India needs a new compact for government-owned labs

India has no shortage of scientific labs. What we do lack is the will — and the design — to make them work. Across the country’s universities and research institutions, advanced equipment worth crores are gathering dust. These are not outdated. They are simply forgotten — locked away by legacy systems that never imagined shared access, operator support, or accreditation pathways.

The irony is stark. As our young researchers scramble for access and start-ups burn capital at private labs, public investment lies idle. It’s a structural paralysis.

Each non-functional lab is more than a missed opportunity. It’s a block in the artery of national innovation. Instruments fall out of calibration, test results lack legal validity, and researchers lose precious time. MSMEs, often bootstrapped and resource-constrained, face a triple blow: Limited access, high costs, and questionable credibility of results. Many are forced to retest through international labs, bleeding time and money.

India’s ambition in medtech, clean energy, semiconductors, and AI hardware cannot afford this. These are sectors where time, compliance, and certification are everything. Without a trusted testing infrastructure, our science remains........

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