22/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - EU awards €20 million to innovation projects. On Friday 22 January, the European Research Council (ERC) announced it would award 135 grants for a total value of €20 million for the “most promising innovation projects”. The projects, which are already subsidised by the EU, took part in the ERC's Proof of Concept competition. These top-up grants, each for up to €150,000, can be used to establish intellectual property rights, investigate business opportunities or conduct technical validation. Projects based in the UK (22), Spain (20) and the Netherlands (17) are the greatest beneficiaries of these new grants. (JK)