The University of Moratuwa is shifting gears in innovation and commercialization through the University Business Linkage Center (UBLC). With the guidance of Vice Chancellor Prof. Kapila Perera, the UBLC is presently directed by Prof. Rohan Munasinghe. The UBLC was initiated with a University Grants Commission Circular, while it is funded by the World Bank for a few years through the AHEAD (Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development) project.
The UBLC Operations Committee (photo) will look to help commercialize projects that have been evaluated to have a potential for commercialization. The Projects that are selected to be commercially viable, would be provided with incubator facilities to run their business startups for a few years. The Center has a Patent and Technology Transfer Office (PTTO) and a Startup Incubator. PTTO would help with patenting and licensing of innovations, for which a leading Law Firm of Sri Lanka, has already pledged their support. The startup incubator would foster startups by providing various supports startups need such as secretarial, taxation, market research, business modeling, human resource management and audit services, which is expected to elevate the success rate of local startup companies.
Industry experts Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe (Managing Director - Lanka Bell), Fayaz Hudah (Co-founder - Spiralation) and Talal Rafi (Entrepreneurship Specialist - USAID Project YouLead), provide the Operations Committee the insights from the perspective of the industry.
UBLC is in fact an All-in-One ecosystem for commercialization of research outcomes. As expected, UBLC would start delivering high value patents and innovative products out of the University on a regular basis , which would lead to establish high-tech companies and employment opportunities. The innovation commercialization process once integrated to the system, would have a lasting effect on wealth creation and national development.
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