Call for Proposals: India – Spain Programme of Cooperation on Industrial Research And Development

This 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.

Technology Development Board (TDB) on behalf of the DST, Government of India and the Centre for the Development of Technology and Innovation (CDTI), Ministry of Science and Innovation, Government of Spain, are the nodal implementing agencies from the Indian and Spanish sides, respectively.

Thematic Areas

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 Waste Water 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.
• Agro & Food Technologies: Competitive and sustainable technologies and applications to improve agriculture, aquaculture and food production, the supply chain, including cold engineering/cold chain technology, distribution channels until the end consumers and looping cycle/end of life (food safety, farming and food processing technologies, processing and packaging technologies).
• Any other sector of mutual interest.

Type of Proposals

• Industry-driven and market-oriented R&D projects, joint technological co-operation projects between for-profit companies that operate and are headquartered in India and industrial partners (start-ups, SMEs and large companies), in Spain consisting in the development of new or substantial improvement of new products, processes or services will be considered.
• The product, process or service must be innovative and there must be a technological risk involved.
• The project should have an obvious advantage and added value resulting from the technological cooperation between the participants from the different countries (e.g. increased knowledge base, commercial leads, access to R&D infrastructure etc.).
• The project must have a civilian purpose.
• The project must be significant for all project partners in a well-balanced consortium.
• Duration of projects: 2 years.
• The proposals have to cover the thematic areas mentioned in point 2 to enhance bilateral co-operation and develop new partnerships as well as strengthen existing ones.

Eligible Costs and Funding

• The project must clearly specify the costs of each and all the activities pertaining to the project and specify the costs to be borne by the Indian and Spanish partners, respectively. The cost of the Indian and Spanish partners must be eligible under the laws that may be applicable in each country and under internal regulations of CDTI and TDB, respectively.
• The funding conditions from DST/TDB are set in INR (₹) and the ones from CDTI in €. Budgets must be expressed in the local currency of each applicant. All figures and budgetary conditions in this Call refer to the value of both currencies as on the date of the launch of the Call.
• None of the countries budget (namely the budget of its entities participating in the proposal) can have more than 70% of the global budget.
• The Spanish company will be funded according to the International Technological Cooperation Projects’ conditions identified on CDTI’s website. CDTI can only provide funding to Spanish companies subject to budget availability.
• TDB, on behalf of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, will fund the successful projects by Indian Company(s), 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 may receive up to 100% of their costs (within applicable range specified above and as per proposal).
  • DST funding support for the project must be matched equally (1:1) by Indian Industry and R&D organisation/academic institution. 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 soft loan, and applicants will be asked to declare funding from other sources in the application.

Who can apply?

• Eligible Spanish Applicants
  • Spanish consortia should include at least one company. Participation of research institutes/universities and other 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 DST) that are headquartered and operate in India are strongly encouraged to partner for projects.
• 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.
  • Applicants already possesses basic infrastructures/test beds and developed basic Proof of Concept (PoC).
• Please note for Indian applicants:
  • Sole proprietors and partnership firms are not eligible for support under this programme.
  • Companies headquartered and owned outside India and their subsidiaries in India, or vice versa, are not eligible to receive funding from DST-TDB under this programme.
  • Further multiple projects being executed concurrently by the IPL under DST/TDB programmes will be discouraged.
• Preferences will be given to:
  • Indian companies having partnership with government-funded Indian academic and R&D institutions.
  • Indian companies having in-house R&D Centre which is recognized by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Government of India.
  • Companies that fall under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) category, as defined by the Government of India.
  • In the case of India where business entities are participants in a project, but without prior R&D activities, the project must show a plan of how capabilities are going to be developed in the business entity in the following years in order to:
    • Perform future R&D projects.
    • Develop the human resource capability within the business.
    • Take technologies that are being developed to market.
    • Develop new intellectual property.
    • Enhance the Indian technology-based companies’ ecosystem.
    • Note that applicants must already possess basic infrastructure/test beds and developed basic Proof of Concept (PoC).

For more information, visit Technology Development Board.