Professor Kalina Manova awarded ERC Advanced Grant

Professor Manova will use the grant to explore her ambitious research “Firm Network Technology and Technology in Firm Networks”.

Research Summary

Global production networks have transformed international trade and investment in recent decades. This raises pressing questions about the effects on firm performance and innovation, aggregate welfare and growth, and optimal national and multilateral policy. Yet state-of-the-art research remains agnostic about the costs of firm network formation and the impact on firm innovation.

Kalina will launch a high-stakes research program on firm network technology and technology in firm networks. She will initiate these new research streams through 6 complementary projects. Each project will combine novel theory and unique data for path-breaking insights, rigorous evidence and welfare analysis. Kalina will also build intellectual bridges with literatures on multinational activity, intermediation, innovation, climate and market frictions to unlock step changes in academic and policy thinking.

About the grant

The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the names of 255 outstanding research leaders in Europe set to be awarded ERC Advanced Grants. The funding is amongst the EU’s most prestigious and competitive, providing leading senior researchers with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, curiosity-driven projects that could lead to major scientific breakthroughs. The new grants, worth in total nearly €652 million, are part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.

About the ERC

The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants. With its additional Proof of Concept Grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between their pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation. The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council. Since November 2021, Maria Leptin is the President of the ERC. The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than €16 billion, as part of the Horizon Europe programme, under the responsibility of European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Iliana Ivanova.