Potočnik met experts from the EU and US, who are expected to be appointed to the review group by the Commission within days.
They will review the progress made by the ERC since its establishment in 2007 and provide advice on its future direction. Since the ERC's inception, the Council has considered some 11,000 grant applications and allocated over €850 million to 575 successful applicants.
The panel is expected to meet between February and July, and will draw up a report over the summer to enable the European Commission to offer an initial response in the autumn.
Commissioner Potočnik described the review of the ERC's structure as an important step in its development.
"I am pleased to entrust it to such an eminent group and thank them for their commitment to this important work. The Commission is committed to an absolutely independent review, so as to ensure a robust and authoritative analysis of the ERC," he said.
All the members of the review group have held senior positions in national government, research institutes or prestigious European academic establishments.
The panel will be chaired by Vaira Vike-Freiberga, a former president of Latvia and a former professor of psychology at the University of Montreal. She is also vice-president of a reflection group on the long-term future of the European Union.
The group's other members are:
- Yves Mény (rapporteur), president of the European University Institute;
- Fiorella Kostoris Padoa Schioppa, professor of economics at Rome's 'La Sapienza' university, and a former president of Italy's Institute for Studies and Economic Analyses (ISAE);
- Lars-Hendrik Röller, president of the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin and a professor of economics at Humboldt University, also in Berlin;
- Lord David Sainsbury (vice-chair), a former under-secretary of state at the UK Department of Trade and Industry, where he was responsible for science and innovation, and current head of the Gatsby Charitable Foundation;
- Elias Zerhouni, a former director of National Institute of Health, USA (until Oct 2008), and previously executive vice-dean of John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
