BIRAC-Call For Proposal

BIRAC Announces 12th Call for Proposals under the Biotechnology Ignition Grant BIG Scheme 1st Jan-15th Feb, 2018

Introduction

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Section 8 ‘Not-for-Profit Company’ of Government of India, has been set up as DBT’s interface agency, to serve as a single window for emerging biotech companies.

The scheme enables technology innovators and entrepreneurs to pursue a promising technology idea, and establish and validate proof of concept (POC) for the idea.

Click here to view Guidelines

Click here to register for BIG Scheme

KEY FEATURES OF THE CALL

Supports high level innovation in the Biotech sector and is not meant for basic research projects.
Grant-in-aid up-to INR 50 lakhs for a maximum period of 18 months
Implementation and Mentoring through BIRAC’s BIG Partners

In addition to all eligible themes (see Section 3.2 of the BIG Scheme Guidelines) , this time BIRAC plans to encourage innovations in “ Special Focus Areas (SFA) ".

Special Focus Area for BIG Round 12

" BIRAC invites innovative and impactful ideas relating to applications of Internet of Things, IoT Sensors, Big Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Robotics and related disciplines in transforming healthcare, agriculture and other bio-based industry/ markets in general.

A few illustrative topics could be:

Health care: Novel ideas that help improve productivity of caregivers/ clinicians/ surgeons, improve patient care quality, improve timeliness, convenience and cost effectiveness of screening and diagnosis, improve quality of treatment, improve care of the elderly/disabled, improve hygiene/sanitation, etc.
Agriculture: Novel ideas that help improve soil testing, improved nutrition, enable precision agriculture, optimize use of pesticides/ fertilizers etc, reduce agriculture wastages, solutions to reduce/ control diseases, solutions to measure/track plant growth and product quality, solutions in related rural industries including animal husbandry, etc.
Other areas: New technologies for advanced manufacturing and control of biotech processes including industrial IoT, technologies in continuous manufacturing and online audits of pharma processes, new solutions in supply chain management for pharma/ biopharma products, etc. ”

WHO CAN APPLY?

BIRAC invites proposals from Biotech Start-ups and Individual Entrepreneurs with innovative idea having potential for commercialization. Eligible entities include:

Start-ups having a registered company/ LLP incorporated on/after 1st January, 2015
Scientists, Faculty, Research Scholars, Graduates in any discipline incubating/ intend to incubate at a BioIncubator

HOW TO APPLY?

BIG scheme allows only online submission of proposals. For proposal submission please register on BIRAC website under “BIG User”. User registration is open round the clock. For further details on the scheme, eligibility criteria, FAQs and registration log on to www.birac.nic.in.

Note: Prior recipients of BIG grant are ineligible