ANRF Catalytic Partnership Program is a highly selective funding scheme intended to catalyse the establishment of new, large-scale research and innovation institutions or centres through deep and sustained public-private partnerships. The program enables the development of new institutional platforms, such as world class research laboratories, venture-builder institutions, and collaborative research centres anchored with universities, national research laboratories, research parks or in partnerships with other Ministries, Departments and State Governments.

The program is designed to provide limited but high-leverage funding to enable research that would not otherwise materialise at the proposed scale without the involvement of ANRF.

ANRF’s support is intended to anchor, de-risk, and unlock substantial non-governmental investments and facilitate the creation of enduring institutional capabilities of national importance.

Objectives
The program seeks to:

• Create new and differentiated research and innovation institutions with long-term mandates and global ambition.
• Establish deep research partnerships between academic/​research institutions, private capital, regional or other support.
• Enable transformational research and translational outcomes at scale, including deep-tech innovation ecosystems.
• Promote financial self-sustainability.
• Enable structured pathways to take technologies from research stage to industry use.
• Build long-term talent through PhD training, postdoctoral opportunities, and industry-linked research exposure.

All proposals must be broadly aligned with the objectives and mandate of ANRF as a national apex research funding institution.

ANRF ​‘Catalytic’ Support
For the purpose of this program, ​‘catalytic’ support refers to ANRF’s role in enabling or accelerating the establishment of new institutional partnerships and research entities by:

• Enabling convergence of multiple public, private, and philanthropic partners into a single institutional platform.
• Anchoring governance frameworks that enhance credibility and investor confidence to participate in national research ecosystems.
• Supporting early stage institutional stabilisation and capacity building.

The burden of evidence shall rest on the applicant institution to demonstrate that ANRF’s involvement is essential and catalytic to the proposed partnership.

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