Final Report Summary - INNO INDIGO (Innovation driven Initiative for the Development and Integration of Indian and European Research)
The INNO INDIGO project was a horizontal ERA-Net with India (2013-2017) whose main goal was the implementation of EU-India multilateral calls for proposals involving funding agencies at national and sub-national level. INNO INDIGO was the successor project of New INDIGO (2009-2013) under which four Joint Calls for Proposals had already been implemented.
INNO INDIGO continued this work and successfully implemented the following four Joint Calls for Proposals under its INNO INDIGO Partnership Programme (IPP) in thematic areas of common interest for European and Indian funding agencies and ministries:
IPP1 - “Clean Water and Health” (2014)
IPP2 - “Diagnostics and interventions in chronic non-communicable diseases” (2015)
IPP3 - S&T Call “Biobased Energy” (2016)
- Innovation Call: “Bioeconomy” (2016)
Overall, 111 proposals were submitted under these calls. 25 research and innovation projects involving 70 research partners were funded with a total budget of approx.11,7 mio. Euros.
With the selected thematic areas for the Joint Calls for Proposals, INNO INDIGO was one of the main instruments for the implementation of the EU-India Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) in the fields of Energy, Water and Health.
INNO INDIGO had a stronger focus on innovation than its predecessor project and successfully translated the results of its analytical work on clusters, SMEs and regions/State Governments into a reshaping of the IPP funding mechanism. This resulted in two separate calls under IPP3 one for S&T and one for innovation. Specific concepts of innovation such as frugal innovation for affordable products were subject of workshops and analytical papers and ultimately integrated into the IPP. Further innovation activities were implemented under the INNO INDIGO Valorization Programme which trained projects previously funded under the New INDIGO Partnership Programme (NPP) and the first calls of the IPP to get their research closer to the market.
By establishing the Platform for Funders (PfF) which met on a regular basis, the network of funders was put on an institutionalized basis and strategies for the continuation of regular Joint Calls for Proposals after the lifetime of INNO INDIGO were developed and discussed. The PfF was able to attract a large number of new funding agencies interested to join the Joint Calls for Proposals under the IPP.
In addition to these core activities INNO INDIGO also aimed to put activities between India and Europe in other important areas on a more systematic basis: In a Joint EU-India PhD Workshop, former PhD students, coordinators and programme owners of bilateral Joint PhD programmes discussed barriers and best practices to draft a list of recommendations for the set-up of new bilateral EU-India PhD programmes. The participation of young researchers in projects funded under IPP calls was promoted and the INDIGO Young Scientist Competition which took place during the annual EU-India STI Cooperation Days were additional activities to promote an involvement of researchers in EU-India cooperation at an early stage of their career.
Another dimension for the creation of funding opportunities for Indian and European research was INNO INDIGO’s work on the opening of Thematic ERA Nets or Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) for participation from India.
With its various activities INNO INDIGO contributed greatly to the provision and further development of instruments for the implementation of Indo-European research and raising the understanding of the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) landscapes in the respective other region.
Project Context and Objectives:
(see attched report - as pdf)
Project Results:
(see attched report - as pdf)
Potential Impact:
(see attched report - as pdf)
List of Websites:
www.indigoprojects.eu