Program Guidelines
Eligibility
The applicant must:
- Hold a doctoral degree (PhD, DPhil, MD, DDS, DVM, etc.)
- At the time of application, hold a position as a Postdoctoral Researcher, Faculty, or Researcher/Scientist, with at least 50% full-time effort devoted to research, at an eligible institution within India
- Be resident in India or a person of Indian origin residing in India
- Receive pre-approval from their institution, in the form of an Eligibility Verification Form. See below for more details.
- Must not have received research funding from Tata Sons or its subsidiary companies in excess of INR 10 lakhs within the past four (4) calendar years (2023-2026).
Applicants may only submit one application per annual Prize cycle.
Eligible Institutions
Applicants must be employed by an eligible university, institute, or other research organization in India at the time of application. Eligible institutions may be found here.
Institutions not listed may contact tatatransformation@nyas.org to request inclusion on the list of eligible institutions.
Eligible Categories
The Tata Transformation Prize recognizes scientists and engineers developing technological innovations that address three challenges of national importance to India: Food Security, Sustainability, and Healthcare.
Applicants must propose technologies that address one of the three categories with a focus on digital and technological transformation: innovations that re-imagine traditional practices and business models, transform technological paradigms, improve public trust, and enable an open and connected world.
Innovation knows no bounds. Technologies that may address these challenges include, but are not limited to:
Food Security
Innovations that improve productivity and efficiency or reduce waste and resource-intensity, such as
- Supply chain management
- Crop sensing
- Genetic modification
- Crop management
- Climate change-resistant agriculture practices
- Food distribution
- Food processing
- Precision agriculture
- Soil health management
- Aquaculture
- Smart irrigation systems
Sustainability
Innovations that enable large-scale reduction, reuse, and recycling of resources or protection of the natural environment, such as:
- Clean energy technologies
- Battery and energy storage technologies
- Green chemistry
- Sustainable materials
- Circular economy technologies
- Environmentally friendly infrastructure
- Recycling and waste disposal technologies
- Climate change modeling and prediction
- Technologies to mitigate the impacts of climate change
- Ecology technology & technologies for conserving biodiversity
- Electric vehicles and other energy-efficient devices
- Technology solutions for water management
- Innovations to estimate, measure, and track emissions
Healthcare
Innovations that improve accessibility, affordability, accountability, and efficacy in healthcare, such as:
- Sensing and wearable technologies
- Telemedicine/telehealth
- Health informatics
- Electronic health records
- Bioprinting
- Augmented reality
- Robotics
- Personalized healthcare technologies
- Medical training strategies
- Biocomputation & bioinformatics
- Public/community health infrastructure
- Drug Development
- Precision Medicine
The eligible technologies listed under each Prize category above are not meant to be exhaustive. If applicants have a question regarding whether or not a particular innovation falls into these categories, please contact the Tata Transformation Prize team at tatatransformation@nyas.org.
Evaluation Criteria
Proposed innovations will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Quality: The extent to which the proposed innovation is coherent, credible, and supported by scientifically rigorous design and preliminary data.
- Vision: The extent to which the proposed innovation will 1) challenge existing paradigms or practices and/or pursue an original approach, and 2) generate measurable, lasting, and wide-scale changes that address national needs and societal changes for underserved populations in India.
- Feasibility: The extent to which the applicant 1) offers a realistic approach and implementation plan to achieve tangible, impactful results and 2) is well-positioned and capable of executing the proposed plan, and 3) the extent to which the proposed innovation is scalable in India.
Application Materials & Instructions
Application Form
Required information includes the applicant’s name, email address, phone number, title, position, department, terminal degree, institution, and laboratory location. Applicants must also provide the category of submission, application title, 2–3 keywords describing their research area and methodological approaches, and responses to several eligibility questions.
Curriculum Vitae
Applicants must use the 2026 CV template available for download here and precisely follow the included instructions. Remove all instructions and sample information before finalizing. Please save your CV as a pdf before uploading it to the application portal.
CV must include:
- Applicant name, current institution(s), and position title.
- Education and training: including undergraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral training, with names of previous research advisor(s)/mentor(s).
- Employment history and dates.
- Honors and awards: including granting organizations and years received.
- Peer-reviewed publications from entire research career.
- Include separate sections for primary research and reviews/commentaries.
- Use a citation format that includes the names of all authors, with applicant name in bold and the journal title underlined. Include citation ID if available.
- Do not include manuscripts submitted or in preparation.
- Conference abstracts and proceedings should only be included if they are the primary way of disseminating new results in the applicant’s field, such as in computer science and mathematics.
- Patents and patent applications: include patent title, patent number, 1-2 sentence synopsis and year submitted/approved
- Research Support:
- List funding for ongoing and completed projects on which the applicant is named as either Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-Investigator (co-PI).
- Include funding agency, name of funding mechanism, grant #, title of grant, and 2-3 sentence summary of the aims of the grant.
- Specify whether applicant is PI or co-PI and the total amount (direct cost) of the award. If there are multiple PIs, specify the amount (direct cost) awarded to applicant.
- Scientific leadership (e.g., any significant roles in the greater academic community). This includes major editorial responsibilities, service on external committees, conference organization, technology licensing (or company start-up), public outreach activities, and institutional administrative responsibilities (e.g., departmental or student committees).
- Invited talks and lectures. Include year and inviting organization/institution.
Project Abstract
Please provide a concise summary of your proposed innovation (maximum 250 words), written for a scientifically literate but non-specialist audience within your Prize category (e.g., sustainability, healthcare, food security).
Your abstract should serve as a clear, stand-alone overview of your proposal. In approximately 5-8 sentences, briefly address:
- The societal challenge your innovation seeks to address
- The core idea or approach underlying your innovation
- Key supporting evidence or proof of concept
- Milestones for Development and Implementation
- The anticipated impact of your innovation, particularly in the context of Indian society
Please avoid technical jargon where possible and define any essential terms.
Maximum: 250 words
Innovation Proposal
The Innovation Proposal should be accessible to a scientifically literate audience working within the overarching Prize category (e.g., sustainability, healthcare, food security), but not necessarily within your specific subfield.
Proposals must be no more than five pages (11-12 point font, 1-inch margins).
References and up to five (5) figures (with legends) should be included on additional pages.
The proposal should include the following four sections. Page lengths are provided as guidance, and do not need to be strictly followed; recommended word ranges are included to help ensure sufficient detail and clarity.
Strong applications combine scientific rigor with a clear path to implementation and real-world impact, while addressing each section thoroughly.
1. Background & Significance (~0.5–0.75 page | ~300–500 words)
Describe:
- The societal challenge and the critical barrier to scientific progress your innovation addresses
- The prior research that serves as key support for the proposed approach.
Provide sufficient context for a non-specialist within your Prize category. Please define any specialized terms or concepts.
2. Proof of Concept (~0.75–1 page | ~500–800 words)
Describe:
- The innovation (technology, discovery, or approach) and how it works
- Preliminary results or evidence supporting its feasibility and rigor
- Whether findings are published or unpublished, and your specific contributions as well as the roles of other researchers/research groups
- How your approach is distinct from existing solutions to the corresponding scientific and societal challenges
- If applicable, include a schematic or photo of your prototype as one of the five allowed figures
The status of any intellectual property related to the innovation (e.g., patents filed, granted, or in preparation), if applicable. While full details should be included in your CV, you are encouraged to briefly highlight relevant IP here as it relates to the development and readiness of the innovation.
3. Implementation Plan (~3 pages | ~1,500–2,500 words)
This is the core of the proposal and should provide a clear, detailed, and realistic plan for scaling and implementing your innovation.
Your plan should be written in full prose (not outline form) and include:
Approach and Key Steps
- How you will advance the innovation toward implementation and scale
Milestones and Timeline
- Specific goals and clear, measurable benchmarks over an approximately three-year period
Risks and Mitigation
- Key technical or practical challenges and alternative strategies
Resources and Feasibility
- Required resources (e.g., equipment, partnerships)
- Whether you currently have access, and if not, how and when access will be secured
- We encourage providing further details in optional Letters of Support (see below)
Provide sufficient detail for reviewers to evaluate feasibility and potential for real-world implementation. Submissions that provide only high-level outlines without adequate explanation may not be competitive.
4. Future Directions and Impact (~0.5 page | ~300–500 words)
Describe:
- How the innovation will progress beyond the proposed implementation period
- The anticipated impact of the technology, discovery, or innovation on your scientific field, Indian society, and beyond
Letters of Support
Applicants may also include Letters of Support to substantiate access to key resources that are needed for the success of the proposed work. The letter should clearly state the commitment of the letter writer to give the applicant access to the reagent, sample, instrumentation, or support to establish techniques described in the proposal. Letters of Support should be on letterhead, signed, combined into a single pdf, and uploaded into the application portal.
Letters of Reference
Applicants are required to nominate two (2) individuals to submit confidential letters of reference.
Applicants will be prompted to provide the names and email addresses of two letter writers during the submission of materials. Letters of reference will be electronically requested and submitted via the web portal to ensure confidentiality.
We encourage applicants to share the Instructions for Letters of Reference with letter writers at the time of request to ensure they have a clear understanding of the expected content. Applicants may download the 2026 Instructions for Letter Writers here.
We recommend that applicants petition letters from individuals who are recognized experts in their discipline/field and the societal challenges related to their proposed innovation. Letter writers should be intimately familiar with the applicant’s most significant research contributions and their impact on the applicant’s research field and beyond. Furthermore, we recommend that applicants share a summary of their innovation project with letter writers so that they can comment on the vision and potential of the project to generate wide-scale changes that address the needs of Indian society. They should also be able to describe how the applicant’s background and accomplishments prepare them to lead the implementation and scale-up of the project proposed.
Eligibility Verification Form
The applicant must receive verification of their eligibility from their institution in the form of a completed and signed Eligibility Verification Form. Completion of the form verifies that the applicant is employed by the institution in an eligible research role and has informed the institution of their intent to submit an application. The form must be signed by institutional leadership at the level of Department Head or higher. The signatory must be senior to the applicant.
Applicants and Institutional Leadership can download the 2026 Eligibility Verification Form here. Applicants will be asked to submit their completed, signed and stamped (with an institution stamp, if applicable) Eligibility Verification Form with the rest of their application materials in the submission portal.
Contact Us
Mamta Tahiliani, PhD
Program Manager, Awards
tatatransformation@nyas.org
+1 (212) 298-3742 (M–F, 9 AM – 5 PM ET)