Wadhwani Foundation & Gates Foundation Sign MoU to Scale Translational Innovation Across India
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The partnership is focused on enabling translational research and entrepreneurial innovation in areas of high societal impact, including health, biotechnology, genomics, medtech, and other emerging sectors
The partnership is focused on enabling translational research and entrepreneurial innovation in areas of high societal impact, including health, biotechnology, genomics, medtech, and other emerging sectors
Wadhwani Foundation and the US-based Gates Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand the translational research network and strengthen India’s innovation ecosystem.
The partnership will be implemented through the National Innovation Network, building on the Wadhwani Innovation Network (WIN), an initiative aimed at helping academic research move from laboratories to market-ready solutions.
The partnership is intended to support this broader vision by strengthening translational innovation and commercialisation across institutions in India.
The partnership is focused on enabling translational research and entrepreneurial innovation in areas of high societal impact, including health, nutrition, biotechnology, genomics, medtech, and other emerging sectors.
Under the partnership agreement, the Gates Foundation will support five NIN Centres of Excellence (CoEs) over five years, beginning with two Centres this year.
The NIN CoEs are expected to support researchers in advancing innovations beyond laboratory-stage research (TRL-4+), enabling real-world deployment through proof-of-concept development, prototyping, validation, pilot deployments, IP and commercialization support, venture creation, and industry partnerships.
Speaking about the partnership, Archna Vyas, Director, India Country Office, Gates Foundation, said, Our collaboration with Wadhwani Foundation will help support the opportunity and possibility for these innovations by investing in translational pathways that can enable India’s research talent to move ideas from discovery to deployment. We see this as core to the Gates Foundation’s work in India: supporting Indian researchers and entrepreneurs to turn promising science into affordable, scalable solutions that translate into impact outcomes, for India and the Global South.”
Launched on April 29, 2025, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, WIN was established by the Wadhwani Foundation to bridge academia, industry, and funding partners, accelerating research-to-market pathways in India.
WIN now seeks to expand this model at a national scale. Since its launch, WIN has supported over 50 high-potential projects across healthtech, medtech, biotechnology, and quantum technologies, and established Centres of Excellence at leading institutions including IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad, Indian Institute of Science, and C-CAMP. Two inclunding upcoming Super Hubs include the Wadhwani School of AI & Intelligent Systems at IIT Kanpur and the Wadhwani Health & Bio Hub at IIT Bombay
NIN aims to establish more than 250 Centres of Excellence across India over the next three to five years through partner institutions. These centres will focus on translational research, researcher entrepreneurship, commercialization, and venture creation in priority sectors, through a shared operational and governance framework developed by the Wadhwani Foundation.
Speaking about the collaboration, Dr. Ajay Kela, CEO & Board Member, Wadhwani Foundation, said, “WIN has demonstrated that India’s innovation potential can be unlocked when researchers, institutions, industry, and capital come together with a shared mission. Through NIN, we now have the opportunity to democratize innovation across India and help position the country as a global leader in innovation, enabling more institutions, researchers, and entrepreneurs to translate breakthrough ideas into products, startups, and societal impact. We are delighted to collaborate with the Gates Foundation, a pioneer and leader in healthcare innovation, in advancing innovation-led solutions in areas critical to India’s future.”
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