Five Greek researchers awarded with ERC "Proof of Concept Grants"

Five researchers from Greece have been selected for the "Proof of Concept Grants’ awarded by the European Research Council (ERC). The purpose of the grant is to maximize the value of exceptional research which ERC is already supporting by funding further research to explore the innovative potential of ideas arising from the project.

The five Greek researchers receiving the grants are:

• Giorgos Vassilikogiannakis : Professor  Chemistry Dept, Crete University for his research project NebuFlox (Making it happen - Scalable biphasic reactions using a nebulizer-driven continuous flow reactor)
• Kostas Galiotis : Professor Chemical Engineering Dept, Patras University and Foundation for Research & Technology-Hellas (ITE) researcher for his research project GRAPHENART (Graphene as effective anti-fading agent for the protection of artworks)
• Xenophon Dimitropoulos : Assistant Professor Computer Science Dept. Crete Univeresity and Foundation for Research & Technology-Hellas (ITE) researcher for his research project PHILOS (Real-time Detection and Automated Mitigation of BGP Prefix Hijacking Attacks)
• Athanasios Dimoulas : Institute Nanoscience and Nanothechnoloy NCSR Demokritos for his research project GR-GATE ( Scalable graphene-gated transistors) 
• Yiannis Smaragdakis : Professor in ITC Dept Athens University for his research project PARSe (Program Analysis and Reorganisation, as a Service).

In 2017, through Horizon 2020, the EU allocated 24 million euro to ‘Proof of Concept Grants’. ERC approved 160 proposals from European researchers who will each receive 150,000 euro for a period of 18 months.

The ERC programme, which has a budget of 13 billion euro (2014-2020), supports ‘frontier research’ based solely on scientific excellence, in any scientific or technological discipline. Encouraging interdisciplinary and sponsored research which, even if it does not directly relate to the market, is still at the forefront of the creation of new knowledge essential for future applications.

As part of its series of special reports, the National Documentation Centre published a detailed report on Greek participation in the ERC programme. It contained data and indicators highlighting significant aspects of the domestic research activities for 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The National Documentation Centre (EKT), as Horizon 2020 National Contact Point for a number of individual programmes (such as ERC), supports the Greek academic, research and business communities in their participation. It covers all stages of the research project, from preparation of a proposal to implementation and exploitation of research results. EKT’s services include: Information and Advisory Services, Helpdesk, Development and Handling of informational material, Organisation of events and seminars, Partner search for joint ventures and the publication of statistical data and performance indicators.