Page 12 - COVID Newsletter 11 June

SERB and TDB jointly announce special call on critical components
and innovations in oxygen concentrators
Considering emerging healthcare requirements to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, SERB announces special call to catalyse R&D on critical components and innovations concerning Make-in-India oxygen concentrators.
The call seeks investigation and innovation in the development of (individual/portable) oxygen concentrators in the domains of alternate materials and mechanisms for oxygen separation; design, development, and manufacturing of critical components such as valves and oil-less compressors; design improvements for greater performance; AI-optimized oxygen flow devices and oxygen-level IoT sensors; etc.
Scientist in regular service from educational and research institutes/laboratories, universities, and medical institutions, start-ups, and industries can submit a proposal. The scientists
from industries should align with investigators from academic/research institutions
as co-investigators. Funding for industry partner(s), with respect to R&D leading to commercialization, will be forwarded to TDB, DST, for their consideration.
Deadline: 15th June 2021
Proposals should be submitted in the prescribed format through SERB online portal:
https://www.serbonline.in/SERB/HomePage
Website link:
http://serb.gov.in/pdfs/what-new/Call%20announcement-O2%20Concentrators. pdf
Joint projects under UK-INDIA COVID-19 Partnership Initiative for better understanding of COVID-19 severity in South Asian population of India and the UK
UK Research and Innovation and Department of Biotechnology and Ministry of Science and Technology have joined forces to support four collaborative bilateral research partnerships worth £5 million, aimed at providing deeper understanding of COVID-19 severity in South Asian populations located in India and the UK. Projects will be funded in partnership between DBT and UKRI’s Fund for International Collaboration.
Through the UK-India COVID-19 Partnership Initiative, DBT and UKRI will support world- leading UK-India research teams. The successful projects aim to understand the pandemic through the study of related ethnic groups in different environments in both countries. These projects have the potential to deliver public health impacts in mitigating the severity of COVID-19 in both the UK and India.
Deadline: 5th May 2022
Website link:
http://dbtindia.gov.in/latest-announcement/announcement-joint-projects-under- uk-india-covid-19-partnership-initiative
Press release on the UK-India C-19 call 4May2021.pdf (dbtindia.gov.in):
http://dbtindia.gov.in/sites/default/files/Press%20release%20on%20the%20UK- India%20C-19%20call%204May2021.pdf
VOL. IV ISSUE 4
VIGYAN PRASAR 8
NATION’S S&T EFFORTS AGAINST COVID-19