The ‘Restart Sri Lanka Inventor Linkage Programme’ was held recently at Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo from 9 am to 5pm.
Participating in a TV talk show yesterday Minister of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation, Bandula Gunawardane said that the exhibition was open for foreign ambassadors, local investors and media organizations to showcase these ideas for commercialization. The participation of about 125 inventors were expected for the event.
The innovations showcased are mainly based on solutions for issues arose by the COVID 19 situation in diversified fields.
“If this linkage program succeeds we are hoping to bring this to an international level by inviting foreign investors and organizing an exhibition in grand scale in the future which would open up more opportunities to young inventors in our country,” he said.
He further said that these kind of events encourages youth, students and other individuals to bring up more creative ideas to solve issues thus allowing them to escape from the more examination oriented education of the country and bring out their hidden talents and creative ideas to light.
Commissioner, Sri Lanka Inventors Commission (SLIC), Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation, Professor Rangika Halwatura said that with the changes made to the educational system of the country in the recent past and the unlimited time students, youth and other individuals got during lockdown paved the way for the creation of these ideas.
Not only individual creations but also innovations from National Engineering Research and Development Center and the Industrial Technology Institute are also demonstrated in this program. “We have an idea to create a label ‘Made and Designed in Sri Lanka’. Thus participation of local investors is encouraged for this who are facing manufacturing related issues at present,” he said.
Halwatura also said that this is not only limited to local investors but participation of entrepreneurs and media companies are highly encouraged.
Monetary donations are also been given to about 50 inventors to build their initial prototypes by the SLIC.
About 350 plus innovations are collected in the commission and about 250 innovations are proposed for this program which is 100% meant as solutions for the COVID 19 crisis.
Moreover, they have identified about 37 new business ideas which can be developed. Special consideration is given to convert an investor to an entrepreneur and programs funded by the ministry are planned to be conducted.
However he said that many investors fail to comply with the process followed by the SLIC and Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation in presenting and promoting their innovations. He requested all inventors to come to the SLIC and get the necessary guidance from them.
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