Call for Proposals: Small Business Innovation Research Initiative (India)

The Small Business Innovation Research Initiative (SBIRI) facilitates early-stage research undertaken by industry/start-ups/LLPs either alone, or in collaboration with academia in the field of biotechnology for developing a product or a technology.

Focus Areas

• Proposals are invited in the areas of:
  • Devices and Diagnostics, Pharma/Biopharmaceuticals, Agriculture and Secondary Agriculture, Industrial Biotechnology, Environmental Biotechnology, Veterinary Sciences and Aquaculture
• While the applicants are free to submit proposals as per their choice, they are encouraged, but not restricted to apply in following areas:
  • Application of big data, artificial intelligence, telemedicine, block-chain platforms, smart devices in healthcare
  • Technologies incorporating biotechnological interventions for the development of specialty chemicals, enzymes, bio-therapeutics, etc.
  • Engineering microbes for conversion of biomass into biofuel
  • Agri-biologicals for use in agriculture using biofertilizers/plant nutrition products, biostimulants/plant growth enhancement products and biopesticides/biocontrol products
  • Development of process/technologies for enhancing the productivity of oilseeds (specially oil palm), millets and pulses through biotechnological tools
  • Development of 3D cell culture and 3D cell models for generation of more relevant information for drug screening
  • Cost-effective and safe innovations for clinical sample collection, handling, storage and transportation
  • Multiplex, modular, multi-pathogen disease detection platforms/systems for use at the primary and secondary level that reliably distinguish, and detect infections from clinical specimens (e.g., whole blood, urine, stool, and nasal swabs) for indications such as TB, vector borne and other infections.
  • Development of cost-effective therapies for combating Anti-Microbial Resistance for indications such as neonatal sepsis, respiratory infections, UTI, etc.

Funding Information

• Funding support will be in the form of Grant-in-Aid and is scheme specific.
• Fund Disbursement Policy:
  • The fund disbursement will be milestone based i.e., the release of every installment will be subject to successful accomplishment of linked milestone.
  • It would be mandatory for the applicant Company to put its contribution prior to the release of every installment by BIRAC
  • The last installment shall be in the form of reimbursement i.e., funds would be released after the completion of the project.

Eligible Projects

• Products/Technologies having well established Proof of Principle for SBIRI
• Projects proposing a process/product innovation having significant societal impact or commercial potential
• Developed process should be sustainable from an economic and environmental point of view and should be scalable
• The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at the end of the project should be up to TRL 6 (Early-stage validation) for SBIRI

Ineligible Projects

• Concepts/exploratory research ideas without proper Proof-of-Principle (SBIRI)
• Proposals without preliminary data and potential for product/technology development will not be supported.

Eligibility Criteria

• The proposals can be submitted:
  • Solely by a Company (Minimum 51% of the shares of the Company should be held by Indian Citizens holding Indian passport (Indian Citizens do not include Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) holders) incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013 or Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) (Minimum half of the persons who subscribed their names to the LLP document as its Partners should be Indian citizens)incorporated under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 or Joint Ventures either in the form of Company/ LLP .
  • By any of the above entities jointly with other private or public partner(s) (Universities or Institutes.
• The Applicant Company/LLP should either:
  • Have adequate in-house facility to address the project implementation (which shall be evaluated during the site visit) or
  • Incubated with any of the recognized Incubation Facility
• For Academic collaborator: Eligible Academia shall mean an entity which is having proper establishment documents: For Public or Private Institute, University, NGO, or Research Foundation, proper registration/accreditation from a government body is mandatory like UGC affiliation certification, AICTE, CSIR /DSIR/SIRO certificate etc.
• Duration of Project:
  • No ceiling on project duration under SBIRI scheme.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Applicant who had withdrawn their proposal after approval from Apex committee or whose project was foreclosed due to inadequate funds or any other irregularity would be debarred from submitting fresh proposals for next 2 calls (1 year).
• Proposals submitted by a company/subsidiary/sister concern either as main applicant or collaborator, who has been fund recipient in any of the schemes of BIRAC in past and has defaulted on:
  • repayment of loan and/or interest, or is irregular with regard to repayment of instalments
  • payment of unspent balance (if any) in the earlier BIRAC supported projects
  • payment of Royalty to BIRAC would not be considered for financial assistance by BIRAC.

For more information, visit Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council.