The objective of the joint Indo-Spanish program is to promote and fund market driven research and technology development as well as to encourage partnerships and business-led research and development for collaborative projects in the field of biotechnology. For this programme, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India and the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Government of Spain, are the nodal implementing agencies from the Indian and Spanish side respectively. CDTI is a public entity, which fosters the technological development and innovation of spanish companies.

While the call was given on March 15, 2013, the deadline for submission of completed applications is July 15, 2013. The funding decisions are expected to be closed before December 15, 2013.

This call for proposals is a generic call open to collaboration in all areas of biotechnology including health biotechnology, industrial biotechnology, nano-biotechnology, agro-biotechnology, including biofuels and bioenergy, bioinformatics and biomedical engineering. The duration of industry-driven and market-oriented R&D projects ranges from 1 year up to 3 years. These joint technological co-operation projects between researchers and companies in India and companies in Spain focus on development or substantial improvement of new products, processes or services.