📌 About the Event

This Request for Proposal (RFP) represents a major funding opportunity for Indian researchers and innovators to develop high-tech, low-cost medical diagnostics. Jointly supported by the Government of India (DBT/BIRAC) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the program targets “cost-disruptive” solutions for the country’s most pressing infectious diseases.

Below is a structured breakdown of the call, its technical requirements, and the financial categories.

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ℹ️ Key Details & Deadlines

• Call Opens: 12th May 2026
• Submission Deadline: 1st July 2026, 2:00 PM IST
• Focus: Breakthrough, high-risk, high-reward innovations in screening and diagnosis.
• Eligibility: Exclusive to Indian researchers/entities (Companies, LLPs, Academic Institutions, and NGOs).

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🎯 The “Grand Challenge”: Cost & Performance Targets

The defining metric of this RFP is the cost-disruptive nature of the solution:

• Target Price: Approximately ₹100 ($1 USD) per test.
• Target Format: Point-of-care (near the patient), minimal infrastructure, and “software-defined” or AI-enabled diagnostics.
• Pathway: Moving away from expensive, centralized lab tests toward “near-zero marginal cost” per person screened.

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🔬 Priority Disease Areas

1. Tuberculosis (TB)

Focus on non-sputum samples (breath, skin, etc.) and symptom-agnostic screening to find asymptomatic cases in the community.

2. Emerging Pathogens

Developing “reconfigurable” platforms that can quickly adapt to new viruses (like COVID-19 variants or new outbreaks) without needing a full redesign.

3. Syndromic Panels

Tools that can test for multiple diseases at once (e.g., Dengue, Malaria, Typhoid) from a single sample to avoid diagnostic delays in febrile illness.

4. Enteric Infections

Rapid, near-patient tests for Typhoid (Salmonella Typhi) and pediatric diarrhea, prioritizing the differentiation between bacterial and viral causes to prevent antibiotic misuse.

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💰 Funding Categories & TRL Levels

The program is split into two tracks based on the Technology Readiness Level (TRL):

Category	TRL Range	Max Budget	Duration	Focus
Exploratory	TRL 2 – 4	₹50 Lakh ($55k)	12 Months	Proving the concept and early lab data.
Solution	TRL 4+	₹2 Crore ($200k)	18 Months