Synopsis

The initiative marks a major shift from the earlier process of executing separate memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for each research proposal, which involved extensive legal vetting and multi-agency consultations. The move is aimed at enhancing procedural efficiency by reducing time required for initiating collaborative academic research, while promoting development of safer, more durable and cost-efficient National Highway infrastructure, the ministry of road transport and highways said on Tuesday.

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The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has developed a comprehensive framework to facilitate sharing of National Highway infrastructure and operations data with premier government research institutions.

The move is aimed at enhancing procedural efficiency by reducing time required for initiating collaborative academic research, while promoting development of safer, more durable and cost-efficient National Highway infrastructure, the ministry of road transport and highways said on Tuesday.

The initiative marks a major shift from the earlier process of executing separate memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for each research proposal, which involved extensive legal vetting and multi-agency consultations.

Under the revised framework, eligible requests from recognised government research institutions will be received and evaluated through a dedicated centralized mechanism within NHAI, enabling faster approvals and timely commencement of research activities.

Data will be shared with leading government institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and CSIR–Central Road Research Institute (CRRI).

According to the ministry, the approved research projects will initially be provided with a standard sample data block covering up to 2,000 km of National Highways to enable institutions to execute pilot projects, validate methodologies and demonstrate the applicability of research outcomes.

In addition, the framework incorporates robust safeguards to ensure data security and confidentiality as participating institutions will be required to execute a standard non-disclosure agreement (NDA), enabling institutions to use the results for their own research and academic purposes as well as prohibiting commercialization or disclosure of data to any third party.

“The confidentiality obligations will remain in force throughout the project duration and for three years thereafter,” it said.

Further, any Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), patents or copyrights arising from the research will be jointly owned by NHAI and the respective research institution.

The government feels this will support development of scientifically validated pavement deterioration models (PDMs) and advanced traffic flow analytics tailored to local conditions, traffic loading and operational conditions.

Following successful completion of pilot projects, validated models will be evaluated using full-scale datasets and proven solutions with significant operational value will be considered for wider implementation across the National Highway network through structured long-term collaborations under formal MoUs.