At the end of this year, Giulio Superti-Furga, Scientific Director of CeMM and Professor for Medical Systems Biology of the Medical University of Vienna, will terminate his appointment as Member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council, which he started in January 2017. We thank Giulio for this important scientific community service during difficult political times, strongly advocating for the support of frontier research on new ideas, as the best means to reach innovation and economic welfare, and to sustain the ground for democracy. Having been awarded two ERC Advanced Investigator Grants in the past and two ERC Proof-of-Concept Grants to explore the application potential of research ideas, Giulio Superti-Furga, who also acted as ERC panel member, will continue to be a strong supporter of the ERC, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2017 and is now preparing for Horizon Europe.

Coinciding with this is the end of the function of ERC President Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, a renowned French mathematician, who has been highly successful at further increasing the prestige of the ERC and effectively safeguarding the budget. CeMM’s students, postdocs and faculty have a fond memory of his visit in Vienna in October 2017. As part of the scientific community, we thank Jean-Pierre Bourguignon for his inspiring leadership. From 2010 to 2013 Prof. Helga Nowotny, a Viennese Professor of Social Studies of Science, also held this prestigious position. We look forward to the term of the designated new President Mauro Ferrari, who will start in January 2020. We wish him success at leading the ERC in the future years.

The European Research Council is the most important and prestigious funding institution for basic research in any field conducted within the European Union. Excellence is the sole criterion for selection, there are neither thematic priorities, nor geographical or other quotas for funding. Perhaps the most important funding programme of the ERC is the ERC Starting Independent Research Grant, promoting early scientific independence of promising talents with 2 million euros over a period of 5 years. With its different programme,s it has created a very positive impact on the attractiveness of Europe as a research area.