ERC gives researchers 600mn, 23 Italians

(ANSA) - Rome, December 10 - The European Research Council (ERC) on Tuesday earmarked 600 million euros in funding for 301 European researchers including 23 Italians.
    Only seven of the Italians, however, will carry out their projects in Italy.
    The Italian researchers are in fourth place behind Germans, French and Dutch.
    The funding, called consolidator grants, is aimed at researchers with at least seven years of experience after their doctoral degrees.
    It aims to consolidate their scientific activity on "projects of excellence", the ERC said.
    The projects are funded within the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 research programme.
    They are groundbreaking projects ranging from edible electronic food that controls health to the ways in which climate change will modify the Earth's surface.
    The winners are from 37 nationalities and will carry out their projects in the universities and research centres of 24 different countries all around Europe.
    Germany is in top spot with 52 projects funded.
    It is followed by the UK with 50, Frnance with 43 and the Netherlands with 32.