Lack of recognition for innovation in Sri Lanka
While innovation appears to be one of the core strengths of some young graduates who pass out from national universities in Sri Lanka, there is lack of recognition for innovation by the industry experts and corporate heads. Sri Lanka ranks 90 out of 130 nations worldwide in terms of innovation, according to the global innovation index report of 2017.
Last week the Centre for Biomedical Innovation (CEBI) at the University of Moratuwa (UoM) organised an ‘innovation day’ at the Institute of Engineers auditorium in Colombo. Biomedical industry experts from diverse institutions were present among the audience.
UoM Department of Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering, Senior Biomedical Engineering lecturer, Dr. Pujitha Silva on the sidelines of the event, told the Business Times that countries in the world are revolving around an innovation economy, and this should happen in Sri Lanka too. The need for recognition of innovation is clearly not seen in the Sri Lankan context as industry experts are not willing to pay the price for high quality products or rather since it’s solely a Sri Lankan product.
“The mindset of Sri Lankan corporate giants should change. Nothing comes cheap for a high quality product,” he noted. Graduates who pass out from the UoM from the biomedical department are expected to work at cheap labour rates by most relevant corporate companies in the country, he added.
A few very interesting biomedical devices that were developed by the CEBI were demonstrated at the event. Devices that could bridge the gap between a patient lying on a bed to the kitchen to get his or her meals, were demonstrated in a video presentation.
UoM Head of Mechanical Engineering, Ruwan Gopura at the event stated that the vision of CEBI is to become South Asia’s premium research and development hub for biomedical devices. The mission is to develop biomedical devices by offering affordable and high quality solutions with keeping to national and regional healthcare needs, he added.
“We want to create a collaborative environment within the university including several other departments that does research and development work in this area.
We also want to collaborate with external partners in the relevant industry. We have done a lot of research and developed several biomedical products. We want to develop those products as a working model for commercialization. The products will be targeted at the national level and (aimed at resolving) the issues of the nation,” noted Mr. Gopura.