Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC)
Programme is open for submission of proposals until October 31 2025 this year.
The Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) aims at improving the research ecosystem of India’s Higher Educational Institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian Institutions and the best institutions in the world from 28 selected nations, including Canada, to jointly solve problems of national and/or international significance.
The scheme facilitates productive academic cooperation in the areas such as joint research projects, exchange of faculty and students, and joint degree programs by supporting the following key components that can catalyze impactful research. These include:
- Visits and long-term stay of leading international faculty and researchers at Indian institutions for teaching and research
- Visits by Indian students to premier international laboratories for training and experimentation
- Joint development of niche courses, world-class books and monographs, translatable patents, demonstrable technologies, or action-oriented research outcomes and products
- Strengthening of bilateral cooperation through academic and research partnerships via workshops held in India
- Publication, dissemination and visibility through a high profile annual international conference in India, and
- Training of researchers and students
During India’s G20 Presidency, “Strengthening research and promoting innovation through richer collaboration in education and training” was one of the four priority areas under the Education Working Group. The Leaders Declaration has “Reaffirm our commitment to promote open, equitable and secure scientific collaboration and encourage mobility of students, scholars, researchers, and scientists across research and higher education institutions.” Digital transformation, AI and other critical and emerging technologies, sustainability and green transitions are some of the areas that have been prioritized under the G20 deliberations and the outcomes documents including the reports, since these are sectors which require the world to work together and come up with sustainable solutions.
It is therefore proposed that the third phase of research under SPARC may be focused on these areas and the research can be done bilaterally by identifying countries that specialize in specific fields, particularly champions in research areas that are oriented with the national priorities of our country. With this vision, some funds from SPARC have been earmarked for such focused research with countries like USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Taiwan etc. to make the SPARC program more impactful than having it spread across wide-ranging areas.
The format for the proposal submission is available at the link: https://www.sparc-bharat.net/login
For the third phase of SPARC, the Empowered Committee for Industry & International Collaborations (ECIIC) (at Annexure-I) has decided that proposals will be accepted on research areas relating to the focused research in certain specific areas to ensure alignment with national priorities for larger impact. In this regard, the ECIIC has identified twelve themes for collaborative funding under SPARC based on emergent relevance and priorities for the nation. These themes are as follows*:
i. Advanced Materials, Rare-earth & Critical Minerals
ii. Energy, Sustainability and Climate Change
iii. Agri & Food Technologies
iv. Semiconductors
v. Advanced Computing (Supercomputing, AI, Quantum Computing)
vi. Healthcare & MedTech
vii. Space and Defence
viii. Next-Gen Communications
ix. Disaster Management & Resilient Infrastructure
x. Blue Economy
xi. Smart Cities & Mobility
xii. Manufacturing & Industry
All SPARC projects will have a duration of 2 years from the date of sanction of the project.
The critical points related to project submission under the SPARC call are available at the link:
https://api.sparc-bharat.net/guidelines/SPARC-Approved-Guidelines-2025-07.pdf
You may also like to visit http://www.sparc.iitkgp.ac.in/ to get the latest updates on this programme.
For questions/queries, contact:
Ms. Anju Taneja at anjut@sici.org.in