Department of Science and Technology sets up centers housing major analytical instruments to increase access to research & testing facilities

New Delhi: Several centers are being set up by the Department of Science and Technology to house major analytical instruments to provide common services of high-end analytical testing, thus avoiding duplication and reduced dependency on foreign sources.

Three such centers set up at IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi and BHU Varanasi, are being operated with a transparent, open access policy. These centers initiated under the ‘Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHI)’ scheme of Department of Science and Technology, will address the need for building shared, professionally managed, and strong science and technology infrastructure in the country which is readily accessible to academia, start-ups, manufacturing, industry and R&D labs.

DST is planned to set up five SATHI Centers 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, e.g., industry, MSMEs, startups and state universities. This will also foster a strong culture of collaboration between institutions and across disciplines to take advantage of developments, innovations and expertise in diverse areas.

Besides SATHI initiative, support to 100 top-performing departments in universities, IITs and are being provided for augmentation of 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.