Government will promote and protect new innovations
 - Minister Vitharana

by Ramani Kangaraarachchi

The Government will take action to recognise and reward innovation to develop technology in order to develop the country's economy.

Minister of Science and Technology Prof. Tissa Vitharana addressing the award ceremony of Innovation UOM 2005 organised by the University of Moratuwa at the BMICH last Sunday said that the countries innovations have gone unrecognised due to various shortcomings of the award systems which should be rectified as soon as possible and he would take one step further to give due recognition to those innovations at the highest level in the country.

He said that the Finance Minister has agreed to increase the allocation by one per cent from the next budget.

Appreciating the quality potential of university students, Vitharana said that this potential should flower to develop industry as 95 per cent of recent innovations in rich countries have ended up in technology.

He said that Sri Lanka is also viable to generate modern technology and urged the students and the staff to go from innovation to pilot projects as the government will bring a mechanism to commercialise such projects before long.

Vice Chancellor Prof. Dayantha Wijesekara said that three business meetings held during the exhibition with a wide cross section of public and private sector was very successful and it is up to them to approach the right person. He said that the university will get patent rights for the applicants while protecting intellectual property of the students.

Dean of the University Prof Ananda Jayawardena pointed out that technology is a very expensive item that one could sell and the university of Moratuwa is the best employable technical university which could bring much needed foreign currency to the country.

Deputy Commissioner Inventor's Commission who was a member of the panel of judges to select best innovations, Nandadasa Narayana said that it was an extremely difficult task for the panel as the student's capability and capacity was commendable. He said that most of those innovations could be commercialised with value addition.

The best five innovations were awarded certificates and cash prices sponsored by the National Science Foundation.