The government is set to launch the “one district, one equipment” programme on Friday with an aim to ensure access to scientific equipment across the country, officials said on Thursday.
The programme, being launched as part of celebrations for the National Science Day, will be unveiled under the I-STEM (Indian Science, Technology, and Engineering facilities Map) initiative by the officials from the office of Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the government of India.
The program will connect researchers, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and industries with academic institutions registered on the I-STEM portal that house labs and equipment across various sectors, the office PSA said in a statement.
This equipment can then be rented by startups, entrepreneurs, industry professionals, and researchers under the programme, it said.
“This will save the researchers, industry, and start-ups the prohibitive capital expenditure of purchasing advanced equipment. At the National level, this prevents the duplication of scarce resources in the research institutions,” the statement said.
According to I-STEM data, lab equipment worth over ₹1,500 crore in listed scientific and educational institutions across 167 of 192 districts remains underutilized. The I-STEM network has 27,730 “users” such as researchers, industry and start-ups, alongside 2,350 research and academic institutes across India that lend their labs and equipment to the users.
Dr Harilal Bhaskar, chief operating officer and national coordinator of I-STEM, said, “I-STEM proposes that academic institutions across the country be mandated to allocate at least 30% of their total lab time for external users, including startups, industries, and rural innovators. I-STEM can facilitate this initiative through its portal, which both Industry and academic institutions can use.”
The theme for this year’s National Science Day is “Empowering Indian youth for global leadership in science and innovation for viksit bharat”.
The theme will focus on encouraging young minds, recognizing groundbreaking contributions, and celebrating India’s scientific achievements.