📋 Tender Overview
Women in Engineering Science and Technology WEST a new I-STEM Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map initiative called Women in Engineering Science and Technology WEST was launched by Dr. Parvinder Maini Scientific Secretary Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser PSA to the Government of India on 5th September 2022. The WEST programme will cater to women with a STEM background and empower them to contribute to the science technology and innovation ecosystem. I-STEM is a national web portal for sharing research equipmentfacilities and is the umbrella under which many programmes for promoting collaborations in RD and technological innovation among and between academia and industry especially startups are underway.Through the WEST initiative I-STEM shall provide a separate platform to scientifically inclined women researchers scientists and technologists for pursuing research in basic or applied sciences in frontier areas of science and engineering. Women may join the WEST program and explore opportunities to become stakeholders in various domains and pursue careers in RD at various levels technicians technologists scientists and entrepreneurs. Opportunities range from operating scientific equipment and maintaining them to designing and manufacturing them.The Skill Development programmes under the WEST initiative will provide training for women with ST backgrounds to brush up on their abilities and become engaged in the field as lab technicians and maintenance engineers filling crucial gaps in the RD infrastructure of the country. This initiative will also help bring women back into ST domains after a career break.With this experience women can become entrepreneurs to serve as consultants for the operation and maintenance of sophisticated equipmentinstruments through the I-STEM platform. This would go a long way towards filling a skills gap and putting publicly-funded equipment to good use.Under the WEST initiative the current support being provided to ST startups by women entrepreneurs by I-STEM will be enhanced. The access to RD facilities and RD software platforms COMSOL MATLAB LABVIEW AUTOCAD available through the I-STEM portal will form a strong support network for women entrepreneurs in ST.I-STEM shall provide a platformforum for women researchers to deliberate on achievements issues and exchange ideas on taking the country forward through advances in science technology and innovation. In addition a digital consortium Connect Quickly for online discussion and immediate support has also been established through the I-STEM WhatsApp and Telegram platforms.A dedicated team of women will ensure the successful implementation of the WEST initiative.In her address on the occasion of the launch Dr. Maini appreciated the WEST initiative taken by I-STEM and called upon women in ST to take advantage of it. She advised I-STEM to monitor the impact of the initiative by obtaining feedback and putting steps in place to increase the wider participation of women in WEST and I-STEM.Dr. Vartika Shukla CMD Engineers India Ltd. Dr. Sunita Mishra Senior Principal Scientist Central Scientific Instruments Organization CSIO CSIR and Dr. Sangeeta Semwal Scientist Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology MeitY Govt. of India also congratulated the team on the launch of the platform and called for more participation of women on I-STEM. The programme was attended by participants across the country.
