CFPs: Furturistic Marine Research for Fostering High Performance Biomanufacturing under BioE3 policy

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, and its public sector enterprise, the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), are jointly steering India’s BioE3 policy vision to build a high‑performance, sustainable biomanufacturing economy. DBT drives national biotechnology strategy, funds frontier science, and forges academia–industry partnerships. BIRAC operationalises that vision by de‑risking innovation, providing catalytic funding across Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), and creating enabling policies, IP frameworks, and incubation/acceleration support for start-ups, SMEs, and consortia. Together, DBT–BIRAC are now focusing on futuristic marine research to unlock India’s vast oceanic resources and space for food, energy, chemicals, materials, and climate solutions, thereby easing pressure on terrestrial ecosystems. The present call intends to stitch discovery science to scalable biomanufacturing, promote integrated networks, and close the notorious “valley of death” between proof‑of‑concept and market-ready solutions. Emphasis is on seaweed/algal biotechnology, ocean farming, green processing, novel enzymes, and aquatic animal health bioproducts, aligned with national priorities on circular bioeconomy, decarbonisation, and blue economy growth.

DBT and BIRAC invite proposals under “Futuristic Marine Research for Fostering High Performance Biomanufacturing” to create an ocean-centric biomanufacturing ecosystem. The call has two categories. Category 1: Discovery & Application‑Oriented Integrated Network Research (TRL 3–5) seeks cutting‑edge science with clear translation pathways. Focus areas include: seaweed cultivation R&D (breeding for yield, disease and climate tolerance, genome-assisted strain improvement, germplasm/seed banks, land-based cultivation), microbiome exploration for commercial use, integrated multi‑trophic aquaculture, recombinant thermo/halostable enzymes for algal biomass conversion, scalable offshore/onshore farming methods, and value‑added products from micro/macroalgae (biofuels, animal feed supplements for health/methane reduction, agri‑inputs/fertilisers, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, biodegradable plastics, etc.). Category 2: Bridging the Gaps for Scale‑Up targets proof‑of‑concept to early/late validation and pre‑commercialisation. Themes include: ocean farming technologies (in‑situ sensors for crop health/farm integrity, depth cycling to harness deep‑sea nutrients, energy‑efficient on‑site dewatering), green processes for industrial polysaccharides (agar/agarose, alginates, carrageenan), nutraceuticals/cosmeceuticals/therapeutics/pigments/food additives/plant growth products, bio‑crude/microbial oil/biofuels, and biomanufacturing of aquatic animal health products (probiotics, immunostimulants/modulators, bio‑augmenters). Multi‑institutional, interdisciplinary consortia are encouraged.