ERC Proof of Concept 2026
151 projects were funded under the ERC Proof of Concept in 2026, across 21 countries.
Most-funded institutions
- VIB VZW5
- DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET4
- TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN4
- TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT4
- CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS3
- POLITECNICO DI TORINO3
- TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN3
- TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY3
Funded projects
Light-Activated Oxygen Scavenging in Jet Fuels
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €150,000
Demonstration of plasma-assisted combustion for conditions representatives of high power staged aircraft engines
CENTRALESUPELEC · FR · €150,000
First-in-man beta-cell regeneration for causal type 2 diabetes therapy
HELMHOLTZ ZENTRUM MUENCHEN DEUTSCHES FORSCHUNGSZENTRUM FUER GESUNDHEIT UND UMWELT GMBH · DE · €150,000
In vivo targeting of neoepitopes induced by arginine deprivation in cancer
STICHTING HET NEDERLANDS KANKER INSTITUUT-ANTONI VAN LEEUWENHOEK ZIEKENHUIS · NL · €150,000
ReACT (Resilience Acute Challenge Test): Functional assessment of human adaptive capacity through controlled ex vivo challenge
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO · IT · €150,000
Novel Electrolyzer for ProducTion of green H2 Using fresh & coNtaminated watEr
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY · GB · €150,000
A Conceptually New 3-Dimensional Blood-Brain Barrier Model- Designed to Overcome the Limited Predictive Power of Current In Vitro Systems
UNIVERSITAET MUENSTER · DE · €150,000
HemaTrax: Lineage-resolved prediction of hematotoxicity for human-relevant drug development
UNIVERSITAT BASEL · CH · €150,000
Ultra-Thin Oxide Membrane Encapsulation for Perovskite X-Ray Detectors
DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET · DK · €150,000
Thermochromic Hydrogel Films for Energy-Efficient Smart Windows
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT · NL · €150,000
Iterative Pi-Guided Polyaromatic Synthesis
RHEINISCHE FRIEDRICH-WILHELMS-UNIVERSITAT BONN · DE · €150,000
ON-Target: One-Step Activation of PEGylated Nanocarriers for Targeted Bioimaging
STICHTING RADBOUD UNIVERSITEIT · NL · €150,000
Valorisation of agri-food residues via the formulation of low carbon footprint, plant-based fat ingredients for the production of functional foods
POLITECNICO DI TORINO · IT · €150,000
Image-enabled phenotypic selection to study and direct evolutionary diversity
EUROPEAN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY LABORATORY · DE · €150,000
Femtosecond laser superconducting circuit gap engineering
INSTITUT JOZEF STEFAN · SI · €150,000
Commercialisation of a High-Throughput Proteomic Service for Biological Sex Identification of Ancient and Degraded Human Remains
KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · DK · €150,000
A Mineral Pathway for Sustainable Hydrogen Production
FUNDACION DONOSTIA INTERNATIONAL PHYSICS CENTER · ES · €150,000
Brain monitoring in ICU via continuous pupillometry in closed eyes conditions
TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY · IL · €150,000
Selective condensates to capture, isolate and enrich cancer biomarkers
THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH · GB · €150,000
Targeted Genetic Manipulation of Muscle Stem Cells in vivo Towards New Treatment Strategies Against Muscular Dystrophies
INSTITUT PASTEUR · FR · €150,000
A genome-scale platform for automated biodiversity monitoring and regulatory reporting
STOCKHOLMS UNIVERSITET · SE · €150,000
AI-assisted Analysis of Single Molecule Images for High-throughput Biomolecular Characterization
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €150,000
CellTuned: AI-driven regulatory genomics for precision therapy
VIB VZW · BE · €150,000
An actionable, decision support platform to predict LDL-C response to dietary restriction of animal products
EREVNITIKO KENTRO VIOIATRIKON EPISTIMON ALEXANDROS FLEMINGK · GR · €150,000
Bulk-material Low-pressure Atomic-scale Deposition Engine - Cutting Edge Powder Coating
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN · DE · €150,000
heaVy pnIctogens based indoor Photovoltaics with up-cyclEd caRbon electrodes
POLITECNICO DI TORINO · IT · €150,000
ALINA: Active Learning Inference for Nucleic Acid Delivery
LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN · DE · €150,000
Laser Ablation for upScaled and Efficient tree-Ring-based stable Oxygen isotope analysis
MINISTERIE VAN ONDERWIJS, CULTUUR EN WETENSCHAP · NL · €150,000
Site-specific in vivo T cell engineering
TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY · IL · €150,000
Natural extracellular vesicle hybrids as antibiotic carriers
FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITAET ERLANGEN-NUERNBERG · DE · €150,000
Epigenomic Liquid Biopsy for Early Detection and Monitoring of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM · IL · €150,000
Quantum-inspired Correlation-Based Adaptive Optics for Microscopy
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €150,000
Bioorthogonal Prodrug Activation at Nanomolar Levels
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN · AT · €150,000
Flash Sorption Analysis for Ultra-Fast Adsorbent Evaluation
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · BE · €150,000
Validation of artificial intelligence-based minibinders and inhibitors of Midkine in immune resistant tumours
FUNDACION SECTOR PUBLICO ESTATAL CENTRO NACIONAL INVESTIGACIONES ONCOLOGICAS CARLOS III · ES · €150,000
A self-deactivating cytokine platform technology
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN · DE · €150,000
AN OFF-THE-SHELF VACCINE FOR TRIPLE-NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER
VIB VZW · BE · €150,000
Engineered hyaluronic acid hydrogel for enhanced EV retention and controlled release
UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY · IE · €150,000
Automating Structured Historical Knowledge from Digitised Archives
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TORINO · IT · €150,000
3D Carbon Based Tricyclic Spiropentane Building Blocks for Pharmaceutical Applications
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT DORTMUND · DE · €150,000
Liver mRNA-based immunotherapies
UNIVERSITA VITA-SALUTE SAN RAFFAELE · IT · €150,000
Extreme Ultraviolet Scatterometry for Semiconductor Inspection and Nanoscale Metrology (EUVISION)
STICHTING NEDERLANDSE WETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK INSTITUTEN · NL · €150,000
Compact animal-attached holographic plankton-imaging tag for resolving responses of endangered megafauna to ocean change
MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM · GB · €150,000
Sustainable High-Performance Protein-based Multilayer Films
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · CH · €150,000
Whales in the Wall: A Scalable Cultural Digital Twin Infrastructure for Europe’s Ocean Heritage
UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA · PT · €150,000
Neotropical AI-assisted VErtebrate identification through ZooMS
UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA · ES · €150,000
A self-actuated neural interface dock for self-paced all-optical neural recordings in freely moving animals
UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA · ES · €150,000
TBX4 enhancer based precision gene targeting for lung health
JUSTUS-LIEBIG-UNIVERSITAET GIESSEN · DE · €150,000
Patient Modelling & Simulation System for planning and prognosis of Adult Spine Surgery
UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA · ES · €150,000
Scale-up of high entropy sulfides for thermal catalysis and tribology
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN · AT · €150,000
AI driven data compression for high-bandwidth brain neural sensing interfaces
STICHTING IMEC NEDERLAND · NL · €150,000
NbMEA: Niobium Multi-Electrode Arrays for Next-Generation ofElectromyographic Interfaces
FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITAET ERLANGEN-NUERNBERG · DE · €150,000
Integrated Natural Fibre Printing with Lignin Ink and Ultrasonic Welding for On-the-Go Consolidation
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT · NL · €150,000
Tuning claustrum circuits to restore cognitive function
UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE · CH · €150,000
AtoMIc-based Quantum magnetometry meets Ultrasound for Medical Early Detection
SORBONNE UNIVERSITE · FR · €150,000
Stopping Abuse and Exploitation Risks for Children through Innovative Low-cost Delivery
THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · GB · €150,000
Non-verbal Objective VR-based Diagnostic Assessment for Anxiety Disorders
RHEINISCHE FRIEDRICH-WILHELMS-UNIVERSITAT BONN · DE · €150,000
Vital sperm selection for assisted reproduction in severe male infertility conditions
UNIVERSITETET I TROMSOE - NORGES ARKTISKE UNIVERSITET · NO · €150,000
Full field optoretinography for elderly eye health
INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTE ET DE LA RECHERCHE MEDICALE · FR · €150,000
nGHOST2Market : Bringing to market next-Generation Handling of Optical Stray-light in Telescopes
UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE · BE · €150,000
Multiscale 3D virtual histology with non-destructive x-rays
DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET · DK · €150,000
Next-generation AI-powered fraMEwork for radiative cooling SYStems design, optimisation and market uptake
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PERUGIA · IT · €150,000
Human Blastoid-Based Platform for Post-Implantation IVF Optimization and Therapeutic Screening
INSTITUT FUER MOLEKULARE BIOTECHNOLOGIE GMBH · AT · €150,000
Establishing the Centre for Reparative Finance
UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM · NL · €150,000
Nano-electro-mechanical electro-optic modulators for energy-efficient data-center interconnects
DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET · DK · €150,000
A Flexible Publishing Platform for Knowledge Environments: Streamlining the Creation of Interactive and Layered Scholarship
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM · IL · €150,000
Next-Generation X-Ray Laser Light Sources
HEINRICH-HEINE-UNIVERSITAET DUESSELDORF · DE · €150,000
Lab-Protect: Translating phyllosphere-adapted microbial insights into a new class of lactobacilli-based biocontrol solutions
UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN · BE · €150,000
Real-Time Acoustic Biodiversity and Threat Monitoring in the Global South
JYVASKYLAN YLIOPISTO · FI · €150,000
Siderophore-mediated delivery of antibacterial antisense agents
STICHTING RADBOUD UNIVERSITEIT · NL · €150,000
Fully Automated Reprogramming-to-Organoid platform
FONDAZIONE PER LA RICERCA BIOMEDICA AVANZATA ETS · IT · €150,000
Advancing the Technology of PRIME editing to broaden the scope of gene correction therapies
UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM UTRECHT · NL · €150,000
XENObiotic-based PREDiction platform of inter-individual differences in drug metabolism
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PARMA · IT · €150,000
iChatRD: A user-centred clinical decision support system for the diagnosis of rare and inherited metabolic diseases
UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY · IE · €150,000
Conditioned CAR-T cells (cirCAR-T) for enhanced tumor immmunotherapy
UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE · CH · €150,000
Synthetic Multi-timepoint AI-enhanced Breast MRI
STICHTING RADBOUD UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM · NL · €150,000
Rare Earth Element Automated Chemistry for Targeted Optimized Recovery
UNIVERZITA PALACKEHO V OLOMOUCI · CZ · €150,000
Cryo-iLM: A High-NA Cryoimmersion Microscopy Platform for Nanometre Imaging
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT DARMSTADT · DE · €150,000
Translation-Guided RNA engineering Platform for Cardiac disease
JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE-UNIVERSITAET FRANKFURT AM MAIN · DE · €150,000
ERror-free CLAdded PHOtonic circuits
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €150,000
FLEX-CODESWITCH
THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · GB · €150,000
Continuous AMIde-band Ring-laser Array
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN · AT · €150,000
From Research Infrastructure to Radiology AI Platform
UNIVERSITATSKLINIKUM BONN · DE · €150,000
Oligonucleotide Backbone Modifications
UNIVERSITAT BASEL · CH · €150,000
uBeAt-powered closed-loop sTandardisaTion of beatIng heart-on-chip for reliable cardioTOxicity screening
POLITECNICO DI MILANO · IT · €150,000
Benchmarking and commercialization route for In utero engineering of mouse models with Robotics
KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET · SE · €150,000
HARNESSING HETEROTYPIC T CELL CLUSTERS TO BOOST TIL CANCER THERAPY
STICHTING HET NEDERLANDS KANKER INSTITUUT-ANTONI VAN LEEUWENHOEK ZIEKENHUIS · NL · €150,000
Metabolic Hepatoprotection to Enable Curative Cancer Therapy in Patients with Vulnerable Livers
UNIVERSITAET BERN · CH · €150,000
Leading small molecules for the selective protein clearance in ER disorders
FONDAZIONE TELETHON ETS · IT · €150,000
In vivo validation of a novel, high precision Positive Allosteric Modulation-based therapy for immune-inflammatory diseases
VIB VZW · BE · €150,000
Seebeck-unlocked photoelectrochemical fuels
UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA · ES · €150,000
Multimaterial High-Entropy Anodes for Green Hydrogen
UNIVERSITEIT TWENTE · NL · €150,000
A Domain-Adapted Multimodal AI Platform for Substellar Astronomy: Foundation Models, Vision- Language Spectral Analysis, Retrieval-Augmented Generation, and Automated Research Workflows
INSTITUTO DE ASTROFISICA DE CANARIAS · ES · €150,000
Functionalized Glass Membranes for Resource Recovery from Waste Streams
AALBORG UNIVERSITET · DK · €150,000
Automated Sequence Discovery of Elite Responder Antibodies from REVAMP Sera
UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT · NL · €150,000
Single-Atom Cartridges: From Powder to Product
POLITECNICO DI MILANO · IT · €150,000
Intrinsic Flame Instabilities for Engine Control: Translating Hydrogen Combustion Physics into Control Strategies
RHEINISCH-WESTFAELISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE AACHEN · DE · €150,000
Short Tandem Repeat Instability QuantIfier for Next-Generation sequencing
DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUR NEURODEGENERATIVE ERKRANKUNGEN EV · DE · €150,000
LIVEMAP: Live-cell mapping of drug–protein interactions across the human proteome
DEUTSCHES KREBSFORSCHUNGSZENTRUM HEIDELBERG · DE · €150,000
Wearable Cardiac Biomarker Testing at the Point of Need
KOC UNIVERSITY · TR · €150,000
From waste to wealth: implementing wastewater and sewage sludge elemental phytomining (eMINING)
CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION ECOLOGICA Y APLICACIONES FORESTALES · ES · €150,000
From Discovery to Scale – Precision Membranes for Critical Ion Recovery
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · BE · €150,000
An LLM-Resilient Tool for Safe RTL Sharing
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT DARMSTADT · DE · €150,000
Sustainable Marine Autonomous Real-Time Platform Technology
INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT · FR · €150,000
Map for the Mediterranean: A Scalable Four-Dimensional Application to Manage Data on a Deep Environment
UNIVERSIDAD DE SEVILLA · ES · €150,000
Sustainable and Ultra-PeRforming supercApacitors with 3D Laser-Induced Graphene (SUPRALIG)
POLITECNICO DI TORINO · IT · €150,000
Safer Therapeutics Through Early Toxicity Detection
QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON · GB · €150,000
DeepSonic: Deep sea soundscapes from machine learning
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON · GB · €150,000
Robust and Scalable Catalytic Ball Milling for Plastic Recycling (Scalable IMPACT)
UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT · NL · €150,000
Progressive lenses on the spot - reimagining the ophthalmic value chain
TECHNION - ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · IL · €150,000
SMART-SMAPs: a new paradigm of cell-free cytotoxic immunotherapy for resistant CLL
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI SIENA · IT · €150,000
Enzymatic STEreospecific RNA phosphorothioate modification for next-generation therapeutics
WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE · IL · €150,000
Stretchable Mechanosensors for Quantitative Musculoskeletal Monitoring and Rehabilitation
UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA · PT · €150,000
Closed-loop machine learning platform for the optimisation of battery materials
UNIVERSITE DU LUXEMBOURG · LU · €150,000
Unlocking Immunotherapy Potential with CapCure: A Novel Chemical Antagonist of PSME4
WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE · IL · €150,000
Immuno-Modulatory Platform for Advanced CLL Therapy
STICHTING AMSTERDAM UMC · NL · €150,000
Lipopolysaccharide Lipid A Profiling to Guide Microbiome-Supported Immunotherapy in Melanoma
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II · IT · €150,000
Ultrafast Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors
DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET · DK · €150,000
Targeting liquid organelles to develop new antiviral strategies against influenza A virus infections
UNIVERSIDADE CATOLICA PORTUGUESA · PT · €150,000
Scalable MXene-Based Thermal Shields for Next-Generation Radar and Aerospace Electronics
AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €150,000
The Multi-Heart Plate: a human engineered mini-heart platform for functional cardiac disease modelling and drug testing
UNIVERSITEIT TWENTE · NL · €150,000
Biocompatible agents for preventive diagnostics in vascular disease
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN · DE · €150,000
Utilising the principles of excluded volume effect to heal cutaneous pathologies using in vitro engineered cell-assembled living substitutes
PANEPISTIMIO IOANNINON · GR · €150,000
Universal Communication Data-Path Monitoring and Visualization for Sustainable AI and HPC
KOC UNIVERSITY · TR · €150,000
From Nano to Micro – Enabling Quantitative Particle Analysis Across Scales
UNIVERSITAET GRAZ · AT · €150,000
Engineering microglia to treat Alzheimer’s disease
VIB VZW · BE · €150,000
Targeting Glutamine (Q) Metabolism in the Renal Ciliopathies
OSPEDALE SAN RAFFAELE SRL · IT · €150,000
Hydrogel-nanoparticle delivery platform for LOCALized CAR-M immunotherapy
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN · NL · €150,000
Breaking sample size limitations for laser ablation through novel large cell technology
ALFRED-WEGENER-INSTITUT HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR POLAR- UND MEERESFORSCHUNG · DE · €150,000
SUPERconducting circuits for QUantum SENSing of microwave radiations.
COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES · FR · €150,000
Compact ultra-high-Q optomechanical sensors
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT · NL · €150,000
Sat4Com - Small Satellite Formation Technologies for Commercialisation
ZENTRUM FUR TELEMATIK EV · DE · €150,000
Identifying physeal cell surface markers for paediatric growth modulation
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN · IE · €150,000
NeoVena: A Bioresorbable Polymeric Venous Valve
UNIVERSITAT ZURICH · CH · €150,000
Vision with Ionic Spatiotemporal Perovskite Arrays
STICHTING NEDERLANDSE WETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK INSTITUTEN · NL · €150,000
Live-testing a light-speed gravity-based tsunami warning system
INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT · FR · €150,000
Automated Security Validation for Zero-Knowledge Systems
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN · AT · €150,000
Pulsed Electron Microscopy for Active Metrology of Semiconductor Devices
TECHNION - ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · IL · €150,000
Inflaming the microenvironment of colorectal cancer to enable immunotherapy
CHEMOTHERAPEUTISCHES FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT GEORG-SPEYER-HAUS STIFTUNG · DE · €150,000
Bioactive Peptide-based Hydrogels for Alveolar Bone Regeneration
TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY · IL · €150,000
Quantum-Coherent Optoelectronic Platform for Ultra-Early Detection of Oncometabolites
FUNDACIO INSTITUT CATALA D'INVESTIGACIO QUIMICA · ES · €150,000
Multi-model Approach for Runup and INundation Analysis
UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA · IT · €150,000
DaCe GPT
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €150,000
AD-LINK: Reversing Early Aβ-Driven Network Hyperexcitability
VIB VZW · BE · €150,000
Safeguard Repressor-Mediated Cell Fate Lock Gene Therapy for Glioblastoma
DEUTSCHES KREBSFORSCHUNGSZENTRUM HEIDELBERG · DE · €150,000
From rat to human: Patient-specific rehabilitation for Achilles tendon regeneration
LUNDS UNIVERSITET · SE · €150,000
Base editing against cancer – a gene correction strategy for rhabdoid tumours
PRINSES MAXIMA CENTRUM VOOR KINDERONCOLOGIE BV · NL · €150,000
Multispecific theranostic nano-engager platform
INSTITUT GUSTAVE ROUSSY · FR · €150,000
Glyco-guided effectors for selective labeling of galectins
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €150,000
Critical Material Extraction from Low Concentration Sources
FORSCHUNGSZENTRUM JULICH GMBH · DE · €150,000
AeRoacoustics of Turbulent gust Insensitive Shape Tailored Airfoils: for the next generation of rotors
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT · NL · €150,000