BIRAC announced 8th Call for Proposals under SPARSH Programme in India

Deadline: 11 March 2019

The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) has announced its 8th Call for Proposals under Social Innovation Programme for Products Affordable and Relevant to Societal Health (SPARSH) that aims at finding innovation solutions to society’s most pressing social problems by supporting development of various Products, Processes and Technologies through biotechnological approaches.

Objectives

To identify and provide support to cutting edge innovations towards affordable product development that can bring significant social impact and address challenges of inclusive growth.
To provide support in form of impact funding of biotech product innovations (with social goals) that can be scaled.

Focus Areas

Under the current (8^th) call, proposals with well-established Proof-of-Concept are invited in the following areas:

Waste to Value
- Bioconversion/enzymatic processing of waste into:
  - Value added products
  - Clean burning fuel
  - Self-powered devices
- Other related technologies
Livestock health and improvement
- Interventions towards quantitative and qualitative improvement in livestock production systems
- Rapid, specific and low cost diagnostic kits for on-site detection of various animal diseases
- Improving production and quality of fodder and fodder seeds
- Control and prevention of animal diseases
- Other related activities
New and improved agricultural tools
- Development of new and improved equipment/technologies to enhance productivity particularly that of small land holdings:
  - by reducing labor and time for various farm activities (ploughing, sowing, planting, harvesting, etc.) and corollary agricultural activities (hay-making, shredding, and loading, etc.) through mechanization/automation
  - through reduced consumption of fertilizers and pesticides
  - through efficient irrigation systems involving measurement of water stress levels and adopting appropriate water management and conservation strategies
- Tractor enabled/mounted sensors & IOT tools for soil health analysis
- Blending operating systems of irrigation with fertilization and pest control
- Other related activities
Reducing post-harvest losses
- By automating/semi-automating sorting, grading and packaging the agricultural/ horticulture produce
- Though use of practical and innovative storage methods/technologies particularly for use at farm level
- Through early detection; and management of post-harvest diseases (preferably through chemical – free methods)
- By designing tools/technologies for easy handling of farm produce and their transportation
- Through biotechnological interventions for preservation, processing and value addition of fruits and vegetables
- Other related activities
Combating environmental pollution
- Reducing the generation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to mitigate climate change
- Biofilters and bioscrubbers for combating air pollution
- Carbon capture and sequestration
- Demonstration of safer and cleaner bio-based technologies over existing ones with special emphasis on reducing carbon dioxide emissions
- Technologies for the bioremediation of contaminated soil and groundwater
- Development of new methodologies for solid/liquid waste management and clean energy production
- Removal of heavy metal and other contaminants
  - Conversion of landfill gas into electricity and other useful products
  - Novel Microbial fuel cell systems for clean energy generation

Funding Information

Funding support will be in the form of Grant-in-Aid. The maximum cap is pre-determined and is as mentioned below:

For proposals submitted by academia, 100% grant–in –aid to academia as well as its collaborator with a capping of Rs. 50 Lakhs per project
For proposals submitted by Companies/LLP, there would be a capping of Rs. 100 lakhs per project (primary applicant + collaborator). The funding support from BIRAC under this category would be as follows:
- Projects upto 50 lakhs: 100% grant from BIRAC
- Projects more than 50 lakhs but less than Rs. 100 lakhs: BIRAC grant would be Rs. 50 lakhs + 50% of the cost over and above Rs. 50 lakhs. Remaining cost would be borne by the company

Duration of Project

Up to a maximum of 24 months.

Eligibility Criteria

Proposals are invited from-
- Companies/Start-ups/Limited Liability Partnerships – LLP (with minimum 51% Indian ownership) are eligible to apply either alone, or in collaboration with another Company/Academic Institution
- Academic Institute, University, NGO, or Research Foundation, having proper registration/ accreditation from a government body are eligible to apply with one or more partners of which at least one is a Company
For academic institutions
- For Public or Private Institute, University, NGO or Research Foundation proper registration/ accreditation from a government body is mandatory
For companies/LLP
- Participating company should be registered under the Indian Companies Act, 2013 with at least 51% Indian shareholding i.e., shares of the Company should be held by Indian Citizens holding Indian passport
- Limited liability Partnership (LLP) incorporated under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 having a minimum half of the persons who have subscribed their names to the LLP document as its Partners should be Indian citizens
- Participating company/LLP should either have:
  - Adequate in-house facility for project implementation (which shall be evaluated during the site visit)
  - Incubated with any of the recognized incubation centers at the time of proposal submission
- The Applicant should own the background Intellectual Property based on which the proposal is made.