Aiming to promote and fund market-driven research and technology development as well as to encourage partnerships and business-led R&D&I collaborative projects in the field of biotechnology, India and Spain will soon begin joint programme in the field of biotechnology.

The joint progamme aims to launch ambitious joint projects of a high international standard between Indian and Spanish organizations.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology and the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Government of Spain, are the nodal implementing agencies from the Indian and Spanish side respectively.  Potential projects will be funded by DBT in India and CDTI in Spain.
 
Both the DBT and the CDTI have invited joint proposals from eligible parties under the Indo-Spanish programme for technological co-operation in the field of biotechnology.  This call for proposals is a generic call open to collaborative R&D projects in all areas of biotechnology e.g. health biotechnology, industrial biotechnology, nano-biotechnology, agro-biotechnology, including biofuels and bioenergy, bioinformatics and biomedical engineering.   

Industry-driven and market-oriented R&D projects, joint technological co-operation projects between researchers and/or companies in India and companies in Spain consisting in the development or substantial improvement of new products, processes or services will be considered for this programme.

 There should be at least one qualified partner from India and one qualified partner from Spain (1 company from Spain +1 entity from India) to make them eligible for this prgramme.  

The Indian side of the consortium can either be led by a company or a research institution.  For company, it should be an Indian company registered under the Companies Act 2013 and in which 51 per cent (or more) of the ownership is held by Indian citizens. Company should have in-house R&D unit recognized by DSIR or should have applied for the same. First release will be made after obtaining DSIR recognition. For academic/research partner, public and/or private universities and research institutions having a well established research support system, for basic or applied research will be eligible to participate in this programme.
 
Registration/recognition/accreditation/certification from a government body will be mandatory.