India and Germany, under the Indo-German Cooperation in Health Research programme, will soon begin joint research in the fields of health research and biomedical sciences.

The major areas of cooperation will be in the priority areas in health research and biomedical sciences like regenerative medicine, neurology and mother and child health. The purpose of the funding is to stimulate new collaborations, e.g. the preparation of joint projects under national funding programmes. The programme facilitates bilateral cooperation between the scientific communities of India and Germany by way of joint research projects, bilateral workshops/ seminars, exchange visits of scientists, scientific delegations and composite (scientific and industrial) delegations. Both sides will explore the possibility of funding from European Union research programmes.

Evaluation and selection criteria of the programme will be based on relevance to German and Indian national programmes and multinational programmes (e.g. EU-programmes); preparation of new projects in applied fields of mutual benefit and justification for collaboration; quality and originality of research approach; qualification of applicant and availability of infrastructure; expected results and outcomes; and the proposals should include young scientists.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the Department of Health Research (DHR) of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, and the Project Management Agency at the German Aerospace Centre (PT-DLR, European and International Cooperation), Bonn are the nodal implementing agencies from the Indian and German side respectively.

Scientists/faculty members working in regular capacity in universities, national R&D laboratories/ institutes and private R&D institutes are eligible to participate in this programme. Partners from all kinds of private sectors can also be part of the research programme, but financing is limited. For Indian scientists from the private sector, only local hospitality in Germany as part of the exchange visit is available from the German side and for German scientists from the private sector, only travel costs are available for small and medium size.