Call for Proposals: India-Spain Programme on Industrial R&D Cooperation

The call for proposals aims to launch ambitious joint R&D projects of a high international standard between Indian and Spanish organizations. Potential projects will be funded by DST through TDB in India and CDTI in Spain.

Thematic Areas

• The collaborative projects should be innovative and focused on creating possibilities for new technologies, services or processes that will results in commercialisation.
• This Call for proposals is open to collaborative R&D projects in the following areas/sectors:
  • Circular economy and sustainability: Economically competitive production processes and products, critical materials and/or energy that reduce, replace and/or reuse resources and/or aim for sustainability and environmentally friendly processes and/or technologies. Also including Drinking Water, Water Purification, Water Desalination, Irrigation Technologies and Wastewater Treatment & Management in the subarea of Water Technologies.
  • Digital transformation (Smart Mobility, Smart Grids, Smart Cities, etc.).
  • Digital health and medical devices: include categories such as mobile health (mHealth), health information technology (IT), wearable devices, telehealth and telemedicine, and personalized medicine.
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Advanced Materials
  • Any other sector of mutual interest.

Funding Information

• Funding for the Spanish participant(s)
  • The Spanish company will be funded according to the International Technological Cooperation Projects’ conditions identified on CDTI’s website.
• Funding for the Indian participant(s)
  • TDB, on behalf of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, will fund the Indian side of the jointly recommended projects with under-mentioned details:
    • Total project funding as “Grant” for Indian applicants is up to 50% with a limit of maximum of ₹150.00 Lakhs per project.
    • Indian industry may receive up to 50% of their part of the eligible cost on “Reimbursement Basis”, for cost(s) already incurred on a proportionate basis during the project implementation period after sanction of grant to the project.
    • Indian R&D organisation/Academic institution budget share of the project can range upto 50% or decided by the Project Evaluation Committee and may receive up to 100% of their costs on advance basis.
    • DST funding support for the project (includes industry support and academia/R&D organization must be matched equally (1:1) by Indian Industry. The exact amount of funding will be approved by the Indian Project Evaluation Committee based on merit and the contribution of industry, R&D organisation and academic partners respectively.
    • Funding from other public sector sources will be taken into account when awarding the grant, and applicants will be asked to declare funding from other sources in the application.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible Spanish Applicants
  • Spanish consortia should include at least one company. Participation of research institutes/universities and other R&D organizations is welcome as self-funded participants or subcontractors.
• Eligible Indian Applicants
  • Eligible Indian applicants must be a commercial (for profit) company registered under The Companies Act 1956/2013, which operates in and is headquartered in India. Academic institutions and research centres, (including non-profit research institutes recognized by GoI) that are headquartered and operate from India are strongly encouraged to partner with the participating industry (IPL: Indian Project Lead).
  • Specific criteria for eligible applicants are as follows:
    • The Indian Project Lead (IPL) company applying for the project must be incorporated in India under The Companies Act 1956/2013.
    • The company must be at least 51% owned by Indian citizens over the total duration of the project.
    • The IPL should have the required expertise and team capacity to manage the proposed project.
    • The Indian Project Lead company should lead the project from Indian side and if required bring in other Industry Partners or Academic/R&D Institutions as partners.
    • Applicants already possesses basic infrastructures/test beds and or developed basic Proof of Concept (PoC).

For more information, visit TDB.