📋 Tender Overview
Various Scientific Ministries and Departments of Government of India are contributing in the efforts of India in making the world a better and more scientific place to live in. The Ministry of Science and Technology has played a key role in developing global ST partnerships in critical areas including energy water health and astronomy.The Technology Mission Schemes of Department of Science and Technology DST are focused on research development and innovation in the areas of clean energy and water. The scope of existing schemes has been broadened to include Smart Grids Offgrids Building Energy Efficiency Alternate Fuels Clean Coal Technologies Clean Energy Materials Renewable Clean Hydrogen Carbon Capture Utilisation Storage and Water Technologies under Clean Energy Research and Water Technology Research Initiatives respectively. Visiting Advanced Joint Research VAJRA Faculty Scheme of Science and Engineering Research Board SERB is instituted to build global ST research partnerships in key areas by bringing overseas scientists and academicians including Non-resident Indians NRI and Overseas Citizens of India OCI to work in Indian Institutions and Universities for a specific period of time. Thematic Fellowship programmes in Solar Energy Building Energy EfficiencyHigher Advanced Network and Water Research have been instituted by DST to support young faculty and research scholars for conducting quality research and build ST partnership with scientists working in the Unites States of America. India through the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research CSIR has emerged as a technology centre for building global ST partnerships in the area of energy specifically Aviation Bio-Fuels. Recently a Memorandum of Understanding MoU has been signed between CSIR and Ms Pacific Industrial Development Corporation PIDC Inc. USA for production and supply of dimethyl ether DME catalyst. CSIR has recently signed another MoU with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences NIEHS NIH USA to deal with environmental pollution and related health hazards. Further an MoU has also been signed between CSIR and the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation to support the development conduct and promotion of health research in India.India is participating in the construction of state-of-the-art astronomy facilities like Thirty Meter Telescope TMT in USA Square Kilometer Array SKA in Australia and South Africa with ST partnership with different countries across the globe. India is also establishing the 3rd Detector of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory LIGO in Maharashtra in association with USA.The Government had brought out the Science Technology Innovation STI Policy 2013 with the guiding vision of an aspiring Indian STI enterprise to accelerate the pace of discovery and delivery of science-led solutions for faster sustainable and inclusive growth. A plethora of programmes have been implemented by the Government to support and stimulate the ST development in the country including ST infrastructure. There has been notable rise in the ST activities which helped India in improving its global ranking in certain key areas of STI.A road map for promotion of ST has been drawn by activating and initiating several schemes and programmes which focus on various measures like prioritizing critical RD areas promoting inter- disciplinary research including traditional knowledge promoting the spread of scientific temper amongst all sections of society supporting STI driven entrepreneurship with viable and scalable business models creating an environment for enhanced private sector participation in RD etc. CSIR has put in place a new RD management strategy for planning and participative performance of RD projects through formation of sector specific theme based clusters. The identified thrust areas include Aerospace Electronics Instrumentation Strategic Sectors Civil Infrastructure Engineering Ecology Environment Earth Ocean Sciences and Water Energy and Energy Devices Agri. Nutrition Biotech and Healthcare. The recent initiatives of DST in critical areas like Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems Quantum Information Science and Technology etc. demonstrate the commitment of the Government in bringing time-bound development in the country.India has taken up strong national and international research programs to address COVID-19 related challenges primarily focused on basic research diagnostics therapeutics and vaccinesdevelopment in close collaboration with industries and start-up companies. Necessary ST frameworks have been put in place to connect its scientific community with researchers from other countries like Australia Brazil Denmark Egypt Israel Japan Portugal Korea Norway Russia Serbia Singapore Slovenia South Africa the United Kingdom the United States and Vietnam to find solutions against COVID-19. Apart from bilateral cooperation India is working with Brazil Russia China and South Africa through the BRICS program. A joint call was launched covering the areas of diagnostics vaccines and therapeutics repurposing of drugs intervention of artificial intelligence high-performance computing for COVID-19 across multiple platforms ranging from disease surveillance to diagnosis. BRICS countries which cover more than 25 percent of the world territory with more than 40 percent of the world population would play a vital role against COVID-19.India is one of the few countries in the world which has a promising pipeline of vaccine candidates of different platforms in various stages of clinical development. Under the Partnerships for Advancing Clinical Trials PACT initiative Department of Biotechnology DBT partnered closely with the Ministry of External Affairs for strengthening clinical trial capacities in neighboring countries.
