SERB POWER Translation Grant

SERB launched SERB - POWER (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Exploratory Research) program in 2020 with an aim to mitigate gender disparity in science and engineering research funding in various S&T programs in Indian academic institutions and R&D laboratories. SERB - POWER is specially designed to provide structured effort toward enhanced diversity in research to ensure equal access and weighted opportunities for Indian women scientists engaged in research and development activities. Since its inception two calls have been made under SERB-POWER grant where large number of research proposals were received. Out of them SERB has offered 342 projects to the women PIs from both tier -I and tier -II institutions. SERB -POWER program has gained enormous popularity and being praised by the stakeholders.

In addition to grants and fellowships, SERB -POWER Translational verticals is envisaged to encourage women researchers to translate their innovative ideas, discoveries and inventions. This will catalyse the spirit of entrepreneurship among women researchers from tier I and tier II institutions. This program will challenge women scientists executing SERB grants, such as CRG, to establish an effective, functional and synergistic working collaboration with an industry partner to elevate their breakthrough results and technologies to TRL level 5 and beyond. It is implicit that PIs would have obtained necessary patents and IPR. It is expected that synergy with industrial partners will bring complementarity in knowledge and competence. In addition to operational and sustainability plans, it is desired that developed technologies will be vigorously pursued through a fast-track mechanism in institutional incubators to bring up prototypes and products, thereby enhancing the core objectives of SERB funding.

SERB- POWER TRANSLATION GRANT would be awarded to select women PIs who have clearly demonstrated translational potential of their research (patents, etc.) and have established contact with industrial partners for fast-track graduation to a prototype stage and beyond. PIs would have also identified technology incubators in their own institution or in the vicinity who could support their endeavors. It is envisaged that a well-defined strategy to augment research innovation, via technology incubators, will add value to the funding mechanisms supported by SERB.


The objective of SERB- POWER TRANSLATION GRANT is to build STI- enabled entrepreneurship competence in Indian women scientists.

  • Submissions under SERB- POWER TRANSLATION GRANT can be made only by women PIs who hold or applied for a patent/IP from SERB supported project ( SERB should be acknowledged with project number in the IP).
  • Male Co-PI is allowed in SERB POWER research grant project without any financial obligation.
  • PI should be Indian citizens. Foreign nationals (including OCI and NRI) are also eligible to apply provided they fulfil the eligibility criteria notified by SERB (SERB Funding Guidelines for foreign nationals dated 27th Oct 2016).
  • The applicant(s) must hold a regular academic/research position in a recognized academic institution or national laboratory or in any other recognized R&D institution in India with at least 4 years of service remaining.
  • Private Academic institutions with valid UGC / AICTE / PCI approval, Private R&D Institutions with valid DSIR-SIRO recognition and Voluntary and Non- Governmental Organizations registered under NITI-AAYOG Darpan portal are eligible to host a project.
  • The PI and Co-Investigator(s) should hold Ph.D. degree in Science, Mathematics, Engineering or M.D / M.S. / M.D.S. / M.V.Sc degree at the time of applying for grant.
  • The funding will be provided for a period of two years without no further extension.
  • The award will entail an unstructured budget up to 15 lakhs per year (without international travel), including overhead. An allocation of 3.75 Cr may be made for 2022-2023.
  • Up to 25 grants per year are proposed.
  • An applicant is eligible to apply only one proposal during a call (as a PI or Co-PI).
  • Any proposal technically rejected should not be resubmitted without any substantial revision to any schemes or programs of the SERB.
  • Not more than one project is allowed at any given time as a Principal Inventor under the program SERB- POWER TRANSLATION GRANT.
  • The Call for applications will be notified through the website "www.serbonline.in" and "www.serb.gov.in". The application form along with a proper research proposal highlighting the research work to be undertaken should be submitted online through the website "www.serbonline.in".
  • The proposals will be evaluated through a stringent peer-review processes by a suitable Programme Advisory Committee.
  • The selection will be based on the recommendations of Program Advisory Committee (PAC) constituted by the Board. If required, the applicants maybe called for discussion/ presentation.

Proposals submitted must be original in ideation and content. Plagiarism in any form will not be acceptable. All submitted proposals might be subjected to a third-party similarity check and proposals are liable to be rejected if found plagiarised. Any text taken verbatim from other source needs to be identified using quotation marks and proper reference. Applicants are requested to pre-check their proposals for plagiarism before uploading.

SERB has adopted Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) Policy to imbibe a culture of social commitment among SERB Grantees. The policy intends to effectively utilize scientific infrastructure and expertise of SERB grantees to benefit other S&T stakeholders especially the less-endowed researchers and the society. SSR activities need to be chosen after approval and depending on the activities chosen additional budget would be provided under separate head to carry out the chosen activities. SERB Grantees need to undertake the proposed SSR activities during their project period.

For successful online submission of the application the following points may be noted:

  • Applicant should first register into the online website.  click here to register.
  • After successful registration, user will be sent a confirmation mail on registered emaiID. User must click on the url provided in the mail to confirm registration.
  • After log-in, applicant(s) are required to fill all the mandatory fields in Profile Detail section under User Profile. which includes Bio-data, Photo, Institute Address etc.
  • Details of Patent, Publications in last 5 years, Projects, Research Collaboration, Academic Supervision of all investigators (PI and all Co-Inventor's) has to be provided.
  • Some of the details of your proposed work like Title (max 500 characters), Patent summary (max 3000 characters), Keywords (max 6), Translation Methodology (max 1500 characters), Expected output and outcome (max 1500 characters), Innovation (max 1000 characters), Gap area (max 1000 characters) and Advantage of Prototype/ Product to be developed (max 1000 characters) have to be entered at the time of proposal submission.
  • Other relevant information of the proposal has to be uploaded in single PDF file not more than 10 MB as other technical document (OTD). Download Template
  • Documents required (in PDF) should be in prescribed format:
    i. Biodata (under user profile section) Download Template
    ii. Certificate from -> Principal Investigator/Inventor Download Template
    iii. Endorsement Letter from the Head of Institution Download Template
    iv. Documents related to Technology Transfer from completed/ ongoing project
    v. Support Letter if there is any tie-up with any Start-up or Industry
  • Plagiarism undertaking Download Template
Contact Details
Member Secretary
Dr Monika Agarwal, Scientist 'F'
Tel: 011-26511046
Email: monika[at]serb[dot]gov[dot]in


Frequently Asked Questions:

Q1: Who is eligible for SERB POWER Translation Grant?

A1: -> Women Principal Investigators/Inventors (PIs) of ongoing SERB Projects and all extramural projects completed in the last three years, where PI holds or has applied a patent, with an acknowledgement to SERB support.

 

Q2: How often the grant will be sanctioned?

A2: Call for application would be made and grants would be sanctioned once in a year.

 

Q3: I am already implementing another SERB project. Am I eligible for SERB POWER Translation Grant?

A3: Yes. It can be concurrently held with other SERB projects.

 

Q4: I have applied for a number of patents. Can I submit multiple application?

A4: No. You can submit only one application at a time mentioning about the patent details having the best translational potential.

 

Q5: I have forgotten to acknowledge SERB in many of my publications and patent, but I have large number of publications from the project. Will I be considered for the grant?

A5: Only publications in which SERB grant is acknowledged will be considered as project output.

 

Q6: Will all the PIs who holds or applied for a patent receive grant under SERB POWER Translation Grant Scheme?

A6:No. The selection committee would choose the awardees based on potential of translation for applied or granted patent.

 

Q7: I have completed an CRG project 5 years ago and hold a patent with acknowledgement of SERB support. Will I be considered for the award?

A7: No. Only Women PIs of ongoing projects and all extramural projects completed in previous three financial years will be considered.

 

Q8: Whether a male Co-PI is allowed in SERB POWER Translation Grant project?

A8: Yes, male Co-PI is allowed in SERB POWER research grant project without any financial obligation.

 

Q9:Are Co-Investigators allowed in SERB POWER Translation Grant? If they are from different institutions, can the budget be provided separately to both the Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator(s)?

A9: The fund will go to PI only. Fund can be transferred to women Co-PI institutions by the PI and financial documents i.e. SE/UC of all the involved institution will be provided by the PI only.