With Proof of Concept Grants, the ERC supports research or principal investigators of an existing or recently completed ERC project in assessing the potential of the resulting idea for commercial or social innovations. For this purpose, a maximum of 150,000 euros is approved for 18 months, which is awarded as a lump sum.
Possible activities include vor example testing, creating a prototype, developing an IPR strategy (strategy for the exploitation of intellectual property rights) and/or market research. The outcome of a PoC grant is often a presentation package designed to convince venture capitalists, companies and/or social entrepreneurs to invest in the technology and take it through the early commercialization phase.