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Startup-relevant scheme · Department of Biotechnology (DBT)

Promoting Academic Research Conversion to Enterprise (PACE)

Between callsChecked 3 October 2026

AIR & CRS components; last call (with i4) closed 15 May 2025; watch birac.nic.in/cfp.php.

Amount
Up to ₹50 lakh (AIR); no ceiling under CRS
Type of support
Grant
Best for
Ideation, Prototype / PoC
Who can apply
Researchers, Incubators & institutions
Go to the official portalSource: DPIIT playbook p. 74

PACE helps academic institutions turn important research into early-stage products and then supports industry partnerships to validate and take those innovations closer to real-world use.

Who can apply?
  • For AIR: Academia (Public or Private Institute, University, NGO, or Research Foundation) with a well-established support system for research shall be the primary applicant. Collaboration with Industry/LLP is optional in this component.
  • For CRS: Mandatory collaboration with Industry/LLP is needed. The Industry collaborator must have a minimum of 51% of the shares of the Company held by Indian Citizens holding Indian passport.
What do you get?
  • PACE provides for BIRAC contribution of up to 100% of the project cost.
  • Financial support under AIR: Total cost of the project must not exceed ₹50 lakh (non-recurring cost must not exceed 10% of the total cost)
  • Financial support under CRS: Funding in the form of grant is provided to both academic as well as industrial partners. There is no ceiling to the funding under CRS.
How to apply

Call for Applications are announced twice a year (1st April – 15th May; and 1st September – 15th October). Besides two regular calls, BIRAC may also announce need-based additional calls whose terms and conditions would be worked out separately and described in their respective RFPs.

Objectives

The PACE (Promoting Academic Research Conversion to Enterprise) encourages academia to develop technology/product (up to PoC stage) of societal/national importance (under Academic Innovation Research or AIR), and its subsequent validation by an industrial partner (under Contract Research Scheme or CRS.

Key links

Deadlines, amounts and windows change. Check the official portal before you apply.

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