Target 2048 – Part IX: Complex economy system: A response

By Upali Wickramasinghe 

Quoting W.A. Wijewardena of 25 September 2023 and agreeing with most of what is said in the article with the above caption, I do not agree in toto with his concept in the paragraph indicated below:

Inventions and innovations go hand in hand

“Part VIII of the article in this series argued that Sri Lanka should create an ‘innovation economy’, and not just a knowledge economy, by using the research think-tanks at universities and research institutions if it is to deliver sustained prosperity to its people. Knowledge creates inventions but inventions alone will not help a nation unless they are used for producing commercially viable goods and services for use by people at home and abroad. That process, it was pointed out, is being completed by entrepreneurs who function as innovators. Hence, inventions and innovations should go hand in hand if the process is to deliver success. What this means is that knowledge without practice is fruitless.”

Those who stand out are put down by the system

Be it the university system, or even the day to day work in our society, jealousy is an inherent weakness and it is doubtful whether innovation would contribute to the country’s welfare. Those who stand out are put down by the system. I have seen this, but I am not willing to go into detail. I too am a graduate of a Lankan university.

The Government is in search of export oriented investors, and had established two organisations to promote innovation. We seek assistance from outsiders to establish centres where their know-how could be used to develop export based industry, forgetting that we have the incipient knowledge and produce in the market to develop such an export market.

I have been in South America, which has a climate and plant crops similar to ours. The particular crop I refer to is the coconut. In South America too coconut meat – endosperm is used in their food preparation. The meat is broken into small pieces and grated by rubbing it on a  a flat steel plate with facility to grate. Such items are found in our country too. I have seen this unit being used to grate carrot.

Sri Lanka has developed a table mounted grater, coconut scraper. If this is developed with a better finish, improved appearance and serviceability, I believe this small unit would generate income in billions of dollars to this country. 

A certain individual is said to have developed a system to sort garbage. Though some technocrats had run down this invention, I believe if the shortcomings are improved, you have another exportable facility acceptable to low income countries in South America and Africa. Jealousy?

We have had a series of science exhibitions where schoolgoing children participate. They have come out with some unique concepts, and one that I noticed was a rat trap. What happened to those inventions? Why were they not granted patents and helped to a start up an industry, which could be developed into an export market. How about providing them protection for their inventions via patents, both local and international?

I mentioned two state organisations involved in innovations. What have these organisations achieved? Have they helped any person in the country to obtain a patent and a start up to develop those items for export?

Our patent system helps keep only some people with food and clothes.

One of the problems I faced at the Peradeniya University was to carry a heavy load of books and walk four times up and down a hill from Marcus Fernando Hall to the Science Faculty. The load of books was heavy. The University system and the fixed hours they worked, with minimal library facilities at the Science Faculty then, exacerbated this torture.

Inefficiency in the factory system  

On finding employment, I was fascinated by the degree of inefficiency in the factory system where I worked, an alcohol distillery. This alcohol distillery imported and installed, released 58,000 gallons of waste water, spent wash a day. Based on a crude calculation, I found that nearly all the heat generated by burning furnace fuel was in the spent wash that was being discarded. Through the past 50 years or so I have been attempting to find a solution to this waste.

In the process I had to copy many papers published on this subject which I extracted from the web. These papers had to be filed and I developed a filing system, which was low in cost, light in weight and easy to fabricate. By perusing the internet I found there was no stationary file of the same design. I thought I should file an application for a patent.

Would you believe it, my patent application was rejected within two to three days. The Assistant Director, Examinations sent me a series of letters with photographs of files on the web but nothing comparable to mine. She could not justify her decision.

I refused to accept her decision and finally to appease me they called me for a discussion. The Assistant Director was not present at the discussion. The head of the unit who presided, I felt, was attempting to justify the Assistant Director’s stand. The discussion came to an end when I realised that the presiding officer had not seen the stacking system at a library of standing but was judging by what he saw daily, the stacking used by the second hand book salesmen opposite the Patent office. I decided there was nothing more I could do or obtain from a person who had got through the final examination studying by rote. This product if developed to a higher standard would have been a product for export.

But how can one develop even a market locally, without the backing of a patent?

Life in Sri Lanka has many surprises dear Mr Wijewardena.

(The writer could be reached at:  [email protected].)