DBT-BIRAC Bio-AI मूलांकुर Hubs (BioE3 / Bio-RIDE)

DBT-BIRAC Bio-AI मूलांकुर Hubs Rolling Call

Supports India-wide Bio-AI hub development through grants for teams building translational biomanufacturing platforms and partnerships.

The DBT-BIRAC Joint Rolling Call for Proposals on Bio-AI for establishing मूलांकुर (Mulankur) hubs under the BioE3 Policy for Biomanufacturing is a major Indian government initiative jointly funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) under the Cabinet-approved Bio-RIDE scheme. The call opened January 19, 2026 with a submission deadline of June 30, 2026; proposals are evaluated periodically on a rolling basis rather than in a single review round. Maximum funding per hub is ₹25 crore (approximately INR 25,000,000) over a two-year project duration. The program invites multi-disciplinary, AI-integrated research teams to tackle biomanufacturing challenges across five scope areas: Biomolecular Design, Sustainable Agriculture, Synthetic Biology, Ayurveda applications, and Genome Diagnostics.

The call operates through two parallel funding arms. Academic institutions — universities, government laboratories, national labs, and DSIR-recognized non-profit organizations — submit via the DBT eProMIS portal (dbtepromis.nic.in) and receive DBT funding. Industry applicants and industry-academia hybrid teams submit via the BIRAC website (birac.nic.in) and receive BIRAC funding. Industry applicants must have a minimum 51% Indian-citizen shareholding, an in-house R&D facility or an incubation agreement at a recognized incubator, and audited financials for the preceding three years. For academic track submissions, the principal investigator must have at least four years of employment remaining at the submitting institution.

In the prior cycle of this program, 284 Letters of Intent were received — 184 at DBT and 100 at BIRAC — with 16 proposals ultimately shortlisted, indicating a highly competitive selection process. IP generated through the DBT academic track is governed by DBT IP Guidelines 2023; the BIRAC track follows BIRAC's separate IP guidelines. The hub-and-spoke model with inter-institutional and inter-disciplinary teams is explicitly preferred. Technical queries can be directed to epromise.dbt@nic.in or by phone at 011-24365136.