SITARE-Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award Grant

Support provided to beneficiaries under the scheme:

The funding support under SITARE is in the form of grant-in-aid.

The extent of funding is up to INR 15 lakhs.

The fund allocation is milestone-based and released in installments of up to INR 5 lakhs each based on the review of the milestone achieved.

SITARE Partner and BIRAC provide continuous mentoring support to the fund recipients, including but not limited to the following:

Technical Mentoring

IP Support

Legal Support

Networking and Outreach

Trainings

Regulatory Advice

Business Mentoring

Fundraising

Note: The award grant is non-transferable.

Utilization of Grant Money:

Development of Prototype (including outsourcing activity)- Up to 30%

Travel: Up to 15%

Incubator Rentals: Up to 15%

Manpower: Up to 15% (may be drawn as salary by the Project Investigator (SITARE-GYTI Fund recipient) during incubation or may be paid to another team member for technical assistance anytime during the project).

The fund recipient shall not be eligible to draw any manpower cost while pursuing a degree programme.

Consumables: Up to 20%

Training and conferences: Up to 10%

Contingency: 5%

An Indian student pursuing a Ph.D/Masters* in any discipline is eligible to apply for this award grant.

The student should have a valid ID issued by the Institution/University.

A No Objection Certificate (NoC), as per the prescribed format needs to be submitted along with the application.

A student can receive a SITARE-GYTI Award Grant only once.

The scheme encourages postgraduate and doctoral students to undertake projects with commercial potential leading to the creation of biotech startups.

*Exceptions for exceptional talent: Meritorious candidature outside the above eligibility criteria may be considered for SITARE with the approval of BIRAC’s competent authority.

Online

Application process:

• Proposals shall be submitted online only during an active Call for Proposals.

• Frequency of Call: Once a year

• Month of announcement: August/September

• Call Duration: The call is typically open for 45-60 days

The process for submitting the proposals online is detailed below:

Step 01: Log on to the BIRAC website- www.birac.nic.in

Step 02: If you are a registered user, login using the credentials, else you need to register yourself as an individual by clicking on ‘New User Registration’.

Step 03: In case of new user registration, a computer-generated password will be sent to the email provided at the time of registration. The password can be changed later.

Step 04: Once you login, you will be navigated to the page displaying the SITARE link.

Step 05: Click on the SITARE-GYTI link under Programmes and the active call will be highlighted.

Step 06: Click on the active call against which you wish to submit the proposal.

Selection Process:

The applications received will be subjected to a basic eligibility check. Stage-wise screening of applications will be done by relevant Committees with domain experts.

Initial Stage: At this stage, proposals will be examined for preliminary technical strength and suitability of translational research mandate.

Shortlisting Stage: This stage will have a review of applications by a team of experts based on online review comments and a specific project/work plan.

Recommendation Stage: At this stage, final shortlisted candidates* will be called for presentation before an Expert Panel.

*Class II Rail fare can be reimbursed to the invited outstation students.

Evaluation Criteria:

The evaluation of proposals received will include the following criteria at each step of selection:

• Novelty

• Technical Rigor

• Competence of Student

• Societal/Commercial Value

• Frugality

1. A valid ID issued by the Institution/University
2. A No Objection Certificate (NoC)
3. PAN Card
4. Educational qualification certificates
5. Details of proposal/report
6. Any other relevant document