ERC funding provides the means for outstanding scientists to accelerate their game-changing research lines and transform our world. The aim here is to recognize the best ideas and confer status and visibility to the best brains in Europe, whilst attracting talent from abroad. There are different types of funding, depending on the stage of career:

• ERC Starting Grants – for talented early-career scientists who have already produced excellent supervised work, are ready to work independently and show potential to be a research leader     
• ERC Consolidator Grants – for scientists who want to consolidate their independence by establishing a research team and continuing to develop a success career in Europe
• ERC Advanced Grants – open for excellent established researchers who are a leader in their field of research, and intend to pursue ground-breaking, high-risk projects to become and stay the best of the best
• ERC Proof of Concept – for those who have already received an ERC grant for frontier research and now want to explore the commercial or societal potential of their work
• Synergy Grants – aimed at researchers that want to address a research problem so ambitious, that cannot be dealt with by them or their team alone.