The collaboration is launched under the C-CAMP Agri CoE programme supported by the Govt of
Karnataka’s Department of IT, BT & S&T and Department of Agriculture (KSDA). The agreement
fosters early-stage startups and entrepreneurs through knowledge sharing, mentoring, pilot
deployment, and strategic engagement with an aim to promote innovation and enterprises
aligning with sustainability, food security, climate resilience and crop productivity goals of both
partners.

The agreement was signed yesterday at C-CAMP premises by C-CAMP Director-CEO, Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed and Dr. Anik Luke Dhanaraj, Bayer Science Fellow, Principal CI Analyst, SCIPI LifeHub, Bayer Science and Innovation Private Limited.

Remarking at the MoU signing ceremony, Dr. Saiyed said, “C-CAMP Agri CoE launched in 2019 has promoted 100+ deep-science and deep tech-based solutions over the years. These innovations can potentially transform Indian agriculture and redefine how we view sustainability in agri. We are going beyond farming practice changes to commercial viability, scalability and mass-scale adoption of tech.

With this partnership with Bayer, a global leader in agriculture and life sciences sector, we aim to increase industry engagement and participation in the innovation and go-to-market process in the complex Agri ecosystem.” Sharing his thoughts on the initiative, Dr. Dhanaraj said, “Bayer’s LifeHubs strive to leverage open innovation from the ecosystem to develop solutions for farmers across the globe. Bayer’s LifeHub in Bangalore is looking forward to working closely with C-CAMP to address some of the challenges faced by smallholder farmers in India and beyond. We are also looking forward to partner with C-CAMP to run events to promote science and innovation and foster collaborations in agriculture”

The primary objectives of the MoU include startup identification, mentorship and handholding support, deployments or pilots with Bayer’s deep R&D facilities, market access support and co- development partnerships for mutually selected technologies. MoU also lays down a framework to explore potential investment or commercial partnerships such as licenses or technology transfers to enable and facilitate idea-to-product journey of emerging agricultural technologies.