BIRAC and CEFIPRA jointly invites proposals on ‘Red Biotechnology upto Pre-Commercialisation Stage’

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), French Embassy in India, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of France and Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (CEFIPRA) jointly invite call for proposal on ‘Red Biotechnology upto Pre-Commercialisation Stage’. The themes are molecular diagnostics for prediction of cardiac stroke; rapid diagnostics for Alzheimer’s and or/ dementia in elderly or molecular diagnostics for detection of neurological disorders in neonates specially related to celebral palsy; generation of new assistive technologies for mobility of physically challenged including elderly.

On the occasion of the India-France Technology Summit held on October 23 and 24, President of French Republic, the Governments of France and India announced a dedicated challenge-oriented call for proposals. This challenge-oriented programme will be implemented by CEFIPRA with joint funding from BIRAC, Government of India and the Science and Technology Department of the French Embassy in India, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of France.

In this collaboration, BIRAC will support Indian partners, and French Embassy will support French partners. The call for proposals aims to support high-quality bilateral research projects that combine innovative approaches towards new concepts and technological breakthroughs; encourage and enable Indo-French collaboration between public and private research groups, industry, clinicians and end-users. The funded projects are expected to lead to innovative technology developments for human health and knowledge transfer towards either clinical or industrial applications. The submission deadline for expression of interest in May 3, 2014.

Joint applications are invited from start-up companies from India along with the French start-ups. Both of them shall be principal applicants. They can have co-applicants and collaborators from academia, research institutions, national laboratories, clinical establishments, for profit companies, not-for-profit organisations, societies, trusts and foundations, trusts or foundations from either side. Eligibility terms of applicants, co-applicants and collaborators will be as per guidelines available at BIRAC website, www.birac.in.

EP News Bureau – Mumbai