Sir

I was amused to read in Friedrich Frischknecht's Correspondence 'Small countries are unexpected winners in ERC grant tables' (Nature 454, 690; 2008) that Israel is ranked first in grants received, in relation both to population and to gross domestic product. This is shown in his table analysing grant awards from the European Research Council (ERC) for young-investigator research by country. No doubt this ranking will be used for political capital by various interested parties.

Although this success rate must reflect the excellence of our young scientists, I suspect that it also reflects their degree of desperation. In a country with an average local grant size of US$30,000–40,000 and a finance ministry that is indifferent or actively opposed to funding academic science, an ERC grant is not just a glittering prize, it is one of the few available options for scientific survival. Rather than using Frischknecht's table as a measure of quality, I submit that its primary utility could be in highlighting countries that do not provide adequate local funding for their scientists.

See also European grants: a different view puts rich countries ahead.