ITI scientists win National and ITI award

A group of scientists comprising of Dr. G. A. S. Premakumara, P. Ranasinghe and H. P. P. S. Somasiri of the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) have won both the National award as well as the ITI award for their outstanding research on the "Development of a new treatment mixture to induce sap secretion from Kitul (Caryota urens) inflorescence.

Minister of Science and Technology Prof. Tissa Vitrarana, presented the National award in the category of "Production of raw material for industry" during the World Science day celebrations that was organised by the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka (NSF) on November 10 at the BMICH.

The previous day the group had bagged the Best Innovative Technology Award at the ITI 50th Anniversary award ceremony for the "Non-toxic new treatment mixture and method for Kitul tapping". This award too was presented by Prof. Tissa Vitarana.

The ITI award recognised an implemented and proven innovative technology with a competitive advantage, that balanced popularity with economics of delivery as well as provided significant benefits to the user. The development of this treatment was based on the traditional know-how acquired from the villagers, coupled with a scientific knowledge of the process, to bring about a 2-3-fold increase in sap yield, and a success rate of 80-90% in the tapping process.