New Delhi, July 30, 2010: With an aim to launch ambitious joint projects of a high international standard in diagnostics between Indian and Finnish organizations, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, has invited proposals from Indian and Finnish industry partners. The potential projects will be funded by DBT in India and Tekes, a funding agency for technology and innovation in Finland.
The call for the research proposals opened on May 25, 2010 and the deadline for submitting the same is September 10, 2010. The deadline for company project proposals has been kept as October, 29, 2010. The Funding decisions will be announced around February 2011.
The requirements include that the Indian and Finnish partners apply for funding from their national funding organizations according to each funding organizations’ practices. Indian and Finnish co-applicants will have to develop a joint project plan and send to both DBT and Tekes together with the funding organization-specific documents.
The applications for the research projects will be evaluated in a joint evaluation process of DBT and Tekes utilising an evaluation committee including Indian evaluators and Tekes’ technology advisers chosen jointly by DBT and Tekes. After having received the recommendations of the evaluation panel, DBT and Tekes will form a mutual understanding on the projects to be funded.
Company project proposals related to industry will be evaluated in a joint evaluation process of DBT and Tekes. The evaluation will be based on the special emphasis on quality and innovativeness of the project plan, the impact of funding through utilization of the results (intended business or other type of utilization), technology, innovation or know-how to be developed, feasibility of the project plan, resources to be used, cooperation to be developed or utilized; value addition, benefit created to the Finnish and Indian partners, impact on economic, societal and environmental well-being factors for both countries.
While funding research projects, the projects with strong company participation indicating credible application and exploitation potential will be favored. DBT and Tekes-funded participants to the projects shall agree upon the ownership, access rights and exploitation of the intellectual property generated during the cooperation.
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