Social Innovation Programme for Products: Affordable & Relevant to Societal Health

SPARSH supports social innovation in biotech/healthcare through fellowships and product development support. Implementation sources show fellowship support plus kickstart grants for social innovation. SPARSH funds projects on a matching-grant basis: BIRAC funds roughly half the sanctioned project cost and the applicant/host institution funds the other half, with idea-to-PoC projects eligible for up to 18 months of support and PoC-to-validation projects eligible for up to 24 months, both capped around ₹50 lakh. A distinct component, the Social Innovation Immersion Programme (SIIP), builds a cohort of "SIIP Fellows" who are trained to identify affordable-healthcare gaps before applying for the kickstart grant, which differentiates SPARSH from BIRAC's other biotech-focused funds like SEED or LEAP.