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increase the quality, attractiveness and competitiveness of the European research system and transform
Europe into a world-leading knowledge society.
The ERC-funded strategy is generating new scientific and technological advances by promoting creativity
•
through an investigator-driven, bottom-up approach, allowing outstanding researchers to identify new op-
portunities and directions in any field of research with a greater degree of flexibility, and by placing emphasis
on the quality and innovative nature of the idea rather than the research area. In this regard, some 4,2 billion
€
have been granted to groundbreaking, excellent projects in blue-sky research in all fields of science and
scholarship, with already more than 3400 publications acknowledging ERC funding in high-impact journals
(including Nature and Science). These articles represent significant scientific and technological advances
made in different fields of research.
Dissemination
The ERC continues its efforts not only to raise awareness of its funding opportunities in the research com-
•
munity, but also to increase the visibility of the ERC and its research projects among the general public and
the media. To this end, in 2010 the Executive Agency set up a Dissemination Working Group to monitor
and detect interesting projects and good communicators among grant holders. The dissemination of ERC
research results is undertaken through all possible communication channels such as the publication of
on the ERC website, press releases, institutional journals,
, the NCP dissemination tools
and the new quarterly electronic newsletter called
.
In addition, the ERC fully supports the European policy on
•
(22)
and stresses the
attractiveness of policies mandating the public availability of research results – in open access repositories –
reasonably soon after publication (ideally, 6 months, and in any case no later than 12 months). The Scientific
Council has also established a working group on Open Access to issue specific guidelines for the mandatory
deposition into open access repositories of research results that have been obtained thanks to ERC Grants.
The National Documentation Centre is a key stakeholder in the developments in Open Access to research
at the European level. It coordinates the project MEDOANET, aimed at facilitating coordinated Open Access
strategies and policies, and is a partner in the OpenAIRE and OpenAIRE+ projects. The National Docu-
mentation Centre operates the National Open Access Desk of
for Greece, assisting Greek ERC
grantees to deposit publications resulting from ERC funding in appropriate repositories, and thus to fulfill the
relevant obligation undertaken in their Grant Agreement. It also develops and maintains the
and organises a
on the subject. The National Documenta-
tion Centre provides large-scale interoperable Open Access content e-Infrastructures to the research and
academic community through
“The National Information System for Research and Technology”
, its main developmental funding instrument.
Emerging Research Areas
The ERC has also given European exploratory research with a more attractive status and image. Indeed,
•
the ERC activities are directed towards encouraging outstanding researchers to be adventurous, take risks
and go beyond the established frontiers of knowledge and the boundaries of disciplines. They comprise
the funding of projects not only designed around fundamental research questions but also those developed
around well-defined technological challenges. The ERC intends to place European research at the forefront
of scientific progress by channeling funds into the emerging, most promising research fields that will be
critical for the knowledge society of the future and by supporting the development of centres of excellence
in new sectors closely related to world-leading innovation.
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IMPACT AND MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS of the ERC in the ERA & in Greece