India-Canada Collaborative Industrial Research & Development Programme 2025

India-Canada Collaborative Industrial Research & Development Programme – Request for Proposal (RFP) 2025

[Between Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, Technology
Development Board (TDB) at India’s Department of Science & Technology and The National Research Council Canada (NRC) and Global Affairs Canada, Government of Canada] 

Who can apply

Eligible Indian Applicants

An Indian company having requisite understanding and capability to undertake R&D activities.

• The Indian Project Lead (IPL) (i.e. lead company) must be a commercial (for profit) company under the Indian Companies Act 1956/2013, which operates in and is headquartered.
• Atleast 51% stake of the INPL Company must be owned by Indian.
• The INPL should have the required expertise and team capacity to manage the proposed.
• Sole proprietors, OPC and partnership firms are not eligible for support.
• Companies headquartered and owned outside India and their subsidiaries in India, or vice versa, are not eligible to receive funding from DST under this programme.

• INPL should lead the project from Indian side and if required bring in other Industry Partners or Academic/R&D Institutions as Consortium.

  Eligible Canadian Applicants 

• The Canadian Project Lead (CPL) applicants must be a Canadian incorporated, profit-oriented small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), with 500 or fewer full-time equivalent employees;
• Be ready to collaborate with Indian partners on an industrial R&D project; and
• Be pursuing growth and profit generation through the development and commercialization of innovative, technology-driven, new or improved products, services, or processes. 

The collaboration aims to promote projects that are innovative and reflecting consumer demands, so that they are market-oriented at the same time focused on creating a new product or process that will eventually lead to commercialization.

On this basis, this RFP 2025 is open to the applied R&D projects in the areas of:

• Advanced manufacturing, including smart factory and smart manufacturing, advanced
  materials, automotive manufacturing, robotics and automation, “Industry 4.0” enablers such as additive manufacturing, near net shape manufacturing, assistive robotics and process automation, and industrial IoT implementation.
• Clean technologies and green technologies, including water and waste water
  management, smart grid and energy storage, battery-related technologies, renewable energy, smart cities, hydrogen technologies, waste management, waste-to-energy, electric vehicles, carbon capture, and energy storage.
• Digital technologies, including artificial intelligence for industry, cyber security, smart vehicle, and smart cities.
• Health and bio-sciences, including pharmaceuticals, health informatics, digital health,
  medical devices and mobile health.
• Food and agriculture technologies, including crop development, food processing, soil
  irrigation and monitoring, precision agriculture, and supply chain optimization.
• Smart infrastructure, including artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT), geoinformation systems, smart mobility, smart grids, and quantum technologies.

Selected R&D project participants will receive funding:

• Technology Development Board (TDB), on behalf of Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. 
• The Canadian International Innovation Program (CIIP), which is co-delivered by Global Affairs Canada and the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP).

Funds will be provided in accordance with the national laws, rules, regulations and procedures established by each organization, and/or each jurisdiction/country. A maximum of Six projects may be funded (subject to the approval from Competent Authority, DST). 

Funding for R&D Project Participants in India

TDB, on behalf of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, will fund the successful projects, as follows:

• DST will support up to INR 1.5 crore per project or 50% of the Indian Project Cost whichever is lower as a Grant, for a maximum project period of 24 months.
• Indian industry may receive up to 50% of their part of the eligible costs on a “Reimbursement Basis”, for costs already incurred on a proportionate basis.
• Indian R&D organization/academic institution may receive up to 100% of their costs
  (within applicable range specified above and as per proposal) on a reimbursement/advance basis.
• Funding from other public sector sources will be taken into account when awarding grant, and applicants will be asked to declare funding from other sources in the application.

Funding for R&D Project Participants in Canada
NRC-IRAP, on behalf of CIIP, will fund successful projects as follows:

• IRAP will reimburse selected Canadian SME project participants up to 50% of eligible project costs (to a maximum of $600,000 CAD) over 12 to 24 months. 

Projects will be considered for program funding:

Full-Scale R&D Projects, focused on co-development of new products, processes or
technologies, and/or validation of an innovative product, technologies demonstrating the
advance level of innovation and higher commercialization potential.

The project must demonstrate:

• A complementary technological contribution from each partner.
• An obvious advantage and added value resulting from the cooperation between the
  participants.
• A balanced contribution between project partners and countries (i.e. no more than 60% of the effort contributed by any one partner or country).
  Note: The project partners should agree in advance on the IP rights and on the commercialization strategy of the product or process.

1. Projects must be innovative and market-driven, leading to the proposed development of a new product or process or new/improved services, leading to commercialization.
2. Proposals must demonstrate the joint India-Canada project team’s capacity to manage the proposed project in their respective countries. The industry partners in India must contribute atleast 50% of the total industry project cost of the Indian participants. 

Canadian and Indian actors looking for partner organizations for joint projects can also reach out to emails given in the contact details. 

Email: indo-canada@tdb.gov.in or Email: neil.kochar@nrccnrc.gc.ca

• Technical development stage should be no longer than 24 months.
• Commercialization period will be in accordance with the national laws, rules, regulations
  and procedures established by each organization, and/or each jurisdiction/country.

APPLICATION AND CALL GUIDELINES

India

Canada

Important note: 

please do not leave your submission to the last minute.
If any technical difficulties arise or if you identify any errors in your submission, we will not be able to grant an extension to the above deadlines. It is your responsibility to ensure you follow the competition guidance rules and in doing so allow enough time to complete all the requirements described in this document.