How to Get Funding for Indian Partners in a EU Project

Source: https://yourstory.com

Indian labs are attractive partners. Many European companies have shifted or are shifting their R&D base to India. Therefore, the R&D expertise in India is reaching European standards. If you are a European innovating company that is looking to partner up with an Indian company within an EU project, this article could interest you.

Talking about EU projects, international cooperation in H2020 exists and concerns interaction with third countries, which are eligible countries, outside of the European Union and countries associated with the program.

However, countries may be explicitly excluded from funding in certain appeals. That is why it is useful to refer to the text of the relevant program of work for further details.

Contrary to the previous European research program FP7, in H2020 the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), as well as Mexico, are not automatically eligible for funding.

In this article, we are going to focus on the ways that an Indian lab can get fundings for being part of an H2020 project.

The EU and India have already cooperated under FP7

From 2008 to 2011, five calls for proposals have been launched between the EU and India. Those calls were funded equally from the EU and India.

The Indian science and technology system is mainly government-owned research centers that operate under the Ministries’ Agencies. Those agencies are called Departments. And their name goes along with the field in which they have expertise.

One of the calls was launched with the Department of Biotechnology, about food, health and was well financed, up to €3 million from each side.

And four other calls with the Department of Science and Technology for a total of €48 millions.

Then, in terms of mutually agreed cooperation, a major political development is the “Indo-European R&I Partnership”, launched in 2012, involving Indian authorities, the European Commission and several EU member states. It is managed by a group of senior officials and it currently focuses on health, water, and energy. In each of these fields, thematic working groups have identified sub-priorities to focus on.

Your Indian partner in the project is eligible for funding if he fits several conditions

You can find the established list of the countries that are eligible to receive funding through into H2020 General Annexes. It goes from the member states of the EU, including their overseas territories, to a list of the overseas countries and territories linked to the member states. It also provides a list of other countries, not related to member state but that are eligible. However, unlike other geographically close countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan, India is not automatically eligible to part of an EU project.

Therefore, there are certain conditions that your Indian partner should fulfill to be funded by the EU.

Indeed, according to the guide for Indian users, the basic rule is that EU funding is normally not available for participants from emerging countries (including India) in classical collaborative research projects (“research & innovation actions”).

For such participants, EU funding will, however, be available when their participation is considered by the European Commission to be essential in the project and for the achievement of the objectives of H2020.

Another way of working with an Indian partner is to answer calls negotiated directly with India. The European Union has signed an agreement on scientific and technological cooperation with certain third countries. These agreements may give rise to the launch of joint calls. And those calls can fund selected teams from third countries.

If you have an Indian partner, remember there also are Indian funding initiatives

Funding is also available from an Indian funding agency or department. This funding is for Indian entities involved in a collaborative project when the project relies on one of the India-specific mechanisms that exist.

Inno Indigo is one of those mechanisms, it is a funding program aiming at breaking grounds in research and innovation through Indo-European partnership.

There are also possibilities for Indian teams to get funded by Departments. Indeed, co-funding may be offered by Indian authorities, on a case-to-case basis.

Since March 2016, such co-funding is now available from the Indian Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in certain cases. Indeed, an agreement has been reached between the European Commission and DBT. In this agreement, the DBT agrees to fund Indian participants in H2020 projects resulting from specific calls for proposals. The same process exists with the Indian Department of Science and Technology. The specific calls are listed in the guide for Indian users.

International cooperation is important to strengthen Europe’s attractiveness

Keep in mind that the European Union is seeking International cooperation in H2020. This strategy has several objectives such as strengthening the EU’s excellence and attractiveness, and the competitiveness of its research. It also aims at creating support for the Union’s external and development policies.

Rules of international participation depend on the 3 categories of countries:

• Iceland, Norway, Principality of Liechtenstein and Swiss which constitutes the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and the countries covered by the European neighborhood policy.
• The industrialized and emerging economies like India
• Developing countries.

International cooperation is present in the three priorities of the program, Excellent Science, Industrial primacy, and Challenges of society. Nevertheless, depending on their category of country, different rules apply to international partners. Rules may vary from call to call.

International cooperation is part of H2020’s cross-cutting issues, so unlike FP7, there are no dedicated program and contact point committee.

Collaborative research and innovation projects in H2020 are therefore open to Indian partners now.

However, you should remember a consortium must include at least 3 participants from 3 different EU member states or associated countries. And an Indian partner can be counted in addition to these three partners.

So if you are looking for partners, from India and Europe, to be part of your project, don’t hesitate to use Scientist.