The only Czech Proof of Concept goes to Olomouc

European Research Council (ERC) announced 66 Proof of Concept grants in the second round this year. The only Czech recipiend is Michal Otyepka, physical chemist from CATRIN institute at Palackého University in Olomouc.

Proof of Concept grants worht 150 000 euro allow the recipients to investigate for 18 months whether their previous research outputs are transferrable to commercial use and thus useful for the society. Only the ERC grantees can apply for the Proof of Concept, either is their previous ERC grant has recently finished or is ongoing. Michal Otyepka has just finished his ERC Consolidator obtained in 2016. For the CATRIN Institute in Olomouc and Michal Otyepka it is the third PoC in row (previous ones obtained in 2020 and 2022). More about the current project of Michal Otyepka and his team, its use and impact in a short interview on the portal Vědavýzkum.

For this second round of the year (the first results were announced in May 2023, deadline for the third and last is September 21, 2023) 183 projects were submitted. The successful 66 projects are distributed amongst 14 countries: 12 go to Spain, 9 to Germany, 8 to Great Britain, 7 to Italy, 6 to France, 5 to Belgium and the Netherlands, researchers from Ireland, Izrael and Denmark have each received three, 2 go to Sweden a one grant goes to Czech Republic, Austria and Portugal respectively.

All the successful grants are here.

Photo: ERC