Belgium – IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support – IT service for supporting the identification of independent external experts for the evaluation of proposals

The ERC Scientific Council is tasked with proposing the appointment of independent external experts for the peer review evaluation of frontier research projects. The Scientific Council is equally responsible for ensuring the quality of the ERC's scientific operations by establishing positions on the selection of experts. The Scientific Council directly proposes the appointment of panel members, while the identification of independent external experts assisting the panels by working remotely has been delegated to Panel Chairs. Each year, about 35,000 independent experts are selected to take part in the evaluation of proposals. The latest developments in machine learning algorithms and semantic technologies can now be harnessed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this identification process. The objective is to contract an artificial intelligence-based service to assist the Scientific Council and the Panel Chairs with the identification of potential independent experts with suitable expertise profiles. The expected outcome is the implementation, provision and maintenance of the software or IT solution providing lists of potential experts, based on panel recruitment needs and on submitted proposals.