India, Sept. 9 -- 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 These are not outdated.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 unverified, and our industry stays second in line. We must stop treating labs as departmental property and start treating them as national infrastructure. The Accreditation Catalyst Model (ACM) represents a bold shift, introducing two operational pathways aimed at revitalising dormant, underutilised infrastructure and repurposing it for certified, public-facing use. One model can be district hubs for shared scientific access, where equipment from institutes in a district are pooled, repaired, and hosted at a central hub - staffed with trained personnel and operated under NABL or ISO accreditation. These hubs can offer affordable Testing-as-a-Service (TaaS) to MSMEs, start-ups, and academia. Another model is reviving labs in situ. Instruments stay within their original institutions but are restored through repairs, maintenance contracts, and trained operator deployment. Access is offered to industry through structured agreements. This model suits niche or location-bound instruments. Both models promote transparency, certified testing, and broader access. Crucially, they embed governance mechanisms to prevent misuse and ensure continual operation. The private sector must stop seeing scientific infrastructure as someone else's problem. Through the ACM, companies can become co-investors in operational revival - contributing to repairs, salaries, and management. In return, they can receive guaranteed access slots, data rights for compliance and intellectual property, and testing credibility. Governance is overseen by a Joint Equipment Management Board (JEMB), comprising institute heads, industry partners, and accreditation experts. Monthly dashboards, audit trails, and accountability metrics ensure transparency. This is not privatisation. It is intelligent co-ownership - built on mutual benefit, not bureaucratic control. India's global position is rapidly aligning with its scientific capabilities. But credibility cannot be claimed - it must be demonstrated. Under the ACM framework, test results will carry legal and scientific weight and MSMEs can access high-end testing without building their own labs. Institutions in Tier II and Tier III cities will become integral parts of India's innovation grid. This is a governance fix. We don't need new buildings - we need new operating models rooted in accreditation, access, and accountability. With modest funding, India can kick off a focused 100-day pilot under the ACM by having 30+ dormant instruments repaired and certified. TaaS offerings can be rolled out for start-ups and MSMEs. NABL accreditation will be initiated for revived facilities even as real-time dashboards are deployed for performance tracking. Within two years, such a pilot can become self-sustaining - financed by testing revenues and industry co-funding. More importantly, it becomes the blueprint for nationwide replication. The potential gain is huge. If scaled, over 500 idle instruments could return to productive use and 100+ catalyst centres could emerge across districts. Certified testing services of up to Rs.500 crore could be unlocked annually - a new revenue stream for regional institutions to cover maintenance, operator salaries, and certification costs. This is about democratising science. By making certified testing infrastructure accessible nationwide, we remove postcode privilege from innovation. The Accreditation Catalyst Model reawakens scientific sovereignty. It is not a plan for dependence on State grants or donor largesse. It is a disciplined model for shared governance, measurable outcomes, and public value. Let us not allow another microscope to turn to rust. Let us instead turn it into a window - into India's scientific future....