BIRAC announces the launch of SPARSH combining social innovation and biotechnology for the well being of the society. BIRAC's vision is ' to create affordable products, addressing the needs of the largest section of society' which mandates it to foster biotechnology in national priority areas such as Maternal and Child Health (MCH). MCH remains one of the key determinants of health of a society. India shows poor MCH indicators especially infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality ratio (MMR)

SPARSH's objectives are:

- Identify and provide support to cutting edge innovations towards affordable product dvelopment that can bring significant social impact and address challenges of inclusive growth.

- Provide support in form of impact funding of biotech product innovations with social goals that can be scaled.

- Create and foster a pool of social innovators in biotech and provide a platform to share best practices understand intricacies of business models in social innovation and network.

BIRAC's current focus under SPARSH pertains to fostering innovative solutions in the MCH arena. THe MCH area needs products and services that can alleviate the current situation that India and several developing countries face.