Tungodden Appointed ERC Ambassador
Professor Bertil Tungodden has been selected as Norway’s representative in the new ERC Ambassador Network.
Europe's innovation at risk without stronger support
`Europe must continue to invest in bold, independent research — the ERC is key to that mission,´ says NHH Professor Bertil Tungodden.
The future of European innovation and competitiveness is in jeopardy if the European Research Council is not granted more autonomy and funding, according to ERC.
Bertil Tungodden is Norway's representative in the European Research Council (ERC) Ambassador Network. He is Professor at the Department of Economics and Centre Director at FAIR.
In a statement recently published by The Association of ERC Grantees (AERG), they urges European leaders to secure the ERC’s independent position in the next EU framework programme. The grantees fear that plans to tie future research funding more closely to political agendas—via a so-called European Competitiveness Fund—will compromise the ERC’s unique role in supporting curiosity-driven, bottom-up research.
Fundamental research is not a luxury—it’s the source of tomorrow’s breakthroughs, writes the association, which represents thousands of scientists who have received ERC funding since the agency’s founding in 2007.
Since its inception, the ERC has awarded grants to more than 14,000 researchers across Europe. These projects have led to over 2,200 patents, 400 spin-offs—and no fewer than 14 Nobel Prizes. The ERC is widely considered a cornerstone of European science policy, with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen having called it “the crown jewel” of the Horizon Europe framework.
But AERG warns that this jewel is now under threat. As discussions about the next research programme heat up, the association makes two clear demands:
- Strengthen the ERC’s autonomy by making it a stand-alone EU body with its own governance and legal basis.
- Substantially increase the ERC’s budget, to ensure that excellent research proposals are not turned down simply due to lack of funds. Today, nearly 40% of top-ranked projects go unfunded.
The association ends with a strong appeal to European leaders: protect the ERC, and Europe’s long-term innovation capacity, by prioritizing excellence and scientific freedom in the new framework programme.