The DAE has always encouraged collaborations at the national level and provided funding for research in tune with its mandate through its funding agencies. Funding agencies have insisted on a collaborative approach wherein every project has a principal collaborator from within the DAE in addition to principal investigator. With the setting up of the HBNI, collaborations with academic institutes have been further strengthened by signing formal agreements of cooperation between the HBNI and institutes and universities. The HBNI has entered into formal Memorandum of Understanding with the following Institute/Universities.

	Institutes
1	Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
2	Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
3	Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
4	Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
5	Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
6	Indian Institute of Technology, Indore
7	Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
8	Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai
9	Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai
10	Jadavpur University, Kolkata
11	Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
12	Punjab University, Chandigarh
13	Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
14	University of Calicut, Calicut
15	The Commissariat a I'energie atomique et aux energies alternatives, France
16	Ghent University, Belgium
17	Defence Institute of Advance Technology, Girinagar Pune