For the first time in the country, through the I-STEM portal academic users in India will now be able to access the COMSOL Multiphysics software suite at no cost. The Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map (I-STEM), the national web portal for sharing R&D facilities, and the COMSOL Group headquartered in Sweden, have entered a collaborative arrangement for this.
The suite is hosted on the cloud server to provide user friendly access from anywhere in India. The arrangement is expected to assist many students and researchers in the country, especially those in the more remote and less-endowed institutions, thereby enhancing learning outcomes and promoting R&D efforts across India.
I-STEM (www.istem.gov.in) is an initiative of Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Govt. of India under the PM-STIAC mission. The goal is to strengthen the R&D ecosystem by connecting researchers with resources, in part by promoting technologies and scientific equipment development indigenously and providing necessary supplies and supports to researchers and enable them to access existing R&D facilities through the I-STEM web portal. The portal hosts the database of facilities across India so that a researcher desirous of using any of them can search for the same and make a booking online for using it. Presently, the portal lists more than 25,000 pieces of equipment from 850 institutions across the country, and has more than 20,000 Indian researchers. The portal also features a Digital Catalogue of indigenously developed technologies and products,as well as host the platform for the various City Knowledge and Innovation Clusters, to enhance R&D collaboration and skill development across the country.
The COMSOL Multiphysics software suite(https://www.comsol.co.in/), developed by the COMSOL Group, is used worldwide as an indispensable tool for a variety of computer simulations for R&D as well as for learning and instruction. It is a general-purpose simulation software package for modelling designs, devices, and processes in all fields of engineering, manufacturing, and scientific research. In addition to using Multiphysics modelling for one’s own R&D projects, one can also turn the resulting models into applications for instruction, especially in classes for undergraduates and graduate students.
Dr Arabinda Mitra, Scientific Secretary, Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser launched the COMSOL Platform and the Library of Calibration Standards. A webinar on R&D services through I-STEM portal was also organized to create awareness.The webinar was addressed by Director, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and other leading researchers. The National Coordinatorof I-STEM, Dr. Sanjeev Shrivastava from IISc Bangalore highlighted the use and application of this software for variety of simulation and modelling studies that can be applied in any physical system.
Further details can be found at:https://www.istem.gov.in/istem-comsol
Recording of the national webinar is available at: https://youtu.be/8Kz5DD18x44
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DS/AKJ