I was pleased to see the establishment of the European Research Council (ERC) which heralds new opportunities for both the European Union and Yorkshire region.

With a budget of 7.5 billion euros (£5billion) to 2013, the Council aims to aid scientific research across Europe to promote excellence and improve the EU’s economic position on the world scale. The ERC will provide opportunities for promising up-coming researchers and anticipates that the quality of scientific research will improve, leading to new products and services.

The announcement of this funding is particularly good news for the Yorkshire region which boasts excellent scientific research units at Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and York universities.

The BBC quote Gill Wells, the head of non-commercial and European research development at the University of Sheffield, who predicts that the ERC grants will be highly competitive while the university has already established an administrative structure to encourage researchers to launch investigative teams.

The ERC is exciting news for the whole of Europe, but especially our region, which should benefit from the development of young research panels and a sharp increase in opportunities for funding.