07/01/2021 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 7 January, the European Research Council (ERC) announced that they will award Proof of Concept grants to 55 researchers. The grants, worth €150,000 each, can be used to “explore business opportunities, prepare patent applications or verify the practical viability of scientific concepts”, explains the ERC. The recipients include a project for a new test for Covid-19, another that should contribute to the development of new treatments to combat blindness, as well as a project aimed at promoting the dissemination of intercultural knowledge to facilitate the resolution of social conflicts. In 2020, the ERC funded a total of 166 proof of concept grants - a significant proportion of which were carried out by researchers working in the UK and Germany. Read the list of the latest beneficiaries: https://bit.ly/2MJjon5 (AC)