German Indian Academic Network for Tomorrow (SPARC - GIANT) 2025-2026

The DAAD invites proposals for the German Indian Academic Network for Tomorrow (SPARC – GIANT).

This program aims to strengthen and intensify cooperation between German and Indian higher education and research institutions, fostering academic mobility, promoting joint research and deepening academic collaboration. The programme is funded from the Ministry of Federal Foreign Office (AA), Germany and is co-financed by the Indian Ministry of Education, Government of India under the Scheme for Promotion Academic Research & Collaboration (SPARC) coordinated by IIT Kharagpur

The program is open to all disciplines. Applicants may want to focus on the following areas:

• Energy, Sustainability and Climate
• Smart Cities & Mobility
• Semiconductors and New Materials
• Healthcare and MedTech
• Supercomputing, AI, Quantum Computing
• Advanced Manufacturing & Industry 4.0
  

Target Applicants:

In Germany: All government recognised institutions of higher education

In India: All Indian institutions ranked in the overall top 100 or category-wise top 100 in NIRF ranking, all central universities and institutes of national importance

Application:

The German side needs to submit their application via the DAAD portal (www.mydaad.de)

The Indian side needs to submit the application to the SPARC portal coordinated by IIT Kharagpur (Details and announcement)

Application deadline: 11 February 2025

The funding period begins on 1 April 2025 at the earliest and ends on 31 March 2026 at the latest

Details (in German): https://www.daad.de/de/infos-services-fuer-hochschulen/programme-der-projektfoerderung/detail/giant/?pfp-id=57773843