National portal to share research facilities soon
Context
Easy access to expensive equipment
What has happened?
The portal — Indian Science, Technology and Engineering Facilities Map (I-STEM) — will soon become operational. The government green signaled the project last month
Online reservation system
The institutions and organizations that have the equipment and facilities will provide access to researchers for both academic and non-academic work through an online reservation system.
Many benefits
- It will provide access to researchers to any equipment or facility that has been procured using public funds, the equipment will be better utilized and it will avoid duplication of expensive equipment as much as possible
- Sharing expensive equipment can bring down the cost of doing research in India
