SLIM Inventor Forum a success

The Inventors' Forum held in February this year as an initial step to impart knowledge to the inventors on a number of areas by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM), the national body for marketeers in the country, was a tremendous success.

The areas covered in the forum such as, the need to identify markets for inventions and a study on the behaviour patterns and decision making process on the part of the buyers, pricing and creating value propositions, importance of packaging were hailed by the various groups such as inventors, potential students, business fraternity and parents of potential students who participated at the event.

The significance of patenting of the inventions and the legal implications on obtaining the patents were also discussed at the workshop before proceeding to the marketing aspects that are relevant to inventors. Participants were also given a training in negotiating skills with prospective buyers, one of the critical areas.

With new channels such as web sites and e-bay opening up in creating awareness for products, the participants were also made familiar with avenues to market their products.

Presentations at the forum were made by Lal Keerthi Amarasiri Gunawardhana - Managing Director Lucky Lanka Dairy Company and Amithe Gamage - Sales Manager -AMW.

Commenting on the Inventor's Forum, SLIM President, Thushara Perera said, "Lack of marketing skills and knowledge has affected the success of many new inventors and SLIM is confident of imparting useful knowledge, giving a helping hand to the inventors towards making their ventures successful. Venturing further into areas of marketing that is of importance to Sri Lankans today is one objective behind holding this forum."

SLIM and Sri Lanka Inventors' Association (SLIA) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to dedicate a special programme for the upliftment and promotion of local inventions.

Expressing his appreciation in SLIM taking the initiative in a project of this nature, SLIA Chairman, Deepal Sooriyaarachchi said that the signing of the MoU marked a new relationship between the national body of marketing and an organization that can contribute much towards the country's economic prosperity.

Encouraged by the success of the initial event, SLIM says they hope to host more forums for inventors in the future.