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Open Call for Indo-German Bilateral Workshops

The Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC) invites proposals for organising Indo-German workshops on areas of mutual interest. The Program is designed to facilitate substantive interactions that are designed to identify innovation pathways for common socio-economic priorities and technology gaps, with the potential to mature into full-scale "2+2" (Research + Industry) projects.

Proposals that highlight "Research for Innovation" (typically Technology Readiness Levels 3–6) and demonstrate a clear pathway from knowledge generation to application will be prioritized.

Proposals on frontier topics with innovation potential may also be considered.

Training workshops as well as meetings between two institutions do not fall under the scope of this call.

Deadlines for application twice a year: 31st January and 31st July

Applications submitted by 31st January should pertain to Workshops to be held during July-December of that year; applications submitted by 31st July should pertain to Workshops to be held during January -June of the following year.

Who can Apply?

  • Proposer: Workshop proposals may be submitted by a researcher in academia or in an industry from India and Germany to deliberate on the experiences and expertise of an identified research issue pertaining to an industrial problem. Proposals should be submitted jointly by one Indian and one German Coordinator.
  • A Coordinator can apply for only one Workshop Proposal in one year and upto a maximum of two Workshops.
  • Participants: Composition of the Workshop participants must be a well balanced mix, with approximately 50% from India and Germany each as well as approximately 50% from Industry and Academia, respectively.
  • Industry refers to registered commercial, market-facing entities (e.g., GmbH, Pvt. Ltd., Ltd., Inc.) with a distinct legal identity and an R&D base/activity. Participants from University-based Incubation Centres, Accelerators, and Academic Spin-offs will be viewed as part of the institutional/academic ecosystem.

Format and Venue

  • Format: The Workshops are intended to be organised in the physical format for focussed discussions and interactions among the partners during the technical sessions and outside it. Only in exigent conditions would a few presentations be permitted in online mode.
  • Duration: The duration of the Workshop could be between 2-5 days, depending on number of participants, number of sessions and speaker schedules.
  • Presentations: Keynote talks, Panel discussions, Poster presentations should be primary forms of deliberations.
  • Venue: The Workshops could be held in venues in India or Germany, with availability of necessary facilities.

Scope of Financial Support

  • Grant Support: The programme provides catalytic funding of approximately €30000 or ₹ 25 Lakhs per workshop.
  • The amounts and origins of other financial resources (particularly from industry), maybe provided.
  • Nature of Support: Funding is supplementary and is intended to cover:
    i) International and Domestic Travel (Economy Class).
    ii) Accommodation and Hospitality (Workshop lunches and official dinner).
    iii) Organizational Costs (Venue, AV support, Logistics, etc).

How to Apply

Proposals have to be submitted through the online portal, as a single integrated document detailing the need for the event, mutual benefits, technical agenda, confirmed speakers, itemized budget, etc. Along with other sources which may support selected items.

A detailed draft program including a list of the expected participants has to be submitted along with a brief background document illustrating the importance of the workshop.

Involvement of young scientists is highly recommended. Brief CVs (300-500 words) for each participant to be should be included, along with their emails.

Apply Online

Evaluation

Proposals submitted throughout the year will be evaluated (cut-off dates 31st January and 31st July) by an Indo-German Committee considering:

  • Compliance of the thematic area to the portfolio of DST and BMFTR (for information on thematic areas of IGSTC Calls, please click here)
  • Scientific scope and novelty
  • Scientific credentials and competitiveness of the participants, hailing from various institutions
  • Presence of topic experts in the participants list
  • PAN-India/Germany presence of participants
  • Number of participants from the industry

More details would be available once the applicants have registered on the IGSTC portal and logged in, into the Workshop module.