The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), under its advanced technology scheme, Biotechnology Industry Partnership Programme (BIPP), has invited proposals from biotech companies for providing support on a cost sharing basis for development of novel and high risk futuristic technologies mainly for viability gap funding and enhancing existing R&D capacities.

Initiated under Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Programme (BIRAP), BIPP is a unique government- industry partnership programme to provide support for breakthrough research which creates intellectual property and technology for product development that is both innovative and of benefit to society.

This new scheme will be one of the most enabling mechanisms to promote R&D in biotech industry and public private partnership programmes. The scheme supports large, medium, small scale companies as well as start-up on cost sharing basis. It would push for high risk, discovery linked innovation and accelerated technology development. Varying models of grants, loans or grant plus loans will be made available under the scheme.

The programme will also focus on the evaluation and validation of biotech products and indigenous discovery, innovation and technology to products with focus on the products of national relevance or public benefit. BIPP is an advanced technology initiative by the DBT for supporting innovative and challenging R&D in industry.

Under the programme support will also be provided for infrastructure or facility set up in cases where such a facility leads to R&D capacity building or is required for scale up of an innovative product or process of national importance developed through company's in-house R&D. In such cases the facility proposed could be in the area of agriculture, healthcare, biosimilars, industrial processes, energy, bioinformatics, genomics and other relevant areas in biotechnology.

Under this advanced technology scheme, support would be provided only for a single or consortia of Indian companies-- small, medium or large-- having DSIR recognised in-house R&D units. According to the notification the proposals can be submitted solely by an Indian company or jointly by an Indian company and national R&D organisations and institutions or by a group of Indian companies along with national research organisations etc.