Grassroot innovators need Government support
Ramani Kangaraarachchi
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Prof. Anil K. Gupta
Picture by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa
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"The innovation movement emerging in Sri Lanka needs a lot of support
and Sri Lankan leaders must volunteer to develop Grass Roots Innovation
(GRI) and bring up to dollar market level," Deputy Head of Society for
Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technology and Institution (SRIST)
of India Anil K. Gupta said.
He said Sri Lanka has a lot of creative people some of whom have
developed themselves but it is necessary to have a mechanism through a
value chain system which could bring innovator, investor and
entrepreneur together so that the innovators do not have to go from
pillar to post at a workshop on GRI organised by the National
Engineering Research and Development Centre of Sri Lanka held at
Galadari Hotel in Colombo last week.
He recommended setting up of a Sri Lanka Foundation of Innovators or
a National Innovators register to discover and develop them.
Referring to his longstanding experience in India, Prof. Gupta said
India took 20 years to get convinced about the importance of the
development of grass roots innovators but now their innovations are
available in many continents in the world bringing foreign exchange for
the country.
He said most of the GRIs are school drop outs but they will get into
the fast track provided with a relevant technical programme.
It has social leadership and community development implications and
many societies in the Asia Pacific Region has realized the value of GRIs.
Prof. Gupta said in 2000 the Indian Government invested five million
US dollars for GRI and now it invests three to four million USD
annually. He said the private sector will never be interested in
developing GRIs.
The Government must take that risk. Minister of Science and
Technology Prof. Tissa Vitharana is very enthusiastic in this area, he
said.
A number of university lecturers, volunteers, NERD officials and NGOs
participated at this workshop which was funded by the Government of
India under APCTT facilitating the sharing of ideas and best practices
in harnessing GRIs so that member countries can develop approaches to
increase the flow through their "National Innovation Funnels.
The current phase of the project focuses on scouting, documentation,
data base and development and dissemination of GRIs.
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