Deadline: 15-Feb-22
The U.S.-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund (IUSSTF), in partnership with Social Alpha, announces a Call for Ignition Grants titled “Technology-based Energy Solutions: Innovations for Net Zero”. The program aligns with the goals of the U.S.-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership, and will be administered by the binational Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF).
India and the United States are committed to strengthening bilateral collaboration in the areas of climate and clean energy. Addressing these critical challenges will require innovative, interdisciplinary, and disruptive approaches that accelerate the development and adoption of new technologies for societal impact.
Objectives
The Call for Ignition Grants encourages out-of-the-box, innovative ideas from the community to address the goal of getting to net zero. Proposals should be based on sound science and engineering research and have tangible potential for commercial viability. The intent of the call would be to select and support “technology showstoppers” – promising joint US-India S&T based entrepreneurial initiatives that address the development and implementation of new technologies, tools, and systems to address climate and clean energy challenges in the following focus areas:
- Next generation Clean and Renewable Energy
- Energy storage
- Carbon sequestration
Funding and Award
Proposals will be solicited in two categories:
- Ignition Stage I:
- Grant period: Up to 12 months
- Grant from USISTEF up to INR 50,00,000 / –
- Social Alpha * will offer up to 5 winners the following:
- Top up grant up to an amount of Rs 25 Lac
- 12 months membership of CEIIC – Standard Incubation Package at no cost
- Rs 25 Lac credits (to be redeemed against CEIIC premium incubation services)
- Ignition Stage II:
- Grant period: Up to 24 months
- Grant from USISTEF up to INR 1-2 crore
- Social Alpha * will offer 5 winners the following:
- Top up grant up to an amount of Rs 25 Lac
- Seed investment up to an amount of Rs 1 Cr
- 12 months membership of CEIIC – Standard Incubation Package at no cost
- Rs 25 Lac credits (to be redeemed against CEIIC premium incubation services)
* Conditions for Grants from Social Alpha:
- Grant recipient must be an Indian entity (At least 51% owned by Indian nationals)
- Winners will enter into an incubation agreement with CEIIC to unlock any of these awards
- Seed investments are discretionary, subject to Social Alpha investment due diligence and are non-binding.
Eligibility Criteria
Proposals must have at least one Indian and one US partner for the complete duration of the proposed project. Primary partners from both sides must have significant and synergistic roles in the development and commercialization of technologies for the specific application described in the proposal.
- At least one of the partners must be an entrepreneurial entity (preferably a small or medium-scale enterprise) and the team may include any combination of the following:
- Incorporated companies including start-ups; or
- Non-incorporated entities; or
- Academic, governmental and non-governmental research institutions or their consortia
- The relationship between the US and Indian partners must be clearly defined, including ownership of intellectual property rights for the technology proposed to be developed and commercialized. A formal, signed partnership agreement must be submitted as part of the application socket.
- Subsidiaries / spin-offs of one partner in the other country are not eligible to apply.
- If one of the partners is an academic institution / government entity / research institution, an NOC (no-objection certificate) approving the participation of the Principal Investigator in the project must be submitted at the time of the application.
- The partners would need to agree to and sign the USISTEF Terms & Conditions and submit it as part of the application docket. Principal Investigators need to ensure that the T&C is signed by the competent authority (For example, Office of Sponsored Research / Dean R & D / or an equivalent office) from the participating institution (s).
For more information, visit https://ignitiongrants.usistef.online/login