18 Spanish research centers will receive EU funding to promote commercialization of projects

The EU is awarding 25 million euros in grants to 166 researchers for the development of proof-of-concepts. These grants, worth 150,000 euros each, help researchers and scientists to bridge the gap between the results of their pioneering research and the early stages of commercialization.

In the case of Spain, 18 universities or research centers hosting researchers’ proof-of-concept projects will receive funding. See the complete list of beneficiaries. We have collected the beneficiaries from Spanish institutions in the following table:

Apellidos	Nombre	Institución	Acrónimo del proyecto	Título del proyecto
Ballester	Joan	Fundacion Privada Instituto de Salud Global Barcelona (ISGLOBAL)	HHS-EWS	Operational Heat-Health-Social Early Warning System
Benlloch Baviera	Jose Maria	Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)	Open-Imaging	Open Geometry PET, with 150ps TOF Resolution, for Real Time Molecular Imaging
De La Pena O'Shea	Victor	Fundacion Imdea Energia	DEMONIA	Development of a photoelectrochemical device for Ammonia production
Garcia-Ruiz	Juan Manuel	Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)	INPATT	INorganic Photochemical PATTerning
González Suárez	Eva	Fundacion Sector Publico Estatal Centro Nacional Investigaciones Oncologicas Carlos III	TargetRANK	Targeting RANK receptor as a novel therapeutic strategy in triple negative breast cancer
Guillamón Gómez	Isabel	Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM)	VectorFieldImaging	Scanning probe microscopy in high vectorial magnetic fields: New device for imaging quantum materials
Konstantatos	Gerasimos	Fundacio Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques (ICFO)	SWIRL	Short-wave Infrared Light emitters based on Colloidal Quantum Dot Technology
Lopez Cortajarena	Aitziber	Centro de Investigación Cooperativa en Biomateriales (CIC biomaGUNE)	Nano-imaging	Nano-Biological Contrast Agent Platform for MRI Imaging
Maspoh	Daniel	Fundacio Institut Catala de Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia (ICN2)	SAFE-ON	SAFE-ON Technology for Smart Antimicrobial Coatings
Mihi	Agustin	Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)	CELLO	Cellulose Based Photonic Materials
Ortega-Villaizan Romo	Maria Del Mar	Universidad Miguel Hernandez de Elche (UMH)	AntiVirFish	Antiviral Proteins Applied as Therapeutics in Aquaculture
Palazon Garcia	Francisco De Asis	Asociacion Centro de Investigacion Cooperativa en Biociencias (Cic Biogune)	FIH-IO	Development of a first-in-class inhibitor of FIH for cancer immunotherapy
Quintana	Albert	Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB)	ResisCHIP	Rapid chip-based detection of antibiotic resistances
Reyes-Garcia	Victoria	Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB)	RIDaGoP	Research on Indigenous Data Governance Protocols: A toolkit for working with Indigenous Knowledge
Sabate	Neus	Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)	FAIRGLUCOSE	Affordable and sustainable self-powered GLUCOSE sensing system for a global FAIR diabetes management
Tarancón	Albert	Fundacio Institut de Recerca de l'Energia de Catalunya (IREC)	TRANSIONICS	Solid-State Ionics Synaptic Transistors for Neuromorphic Computing
Tielrooij	Klaas-Jan	Fundacio Institut Catala de Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia (ICN2)	COOLGRAELE	COOLing electronic devices with GRAphene ELEctrons
Vicent	Maria J	Fundacion de La Comunidad Valenciana Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe (FVIB)	POLYBRAINT	Versatile Polypeptide-based Intranasal Drug Delivery Platform(s) to Tackle CNS Disorders.

The Commission proposes transnational cooperation for universities of the 21st century

This type of funding is considered a priority, as this scheme is only open to researchers who receive or have previously received funding from the European Research Council, through Starting, Consolidation, Advanced or Synergy Grants. Recipients of ERC proof-of-concept grants use them in a variety of ways: to verify the practical feasibility of scientific concepts, explore business opportunities or prepare patent applications. Here are some examples of the latest research funded in a wide range of fields: a biopsychosocial model to discover and understand the causes that can lead adolescents to engage in harmful behavior, the use of bubble power to achieve more sustainable wastewater treatment, or a process to help doctors read and analyze DNA in real time.

Of the projects selected for funding in 2021, 54% were based on knowledge gained during frontier research conducted in the fields of physical sciences and engineering. Within this field, projects derived from discoveries made during research in “product and process engineering” were the most successful. 33% of the winning projects came from the life sciences, with the most successful sub-domain being “diagnostic tools, therapies and public health”.

Eureka: Xecs call for projects

Proposals from the social sciences and humanities (SH) domain obtained 11% of the grants. Within this domain, “Institutions, values, beliefs and behaviors” were the most successful topics. The success rate of applications in this area has increased significantly since 2020: of the SH proposals submitted in 2021, 34.6% were funded, compared to 16.7% of SH applications that received a proof-of-concept grant in 2020.

Overall, 348 Proof of Concept proposals were evaluated in 2021, with an overall success rate of 48%. This compares to an overall success rate of 32% in the previous year, when applicants submitted more proposals. The same amount of funding was available in both years.

Among the winners, there were 48 female grantees. The proportion of women among both applicants and recipients has increased over last year.

The new grants were awarded to researchers from Austria (7 grants), Belgium (5), Czech Republic (1), Cyprus (1), Denmark (4), Germany (13), Greece (1), Finland (3), France (15), Iceland (1), Ireland (6), Israel (18), Italy (21), Luxembourg (1), Netherlands (16), Norway (1), Portugal (4), Slovenia (1), Spain (18), Sweden (7) and the United Kingdom (22).

Infographic – European Research Area

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: “Another round of ERC proof-of-concept grants funded by Horizon Europe has been completed. This complementary funding helps ERC grant recipients to bridge the gap between frontier research and the market, bringing concrete benefits to industry and addressing societal needs in Europe and beyond.”

A recent survey shows that researchers awarded proof-of-concept grants are particularly entrepreneurial: half of them are involved in knowledge transfer activities or other business initiatives. More information can be found in this ERC press release.

Source:

European Commission

European Research Council