break and to (re)integrate researchers into a longer term research position in Europe, including their country of origin, after a transnational/international mobility experience covering return and reintegration aspects will also be supported. Societal challenges are becoming more and more global and cross-border and cross-sector collaborations are crucial to successfully face them. Sharing of knowledge and ideas from research to market (and vice versa) is therefore vital and can only be achieved through the connection of people. This will be promoted through the support of flexible exchanges of highly skilled R&I staff between sectors, countries and disciplines. European funding will support exchanges of R&I staff within partnerships of universities, research institutions, research infrastructures, businesses, SMEs and other socio-economic actors among Europe, as well as between Europe and third countries to reinforce international cooperation. It will be open to R&I staff at all career levels, from the most junior (post-graduate) to the most senior (management), including also administrative and technical staff. Stimulating regional, national or international programmes to foster excellence and to spread best practices of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in terms of European-wide mobility possibilities for researchers' training, career development and staff exchange will increase the numerical and structural impact of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. This will also enhance the attractiveness of the centres of excellence across Europe. This will be achieved by co-funding new or existing regional, national and international programmes, both public and private, to open up to and provide for international, intersectoral and interdicisplinary research training, as well as cross-border and cross-sector mobility of R&I staff at all stages of their career. This will allow the exploitation of synergies between Union actions and those at regional and national level, combating fragmentation in terms of objectives, evaluation methods and working conditions of researchers. In the framework of co-funding activities, use of employment contracts will be strongly promoted. To meet the challenge efficiently it will be essential to monitor progress. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will support the development of indicators and the analysis of data related to researchers' mobility, skills, careers and gender equality with a view to identifying gaps and barriers in these actions and to increasing their impact. These activities will be implemented by seeking synergies and close coordination with the policy support actions on researchers, their employers and funders carried out under the specific objective 'Europe in a changing world - Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies'. Specific actions will be funded to support initiatives to raise awareness on the importance of the research career and to disseminate research and innovation results emanating from work supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions. To further increase the impact of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, the networking between Marie Skłodowska-Curie researchers (current and past) will be enhanced through a strategy of alumni services. These will range from supporting a forum for contact and exchange between the researchers, providing possibilities for exploring collaborations and job opportunities, to the organisation of joint events and the involvement of the fellows in outreach activities as ambassadors for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and for the ERA. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will be open to training and career development activities within all domains of research and innovation addressed under the TFEU, from basic research up to market take-up and innovation services. Research and innovation fields as well as sectors will be chosen freely by the applicants. To benefit from the worldwide knowledge base, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will be open to R&I staff, as well as to universities, research institutions, research infrastructures, businesses and other socio-economic actors from all countries, including third countries, under the conditions defined in Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013. Throughout all the activities described above, attention will be paid to encourage a strong participation of enterprises, in particular SMEs, as well as of other socio-economic actors in the successful implementation and impact of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions. A long-term collaboration between higher education, research organisations and the public and private sectors, taking into account the protection of intellectual property rights, is promoted throughout all Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will be developed in close synergy with other programmes supporting these policy objectives, including the Erasmus+ programme and the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the EIT. The possibility is retained, if specific needs arise, to target certain activities under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions regarding specific societal challenges, types of research and innovation institutions, or geographical locations in order to respond to the evolution of Europe's requirements in terms of skills, research training, career development and knowledge sharing. In order to be open to all sources of talent, general measures to overcome any distortions in the access to the grants will be ensured, for example by encouraging equal opportunities for male and female researchers in all Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and by benchmarking gender participation. In addition, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will support researchers to get established on a more stable career path and to ensure that they can achieve an appropriate work/life balance, taking into account their family situation, and to facilitate resuming a research career after a break. The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers promoting open recruitment and attractive working conditions are recommended to be endorsed and applied by all funded participants. To further enhance dissemination and public engagement, beneficiaries of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions may be required to plan suitable outreach activities to the general public. This plan will be assessed during the evaluation process as well as during the project follow-up. The activities will aim at developing excellent European research infrastructures for 2020 and beyond, fostering their innovation potential and human resources and reinforcing European policy. Coordination with the cohesion funding sources will be pursued to ensure synergies and a coherent approach for the development of the research infrastructures. Synergies with the Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions will be encouraged. The aim is to facilitate and support the preparation, implementation, long-term sustainability and efficient operation of the research infrastructures identified by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) and of other world-class research infrastructures, which will help Europe to respond to grand challenges in science, industry and society. This objective will address specifically those infrastructures that are planning to set up, are setting up or have set up their governance, e.g. on the basis of the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) or any equivalent structure at European or international level. The Union funding will contribute to, as appropriate: he preparatory phase of future infrastructures (e.g. detailed construction plans, legal arrangements, multiannual planning, and early engagement of industry); the implementation phase (e.g. research and development (R&D) and engineering work jointly with industry and users, and development of Regional Partner Facilities A Regional Partner Facility (RPF) is a research infrastructure of national or regional importance in terms of socio-economic returns, training and attracting researchers and technicians, that is recognised as a partner to a pan-European ESFRI or other world-class research infrastructure. The quality of the RPF, including the level of its scientific service, management and access policy, must meet the same standards required for pan-European research infrastructures. aiming at a more balanced development of the ERA); and/or the operation phase (e.g. access, data handling, outreach, training and international cooperation activities). This activity will also support design studies for new research infrastructures through a bottom-up approach. The aim is to open up, where appropriate, key national and regional research infrastructures to all European researchers, from both academia and industry, and to ensure the optimal use and joint development of these infrastructures. The Union will support networks and clusters that bring together and integrate, on European scale, key national research infrastructures. Funding will be provided to support, in particular, the transnational and virtual access of researchers and the harmonisation and improvement of the services that the infrastructures provide. The aim is to achieve by 2020 a world-leading capability in networking, computing and scientific data in a single and open European space for online research where researchers enjoy leading-edge, ubiquitous and reliable services for networking and computing, and seamless and open access to e-Science environments and global data resources. To achieve this goal, support will be given to: global research and education networks providing advanced, standardised and scalable inter-domain services on-demand; grid and cloud infrastructures providing virtually unlimited computational and data processing capacity; an ecosystem of supercomputing facilities, advancing towards exascale; a software and service infrastructure, e.g. for simulation and visualisation; real-time collaborative tools; and an interoperable, open and trusted scientific data infrastructure. The goal is to stimulate innovation both in the infrastructures themselves and in industries, such as the supplier and user industry. To this end, support will be provided to: R&D partnerships with industry to develop Union capacities and industrial supply in high-tech areas such as scientific instrumentation or ICT; pre-commercial procurement by research infrastructure actors to drive forward innovation and act as early adopters or developers of cutting-edge technologies; stimulate the use of research infrastructures by industry, e.g. as experimental test facilities or knowledge-based centres; and encourage the integration of research infrastructures into local, regional and global innovation ecosystems. The Union actions will also leverage the use of research infrastructures, in particular e-infrastructures, for public services, social innovation, culture, education and training. The complexity of research infrastructures and the exploitation of their full potential require adequate skills for their managers, engineers and technicians, as well as users. The Union funding will support the training of staff managing and operating research infrastructures of pan-European interest, the exchange of staff and best practices between facilities, and the adequate supply of human resources in key disciplines, including the emergence of specific education curricula. Synergies with the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions will be encouraged. The aims are to exploit synergies between national and Union initiatives by setting up partnerships between relevant policy makers, funding bodies or advisory groups (e.g. ESFRI, e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG), EIROforum organisations, and national public authorities), to develop complementarities and cooperation between research infrastructures and activities implementing other Union policies (such as regional, cohesion, industrial, health, environment, employment, or development policy), and to ensure coordination between different Union funding sources. Union actions will also support survey, monitoring and assessment of research infrastructures at Union level, as well as relevant policy studies and communication tasks. Horizon 2020 will facilitate the efforts of the Member States to optimise their research facilities by supporting an up-to-date Union-wide database on openly accessible research infrastructures in Europe. The aim is to facilitate the development of global research infrastructures, i.e. research infrastructures that require funding and agreements on a global scale. The aim is also to facilitate the cooperation of European research infrastructures with their non-European counterparts, ensuring their global interoperability and reach, and to pursue international agreements on the reciprocal use, openness or co-financing of infrastructures. In this respect due account will be taken of the recommendations of the Carnegie Group of Senior Officials on Global Research Infrastructures. Attention will also be given to ensure adequate Union participation in coordination with international bodies such as the United Nations (UN) or the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). During implementation independent expert groups will be consulted, as well as stakeholders and advisory bodies, such as ESFRI and the e-IRG. The implementation will follow a three-pronged approach: bottom-up where the exact content and partnership of projects are not known; targeted where the specific research infrastructures and/or communities addressed are well-defined; and named beneficiaries, for example where a contribution to operational costs is provided to (a consortium of) infrastructure operator(s). The aims of the activity lines set out under sections 4.2 and 4.3 shall be pursued by dedicated actions, as well as within the actions developed under section 4.1, when appropriate.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.