BIRAC launches Pace Scheme to develop Technology/Product – India

Deadline: 31-Jul-23

To encourage/support academia to develop technology/product (up to PoC stage) of societal/ national importance and its subsequent validation by an industrial partner, BIRAC has launched PACE (Promoting Academic Research Conversion to Enterprise) Scheme.

Biotechnological research and development in India is largely carried out by academic institutions (universities/research organizations) and to some extent by industry (mostly large companies). By virtue of their strong infrastructure & technical capability academic/ research establishments are mandated to research on variety of problems of national importance and societal relevance. Also, unlike industry, research by academia is not governed by commercial gains alone thus allowing them to work on problems involving even high degree of risk.

Priority Areas

• Devices and Diagnostics
  • Import substitution of high-end medical equipment, raw materials, consumables, disposables in the area of radiology and imaging, cancer care devices, anaesthetics devices and implants.
  • Additive manufacturing or three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting of biocompatible materials, cells, polymers and other components into complex 3D functional living tissues including multi-layered skin, organs, bone, heart tissue, vascular grafts and cartilaginous structures
  • Development and use of liquid metal biomaterials including Gallium and galliumbased alloys, liquid metal nano-particles (LMNPs) for diagnostic applications (bioimaging to biosensors).
  • Carbon Quantum Dots (CQDs) for biomedical applications like bioimaging, biosensing, electrochemical biosensing, fluorescent and luminescent imaging and photodynamic therapy.
• Vaccines
  • Development of new and improved vaccine candidates for viral pathogens (excluding Corona and related) based on emerging Platforms.
  • Development of safe and effective nano vaccines for emerging communicable and non-communicable diseases
  • Development of safe and novel adjuvants
  • Vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and nosocomial infections.
• Drugs and Biotherapeutics
  • Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs)
  • Repurposing of drugs
  • Host directed therapies
  • Development of new methods/technologies of drug delivery (e.g., nanocrystalline solid dispersion, drug polymer/peptide conjugate, enabling technologies to improve oral bioavailability), complex generics.
  • Personalized medicine
• Agriculture/Plant Science
  • Innovative technologies for increasing water use efficiency (Smart irrigation)
  • Application of Digitally enabled/Disruptive technologies e.g., Sensors, IoT, 3D printing, Robotics, AI/ Machine learning, UAV/Drones, GIS, GPS, Remote sensing for smart agriculture and disease management
  • Soil and Plant health management through rapid, specific and low-cost diagnostic kits for on-site detection of various plant diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes, etc. to minimize production losses
  • Farm mechanization & automation
• Veterinary Sciences
  • Development of diagnostics for zoonotic diseases particularly point of care tests (like Brucella, FMDV, Lumpy Skin Diseases etc).
  • Biotechnological interventions to improve qualitative or quantitative nutrient absorption and bioavailability for livestock productivity.
  • Affordable assisted reproductive technology.
  • Vaccines for Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD), Mastitis, bovine tuberculosis etc.
  • Reagents for veterinary diagnostics
• Aquaculture
  • Field usable diagnostic kits for disease and algal toxins relevant to aquaculture
  • Bioactive compounds from marine actinobacteria.
  • Biotechnological interventions for sustainable development of shrimp farming.
  • Development of farmer friendly onsite diagnostics tools and techniques for existing and emerging pathogens in Indian aquaculture system and integrated diagnostic platforms.
  • Production of high value human therapeutic fish proteins using fish cell lines
• Energy, environment and secondary agriculture
  • Valorisation of lignin to value added chemicals (biological route only)
  • Biomanufacturing related areas including pathway engineering, host cell engineering, bioreactor (scale-up) and process media engineering, and active product purification (as distinct from small molecule/ regular chemical separation) for:
    • Conversion of lingo cellulosic biomass into chemicals and materials
    • Production of advanced biofuels (e.g., butanol, isobutanol, alkane, alkene, terpenes)
    • Cosmetics/nutraceuticals/flavour compounds/ APIs
  • Circular economy for post-harvest processing and value addition of underutilized crops in India
  • Non-destructive quality evaluation, green technologies for storage and pest control, on-line sorting and grading using IoT/sensors etc.

Components

The scheme has two components as below:

• Academic Innovation Research (AIR):
  • The objective of Academic Innovation Research (AIR) scheme is to promote development of Proof-of-concept (PoC) for a process/product by academia with or without the involvement of industry.
• Contract Research Scheme (CRS):
  • Contract Research Scheme (CRS) aims at validation of a process or prototype (developed by the academia) by the industrial partner.

Duration of Project

• Up to 24 months for proposal submitted under PACE-AIR.
• No specific duration has been fixed for PACE-CRS.

Types of projects supported

• Products/Technologies should have well established Proof of Principle for AIR and Proof of Concept for CRS proposals
• Projects proposing a process/product innovation should have significant potential impact or commercial potential
• Developed process should be sustainable from an economic and environmental point of view and should be scalable
• The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at the end of the project should be:
  • Minimum TRL 3 (Proof of concept established) for AIR

Eligibility Criteria

• PACE
  • Academic Institute, University, NGO or Research Foundation, registered/ accredited by a government body can apply either alone, or in partnership with academia or industry (while involvement of industry is optional for AIR Scheme, it is mandatory to have an industrial partner for CRS).
  • Under the scheme, academia (Public or Private Institute, University, NGO, Research Foundation or trust/society), National research laboratories having a well-established support system for research shall be the primary applicant. The PI has to be a permanent Faculty of the applicant entity. The applicant can apply either:
    • Individually, or
    • Jointly with academic and/or industrial partner
• PACE – AIR
  • Eligibility Criteria for academia:
    • For Public or Private Institute, University, NGO, or Research Foundation, proper registration/ accreditation from a government body is mandatory like UGC affiliation certification, AICTE, CSIR /DSIR/SIRO certificate etc.
  • Eligibility criteria (Technical) for applicants under AIR
    • PI must have completed at least one or more extramural funded project in India with cumulative project duration of 3 year & in the same research area of the project proposed. Projects must have been funded by Govt. funding agencies or Industry. Project/s executed as PI (and not as Co-PI) will only be considered to establish eligibility. Related Sanction order or funding note to be uploaded as a proof.
    • PI must have authored at least one publication (not abstract) indexed in Scopus/web of science/research paper published in peer reviewed journal as first or lead author, or patents (filed) in the same research area of the project proposed for AIR.
    • Evidence of proof of principle (POP) and preliminary data, already gathered by the applicant, supporting the proposal is compulsory and must be submitted in the AIR application. Absence of which can result in disqualification of the proposal.
    • Proposals involving agriculture should have viable product/technology as an outcome that can be considered for advanced trials by the industry/authorized national agencies.
    • If the AIR proposal has industry participation, then the partnering/collaborating company/ LLP should be more than 5 years after incorporation. Applicants are encouraged to have industry partners in order to demonstrate translational strategy.
• PACE-CRS
  • Academia has to be the Primary Applicant with one or more partners of which at least one is a company.
  • Notes:
    • For Public or Private Institute, University, NGO, or Research Foundation, proper registration/accreditation from a government body is mandatory
    • 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 (Indian citizens do not include Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) holders).
  • The applicant Company should have adequate in-house facility to address the project implementation (which shall be evaluated during the site visit) or incubated with any of the recognized incubation facility.
  • Eligibility criteria (Technical) for applicants under CRS
    • Evidence of proof of Concept (PoC) i.e., TRL-3 and validation ready data supporting the proposal is compulsory and must be submitted in the CRS application. Absence of which can result in disqualification of the proposal.
    • Proposals that have received AIR funding should have the same industrial partner who collaborated for AIR project. Any deviation must be duly justified with clarity on IP governance.
    • The CRS proposal should be accompanied by the Commitment Letter by the industrial partner to exercise the first right for monetizing the product/technology.

Ineligible

• Applicant who had withdrawn their proposal after approval from Apex committee or whose project was foreclosed due to inadequate funds or any other irregularity would be debarred from submitting fresh proposals for next 3 calls (1 year).
• Proposals submitted by a company/subsidiary/sister concern either as main applicant or collaborator, who has been fund recipient in any of the schemes of BIRAC in past and has defaulted on
  • repayment of loan and/or interest, or is irregular with regard to repayment of instalments
  • payment of unspent balance (if any) in the earlier BIRAC supported projects
  • payment of Royalty to BIRAC would not be considered for financial assistance by BIRAC.
• Proposal of any company having a Director of a defaulting company would not be considered for financial assistance by BIRAC.

For more information, visit BIRAC.