Key Details
The I-STEM initiative seeks to make existing scientific equipment easier to find and use while giving states a clearer view of the research infrastructure already available.
Nodal officers from 23 states and four Union Territories attended the first state-level coordination meeting on 21 September 2026.
I-STEM has more than 31,000 listed instruments, nearly 4,000 participating institutions and over 65,000 registered users.
Publicly funded scientific equipment costing more than ₹20 lakh is to be listed on the portal.
State nodal officers will support institutional registration, equipment listing, awareness, access and coordination.
State universities, colleges, laboratories and technical institutions can join as facility providers, users or both.
Researchers, start-ups, MSMEs and industry can use the portal to identify specialised facilities available outside their own institutions.
Other scientific-infrastructure portals, including CSIR’s ANALYTICS, are being connected to I-STEM through application programming interfaces, or APIs. PIB
States Become the Link Between Local Facilities and the National Platform
The Indian Science, Technology and Engineering Facilities Map (I-STEM) is a national portal for discovering and accessing scientific equipment across participating institutions. Conceived by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser and launched in 2020, it aims to widen access to costly research infrastructure largely funded by public resources.
The latest initiative adds a state-level coordination layer. Nodal officers will identify facilities under state governments, support institutional onboarding, resolve access issues and promote use among researchers and businesses.
This could particularly benefit state universities and smaller institutions that lack advanced testing, imaging, fabrication or analytical equipment.
Shared Access Could Reduce Duplicate Investment
Advanced scientific equipment is costly to acquire and maintain, while utilisation at individual institutions may be uneven. I-STEM allows researchers to locate and use existing capacity rather than replicate it.
The platform can also inform infrastructure planning by identifying existing facilities, regional or disciplinary gaps, equipment utilisation and potential duplication.
Its value therefore extends beyond equipment booking to evidence-based public investment, provided facility and utilisation data remain complete and current.
Connecting Existing Portals Can Simplify Discovery
CSIR’s ANALYTICS portal and similar systems are being connected to I-STEM through APIs, allowing researchers to discover facilities across platforms without institutions abandoning their existing systems.
This could reduce fragmented equipment directories and create a broader view of available research infrastructure.
Effective integration, however, requires compatible information on equipment specifications, availability, costs, booking conditions and turnaround times. Discovery is useful only if researchers can also determine whether and how a facility can be accessed.
Policy Relevance
Access must extend beyond listing: A larger inventory will be useful only if outside researchers can book equipment under clear rules, predictable timelines and transparent charges.
States can improve investment decisions: Reliable information on location, capacity and utilisation can help governments distinguish genuine infrastructure gaps from proposed purchases that duplicate nearby facilities.
Interoperability needs common standards: Connecting I-STEM with CSIR and other portals will require consistent equipment descriptions, identifiers and availability data.
The first nodal-officer meeting establishes a coordination channel, but the real measure of progress will be how many state facilities become accessible and how intensively researchers, start-ups and MSMEs use them.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: What common access, pricing and utilisation standards are needed to turn I-STEM from an equipment directory into a dependable national system for sharing public research infrastructure?
Follow the Full Release Here: Office of PSA Convenes First State Governments Nodal Officers Meeting for I-STEM