ERC report highlights frontier research for next-generation advanced materials

The European Research Council (ERC) has published a report on 'Advanced Materials: ERC frontier research for a competitive, sustainable Europe'. According to the report, the ERC invested €2.37 billion in frontier research on advanced materials between 2014 and 2023, an area crucial to Europe’s industrial competitiveness and transition to greener and digital futures.

Mapping 1,503 research projects from 29 countries, the report sheds light on funding trends, disciplinary and geographic patterns, as well as the mechanisms and conditions needed to translate frontier science into long-term social and economic value.

The ERC stresses, however, that while the report is structured around solutions across critical societal domains and value chains – highlighting the importance of faster and more accessible industrial uptake – the ERC portfolio remains firmly anchored in fundamental research and scientific curiosity.

The new report also reveals that research distribution is concentrated in health (36.5%), advanced electronics (36.5%) and energy (19%). It spotlights ERC-funded projects within the EU policy landscape shaped by initiatives such as the Competitive Compass, European Green Deal and European Chips Acts. In terms of material classes, strong scientific activity has been identified in compound semiconductors, polymers, nanomaterials, perovskites, quantum materials and bio-integrated materials. 

The report shows that publications linked to ERC-supported research in advanced materials are cited more than three times more often than the global disciplinary average. Nearly 90% of these papers appear in top-quartile journals. This in-depth analysis of how ERC-funded discovery-led research in advanced materials underpins progress in health, electronics, energy, mobility and construction was initiated by the ERC Scientific Council  ahead of the upcoming adoption of the EU Advanced Materials Act.

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ERC report: 'Advanced Materials: ERC frontier research for a competitive, sustainable Europe'