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Sunday Nov 24, 2024
Wednesday, 1 April 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Sri Lanka Inventors Commission (SLIC) has launched an island wide program to identify inventors who have inventions that can be considered to be displayed at the forthcoming Sahasak Nimavum Exhibition 2015.
A series of regional selection programs will be held covering all nine provinces in the country starting 7 May.
At these selection events inventors from schools representing young inventors clubs, students of universities, technical colleges as well as from open categories will get an opportunity to present their inventions to be considered by the panels consisting of technical experts as well as inventors.
They will be evaluated based on the novelty and the potential with regard to commercialisation or the benefit to society. In evaluating student inventions more emphasis will be given to the degree the student has observed the environment and identified a problem.
The selection events will be held as shown in the table.
Those who are interested in taking part must register with the commission by using the application given in the web site www.slic.gov.lk. Facilities are provided to apply online as well as to download the application and print it and post to the commission.
The school entries must be certified by the principal and the number of entries from a school is limited to 10 per national and central school and five per other school.
The selected inventors will be then invited to take part in the Sahasak Nimavum National Exhibition which will be held in September at the Exhibition and Convention Centre, Colombo.
Started in year 2012 Sahasak Nimavum is the national exhibition where Sri Lankan inventors get the opportunity to showcase their talent. This is a platform to recognise and reward exceptional inventors, help them find investors, markets to commercialise their products, and this event inspires others to embark on innovation as well.
The inventions are considered under 12 fields of national and international significance
1. Making disabled independent
Considering a 10% of the global population is considered to be disabled and most of them are in poverty, innovations to make them independent is a global priority. In Sri Lanka also being a fast aging population and with a significant disabled population this segment will try to focus the attention of innovators to come up with innovative solutions.
2. Environment
With the climatic change, increased urbanisation and industrialisation pauses significant challenges to protecting environment while meeting human aspirations. Hence this has always been a hotly competed field in any invention exhibition.
3. Food
Change of lifestyle across the globe has created ever increasing demand on food solutions. Healthy, economical, easy to prepare and easy to use will always have a good demand.
4. Agriculture
Under this category various solutions to improve agricultural yield and productivity will be considered.
This has been an area where a lot of innovative solutions have been developed even in the past. For instance the first ever two wheel tractor was invented by late Vidyajothi Ray Wijewardene.
5. Health and Nutrition
We expect a large number of competitors to field their entries under this category. Leveraging the rich bio diversity and the traditional or ayurvedic knowledge coupled with modern science innovations are being done. For instance global herbal health care market is estimated to reach over $ 13 billion by 2018.
6. Energy
Not only alternative ways to generate energy but also ways to improve productivity of energy consumption will also be considered under this category.
7. Construction
This is another field various inventions are being done on a wide range of aspects ranging from materials, equipments, tools, methodologies and products that make constructions stronger, economical, safer and even environment friendly.
8. Teaching Aids
This segment was consciously introduced to provide a platform for various teachers who have evolved very innovative solution to make teaching effective. Some of these creations never get recognised even yet the contributions they make are very high.
9. Safety and Security
Human Safety and Security covers inventions in a wide range of fields; industrial, road and home safety are primary though.
10. Apparel, Textiles and Accessories
This was specially introduced responding to the need of the industry. This is an industry that always meets global competition and cutting edge innovation. As a significant contributor to the national economy the apparel sector now commands special attention. Innovations to the challenges in that industry will have national significance.
11. Entertainment
This is another field where various innovations are being constantly done starting from developing new musical instruments to various accessories that enhances listener experience.
12. Communication/Transport
Any solution that will improve human communication will fall within this broad category. In the past our inventors have developed solutions that had achieved international recognition.
From the winners in the above fields the best under the following special fields will be recognised separately. These will cut across all the fields but the attention will be given to select the outstanding application or relevance in any of the following fields. They can be common to many fields.
