Wednesday, December 28, 2016 ith the objective of creating objective of directly sending this Wa generation of healthy Sri message to the people, was very Lankans, an edifi cation programme productive and it is expected to was held by the Industrial Technol- hold such edifi cation programmes ogy Institute (ITI) for Public Health island-wide. The State Minister Inspectors. In this programme of Science, Technology and they were edifi ed on the impor- Research Lakshman Seneviratne, tance of identifying molecular the Director General of ITI G.A.S. residue levels of agrochemicals Premakumara and several offi cials and heavy metals hi-tech participated in this occasion. equipment such as LCMS / MS and ICT / MS and the methodologies of running such tests. This programme, initi- ated by the ITI with the e witnessed through graphs Maithripala Sirisena according to a conducting research at that institution. proposal of Prof. Vajira Dissanayake As results of those research projects, Wthat the number of scientifi c he Kaohsiung of Mayurapada Central publications being published annually has been planned for four years. This we have transferred the technology TInternational College, Narammala, won a has gradually increased from 1996 is to cost one billion Rupees. resulting from some research projects Invention & Design Gold Medal for the system- to 2014. Furthermore, those graphs This will be a laboratory operated with for money. Few more are getting Expo (KIDE) atic plaster laying machine showed where we are in the Asian contributions from both State and ready to be transferred. 2016 was held in invented by him and N.M. Zone and the world. I am thankful for private sectors. We got the policy Furthermore, Rs. 950 million has Taiwan from 9 – 11 Shobhan Dhananjaya December. Sri Neththasinghe of Joseph making arrangements through this approval for that from the Cabinet been allocated to my Ministry from Lanka inventors Vaz College, Wennappuwa, budget to increase the fi nancial per- of Ministers. Furthermore, I am this year’s budget. Cabinet approval were directed to won a Bronze Medal for the centage allocated to the Ministry and expecting to obtain the necessary was given to start work at the biology that exhibition modern room switch invent- its affi liated institutions for research land closer to Colombo City. Minister laboratory. with the complete ed by him. The selection of this year than last year. of Megapolis and Western Develop- Minister of Science, Technology and sponsorship of the Commissioner of the Sri The laboratory scheduled to be ment Patali Champika Ranawaka has Research Susil Premajayantha made the Sri Lanka Lanka Inventors’ Commis- constructed for gene technology agreed to provide the necessary land. these statements at the Presidential Inventors Com- sion Dr. Mahesh Edirisinghe under the patronage of the President Four years ago when Dr. Thissa Vita- Awards for Scientifi c Publications mission and those to the International Panel of inventors were Judges at this international rana was the Minister of this Ministry, Ceremony organized by the National able to win a Gold exhibition was another we were able to launch the Nano- Research Council. Medal and a Bronze signifi cant victory achieved technology Laboratory in Pitipana, Medal. G.K.N.W. by Sri Lanka. Homagama. At present, 24 young Sri Gangodawila, a student Lankan scientists with Doctorates are Continued on page 03… Ministry of Science, Technology and Research To read Vidya as an Paper visit www.dailynews.lk /vidya 2 Wednesday, December 28, 2016 ctober 26th has been declared the Obeen declared as National Inventors’ the national inventors Day honoring him and day by the President lauding his services. Ac- Maithripala Sirisena cordingly, parallel to that and the Minister of date, several programmes Science, Technology were held at the Nelum and Research Susil Pokuna eatre under the tions Exhibition. Premajayantha. patronage of the President For the rst time e birthday of the and the Prime Minister. in the history of the late Eng. A.N.S. A commemorative stamp world, the special identity Kulasinghe, who and a rst day cover were card issued to Sri Lankan served as the rst issued and trophies, med- inventors was symboli- Nipayum Diriya’ Grant Commissioner of the als, certi cates and cash cally issued to them un- Scheme Programme, were Sri Lanka Inven- prizes were presented to der the patronage of the presented to those inven- tors Commission, the winners of ‘Sahasak President. Furthermore, tors under the patronage falls on 26th October Nimavum -2016’ National letters relevant to grant- of the President. About and that date has Inventions and Innova- ing nancial, technical 1000 inventors partici- pated in this occasion and For a more e cient service, Telephone – 011 267 6650 and com- o cials of the Ministry the Sri Lanka Inventors Com- Fax – 011 267 6646 mercial assistance of Science, Technology mission has been established Website to inven- and Research and its af- with a new look at No. 46 – 48, www.slic.gov.lk tors under liated institutions also Kotte Road, Borella. Email the ‘Nawa participated. [email protected] agreement in sities, Open and the near fu- Commercialization ture. covering the whole Several special of the Southern Province centering objectives are on Galle, Matara and Hambantota expected to Districts and Provincial level selec- mong the foremost projects Selection is done with the participa- be achieved at tions to take them to National level is Aorganized by the Sri Lanka tion of an expert panel of judges the signing of the bilateral agreement. scheduled to be held centering on the Inventors Commission, the “Sahasak including university Professors. e foremost objective is working to University of Ruhuna on 17th and 18th Nimavum’ National Inventions Exhi- Accordingly, marking another special utilize the extensive contribution and of May 2017 . bition and Competition is occupying chapter of the exhibition, the Uni- theoretical knowledge of academic As a further step forward of this a special place not only at local level versity of Ruhuna and the Sri Lanka and non-academic sta and the initiative, it is expected to implement but also at global level. What is so Inventors’ Commission will be jointly student communities of universities this project broadly representing special about this National Exhibition holding the Southern Province New in organizational duties in selecting other Provinces centering the Univer- is that the winners of the competi- Inventions Selection Competition new inventions at Provincial level. In sities in those Provinces. tion are selected from the quali ers of – 2017 with a very strong organi- that, selection of basic new inventions pre-selection rounds held at all nine zational strength. e two parties under categories Schools, Univer- Provinces covering the whole island. are expected to enter into a bilateral Wednesday, December 28, 2016 3 them to our future generations and encourage more, media should contribute more to dis- them to conduct research. Furthermore, it seminate science, technology and inventions. is expected to build laboratories through fi nan- We have the challenge of creating scientists cial allocations. from this generation and future generations. We were able to sign a Memorandum of The number of students joining the science Understanding with Cuba, leading the world subject stream has decreased. Even though in biotechnology, at the Science, Technol- they obtain nine A’s, the number of students ogy and Inventions Competition held in that joining it is low because of misconceptions country. Out of our scientists, scientists about employment. conducting research on pharmaceuticals were able to participate for three days obtaining knowledge. That is operative in the future too. Furthermore, the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development has agreed to provide another land, extra to the 45-acre land at Homagama. Several private sector compa- nies have got together and are preparing the Continued from page 01… broadening the fi eld. For example, we were able to get Profes- e have been able to achieve a massive sor Voss of the European Organization for progress in this fi eld during the past W Nuclear Research (CERN) Laboratory to at- 2-3 years, especially not only to conduct tend this Forum. Through that, we got the op- research and issue publications but also to portunity of increasing the number of annual commercialize them. Furthermore, the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya is now serving as the Chairman of the National Science & Tech- nology Commission (Nastec). He organized a two-day conference producing the National Research and Development Framework (NRDF) and held discussions on it. scholarships Over 14 institutions affi liated to our Ministry to CERN Laboratory from are connected with research. The necessary two to four from next year. background has been prepared to encour- Furthermore, there is a Professor who has age those researches and produce their new studied at the University of Peradeniya. The inventions connecting the Institute of Fun- background to connect our scientists to the background to establish factories manufactur- damental Studies at Hanthana, the National Chicago University has been prepared with ing pharmaceuticals through biotechnology. These misconceptions must be removed. Engineering Research and Development his assistance. We have sent a team of Necessary plans have made for the coming They need correct understanding. Their Centre (NERD Centre), the national university six Medical Specialists to the Texas Medical three to four years. vision has to be broad. The popularizing of system and other research institutions. Center in the State of Texas with the as- Arrangements are being made to prepare the subjects of science and technology has to Furthermore, we able to organize the sistance of Professors at the University of the background necessary to commercialize start from school level. Science and Technology for Society (STS) Houston on a tour of a few days duration.