the europe twenty twenty strategy is designed to deliver smart sustainable and inclusive growth
the european research council erc has a part to play in delivering all three
most obviously smart growth means developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation
this requires us to strengthen every link in the innovation chain from blue sky research to commercialisation
the key to europe's future prosperity rests on the quality of its ideas and the ability to turn them into products processes and services that people from all over the world will want to buy
in order to achieve the creation of an innovation union the first condition to be fulfilled is reinforcing our knowledge base and promoting excellence and this is precisely what the erc is already doing
in a remarkably short time the erc has gained world-wide recognition as a world class research funding agency
this was acknowledged in the independent review carried out in july two thousand and nine by a panel of six eminent experts and although the first projects did not begin until the second half of two thousand and eight many are already showing highly promising and exploitable results
for example researchers at imperial college in london published groundbreaking results on the quality of bone-like materials grown in laboratories that can be implanted with real bones to help repair them
they have created a start-up company which is developing bioactive materials that can be used instead of bone grafts to treat bone diseases and difficult fractures
a research team at frankfurt university published important results showing how to improve blood circulation by blocking certain genetic fragments
this has huge potential for new therapy for heart attacks and the researchers have applied for a patent on their method
so projects that are designed to answer fundamental research questions generate the radically new ideas that will drive new innovation and are also necessary to tackle society's grand challenges
last but not least the erc has also been successful in serving as a benchmark for the competitiveness of national innovation systems
it has been instrumental in catalysing reforms of national funding systems in a number of countries such as france poland portugal and sweden
by establishing world-class benchmarks of excellence in its peer review and in the research it funds the erc will raise the status visibility and attractiveness of european frontier research
