Two BGU Professors Awarded ERC PoC

Two Ben-Gurion University of the Negev professors have been awarded European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept grants for 2025. Prof. Josh Baraban of the Department of Chemistry will pursue O2Ignition, laser ignition by two-color ionization of oxygen. Prof. Nir Shlezinger of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering will pursue REALCOM, real-time embedded adaptive learning for wireless communications.

O2Ignition will develop a novel approach for laser-based ignition of fuels, itself a strategy that's been shown to have several environmental, efficiency, and performance advantages over conventional technologies (spark plugs), but has yet to be commercialized. The project will be based on a new spectroscopic detection scheme for molecular oxygen developed at BGU that achieves roughly two orders of magnitude higher sensitivity for fully rotationally resolved spectra than the prior state of the art.

REALCOM will develop a proof of concept for a new class of wireless communication systems that can learn and adapt autonomously in real time while operating on low-cost, embedded hardware. The goal is to demonstrate, for the first time, a practical wireless transceiver that continuously updates its internal AI model based solely on over-the-air signals, without relying on fixed mathematical channel models or offline retraining. The proof of concept will be implemented on software-defined radio hardware and will show how such adaptive, lightweight AI can improve reliability, efficiency, and energy consumption under changing real-world conditions. The goal is to bridge the gap between theoretical advances in AI-aided communications and deployable technology for next-generation wireless systems.  

The total number of Proof of Concept Grants under the ERC 2025 work programme was 300.

Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, said: ‘The discoveries emerging from ERC-funded research are very often more than academic breakthroughs. They form the bedrock of future innovation ecosystems across Europe, inspiring new technologies, businesses and societal solutions. I am pleased that the EU is funding a record number of Proof of Concept Grants this year, and I congratulate all the grantees on their success.’ 

President of the European Research Council, Prof. Maria Leptin, said: ‘The ERC does not ask its researchers to start with ready-made solutions or immediate applications. Instead, ERC grantees explore the frontiers of knowledge, guided by their curiosity and scientific ambition. With these Proof of Concept Grants, many ERC grantees will explore the commercialisation or societal potential of their curiosity. And they will lay the foundation for future technological innovations and societal technologies that drive progress in Europe.’