Pavithra thanks private sector for supporting inventors

“I am extremely delighted by the enthusiastic participation of leading private sector organisations to support our inventors by way of active sponsorships given  to the Sahasak Nimevum – the first ever National Exhibition for inventions and innovations,” says Minister of Research and Technology Pavithra Wanniarachchi. Sahasak Nimevum is organised by the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission that functions under her ministry.

The minister expressed these ideas while explaining the progress of the forthcoming exhibition which will be declared open on 30 September at 9.30a.m. The exhibition will be held at the BMICH and be open to public till 2 October.
It will be declared opened by Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksha on invitation of Pavithra Wanniarachchi minister of research and technology with the participation of Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardhana and Deputy Minister of Research and Technology Feizer Musthrpa.
“Over 700 exhibits representing 22 technical fields will be on display at this exhibition. This will be a very good opportunity for the private sector to identify potential business ideas for investment and we encourage them to visit the exhibition so they will have enough time to meet with the inventors she added further.”
This exhibition will be an equally good opportunity to spot talent, for companies who can think out of the box and who can solve technical problems in novel ways.
In addition to the technical fields there are seven fields of national significance that will be considered for presentation of special awards. They are inventions that help make the differently abled independent, and inventions in the fields of food, energy, environment, teaching aids, human safety, and import substitution. The prizes and the trophies for these categories are provided by the Brandix Group. Explaining the rationale for partnering with the Sahasak Nimevum Exhibition, Brandix CEO Ashroff Omar said, “Empowering people is a corporate credo at Brandix. Supporting inventors is part of that commitment. We are looking at the possibility of supporting inventors with commercially viable ideas to take their inventions to the next level, because we are a Group whose success owes much to innovation and invention.”
The overall winners of each participating categories, school, university and technical colleges, open and best commercialised will be presented with the prestigious DASIS award.  Dasis is a name given to King Rawana who supposed to have had ten heads or the ability to consider things from all aspects. Ravana believed to have invented the DanduMonara the first ever air plane. The award is named after him to bridge a link between the national heritage and modern discoveries. Rightfully this award is sponsored by Dialog Axiata. “Future Today is how we approach our business. We found a very strong strategic fit between our brand and the Sahasak Nimevum Exhibition. We are keen to see that the winners of the Dasis awards move forward with their inventions,” says Dialog Axiata CEO Dr. Hans Wijesuriya.
John Keels have committed to support two inventions in the fields of Food and Energy by presenting a special award.
Automobile field is sponsored by Associated Motorways, while Watawala Tea sponsors the Teaching Methods and tools.
United Motors and Tokyo Cement have confirmed their interest to support a suitable invention to commercialise.
Interestingly all 22 technical fields are represented with novel entries. As expected there will be a significant number of entries from the school category. There had been equal interest from all nine provinces including north and east reflecting the renewed hope and enthusiasm of these areas.
The student entries have been pre selected at provincial levels where over 1500 student had been presented. All nine provinces of the country has taken part in the exhibition. According to a government circular almost all the schools must have an inventors club and encourage student inventions.
 It is not the quality of the invention that is important when looking at student inventions, but how the student has observed a problem in the environment, defined it and come up with a technical solution. This is a critical capability that need to be developed in this exam oriented education system.