The Union government is looking to establish 20 technology and research and development infrastructure centres that will be shared among academicians, labs, startups, and industries.
These centres—Sophisticated Analytical and Technical Help Institutes (SATHI)—will be professionally managed and will have “strong science and technology infrastructure”, financially supported by the department of science. They are most likely to be housed in top tech and engineering schools such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
Three such centres set up at IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Delhi and BHU Varanasi, are being operated with a transparent, open-access policy, according to the Union government. DST will establish five such centres every year for the next four years.
“SATHI will address the problems of accessibility, maintenance, redundancy and duplication of expensive equipment in our Institutions, while reaching out to the less endowed organizations in need, such as industry, MSMEs, startups and state universities,” the Union government said.
This will also foster a strong culture of collaboration among higher educational institutions across disciplines to take advantage of developments, innovations and expertise in diverse areas.
Under the same initiative, the government will separately support to 100 top-performing departments in universities and IITs. Authorities believe, this will augment their research facilities to global benchmarks.
“The research profile of the supported departments are being aligned with the national priorities of excellence in manufacturing, waste processing, clean energy and water, Start-up India, and so on,” it added.
Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.