Two Ghent University researchers have been awarded Proof of Concept grants

Joris Thybaut and Tijl De Bie have been awarded Proof of Concept funding to explore the commercial or societal potential of their research results. Fifty-five grantees of the European Research Council (ERC) have been awarded Proof of Concept (PoC) funding to explore the commercial or societal potential of their research results. Among them, there are two Ghent University researchers: Joris Thybaut, with his project "First principles based process concepts for complex mixtures conversion" Tijl De Bie, with his project "Fair, Effective, and Sustainable Talent Management using Conditional Network Embedding" - From lab to market. "Research can be revolutionary in generating new knowledge, but facilitating the transfer of this knowledge to the economy and society can be difficult. The EU is here to help bridge the gap" ( Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth) - Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, who has just been re-appointed ERC President, commented: "I am pleased that one of my very first acts back at the helm of ERC is to announce a new round of funding call results, showing that the pandemic has not altered the efficient functioning of the ERC. PoC grants help researchers move their ground-breaking results towards commercial or social innovation. Curiosity-led research is a key ingredient to feed innovation, something which Europe needs more of.