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With the number of institutions of higher education in the country growing rapidly, there has been a concomitant increase in the numbers of academics and other professionals engaged in research and development. They need adequate and upto-date facilities - or access to such facilities - to engage in meaningful R&D efforts. Though various agencies of the Government fund the acquisition of equipment and establishment of laboratories, it is the efficient utilization of such facilities that enables high productivity in R&D. Towards this goal, I-STEM is a novel, thoughtful, and greatly empowering concept, as it aims to provide all aspiring and qualified researchers access to public-funded facilities in the country in a transparent and convenient manner through a WebPortal. ln addition to hosting a database of facilities in all parts of the country, the Portal is expected to become the gateway through which reservations to use equipment can be made in a manner convenient to the user and the custodian of a given facility. ln addition, it will become possible for users to consult experts in various fields to be empanelled. I hope and expect that the I-STEM project and Portal will enable researchers everywhere in the country to explore their unique ideas, secure in the assurance that they can gain access to the required facilities through I-STEM. I expect that this unique initiative will spread the spirit of collaboration and cooperation among the R&D community in the country, taking us further along the road to innovation, prosperity, and wellbeing.
It has been felt for some time that facilities in our academic institutions and national labs, acquired or established through government funding, should be made available to a wider community through a web portal. We have experience in this context with large facilities like the Synchrotron radiation sources, Indus-1 and Indus-2 at RRCAT and the nanoelectronics centres in IISc Bangalore and IIT Bombay. The CeNSE Bangalore also has experience in creating a regional portal for advanced facilities and is best equipped to establish the Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map (I-STEM), which will provide details of equipment/facilities, which could be used by students, researchers and other legitimate users through an on-line reservation system. This web-based portal will need to be constantly updated. I am sure that I-STEM will be a great success and will be widely used.
It seems only appropriate that CeNSE, which emerged from an earlier initiative of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, is now being accorded the privilege of being the host to the I-STEM Web Portal. Our Centre was conceived and established as a national resource, and its facilities have been formally open for use by academic researchers from around the country through the Indian Nanoelectronics Users Program (INUP), supported strongly by MeitY, Govt. of India. In its tenth year now, INUP has been a great success. Under INUP, hundreds of researchers have received hands-on training in CeNSE facilities, in which they have carried out sophisticated research projects that have resulted in PhD theses, publications in international journals and conferences, and numerous patent filings. Through I-STEM, the INUP is now being infused into publicly-funded facilities everywhere in the country. We are confident that the sharing of facilities and the spirit of collaboration underlying I-STEM will enhance R&D productivity in the country.