In order to take the proof of concept leads and technologies towards commercial scale, the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) has invited proposals from research institutions and public or private universities in the country under its Contract Research and Services Scheme (CRSS) which was launched to facilitate academia-industry collaboration.

BIRAC is the Department of Biotechnology (DBT)'s interface agency to develop lab scale technologies into products through public-private partnership.

Under the CRSS scheme, the DBT provides support to academia in the form of grant-in-aid for taking proof of concept of their leads/technologies towards commercial scale with industry under a specific contract and fee structure. Exploratory research or fundamental discovery with no proof of concept will not be given support under this scheme.

The requirements of the academic groups for some specific services from the industry such as toxicology studies, gene sequencing towards translational work, studies using specific industrial equipment etc. as a part of commercial scale development could also be supported under this scheme.

Academia has to be the primary applicant with one or more partners of which at least one of them has to be a company. Public/Private Universities and Research Institutions having a well-established research support system for basic or applied research are eligible for this proposal which will close on September 14, 2014.

Eligible categories and corresponding relevant areas of this scheme include bio- medical devices and instruments; healthcare clinical trials, healthcare, healthcare molecular biology, healthcare preclinical, healthcare diagnostics, healthcare oncology, healthcare vaccines, biosimilars, biologicals, industrial products and processes, new drug discovery, development, nutraceuticals, etc.

Earlier, the CRS scheme was launched by BIRAC to extend support to academia in the form of grant-in aid for validation of the proof of concept (PoC) by an industrial partner.   It was launched in the backdrop of the fact that numerous lab scale research leads are being generated in the academic sector through funding from various agencies like DBT, CSIR, DST, DRDO etc., which have the potential for validation and translation into products.  Currently the academia is capable of limited translational research, however, product development is generally not a part of their mandate. Moreover, they may not have the required infrastructure to take on product development and commercialisation activity.