7,200 research scientists by 2016:

Science and technology in the forefront of development

By Dhaneshi Yatawara

President Mahinda Rajapaksa at SLINTEC

Equal opportunities for all

Creating a science enthusiastic future generation

The week dedicated to science ended with the World Science Day celebrations on November 10. How many of us noticed the importance of it other than few programs at schools?

Sri Lanka is struggling to get out of the middle income trap fighting against the turmoils in the world economy. Countries with several similarities to Sri Lanka made successful breakthroughs by thinking out of the box. Many of these countries, such as Korea, Thailand heavily relied on science and technological inventions.

Today the poverty gap between the countries is due to the technological gap. Science and technology boost revenue in the world.

Attitudes

In a rapidly advancing world, every citizen needs to be adequately equipped with the latest knowledge to engage intelligently in public dialogue and debate about important issues of the society from genetically modified food to energy options, safety of food, water and environment and nuclear energy. It is the responsibility of the authorities to ensure adequate scientific literacy among its people.

An attitudinal change would be the foundation from which knowledge empowerment and rapid economic-take-off towards a knowledge based economy could occur. If our products cannot be sold then our enterprises will collapse and we will be defeated in the economic battle.

Innovations

"Sri Lanka hopes for not only a per capita income boost but a different economic status too. An innovation driven economy implies internal innovations and an excellent national competitiveness in a global marketplace. Science and technology play a significant role in this transition. Having mere expectations with any type of activity will not deliver this situation.

It is not easy to be an innovative economy," said Project Director of the Coordinating Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (COSTI), Prof. Ajith de Alwis, a recently established state entity mandated with coordinating and monitoring scientific affairs.

The Coordinating Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (COSTI) was set up on February 1, 2013 as mandated by the cabinet decision of September 9, 2011 with the aim of coordinating and monitoring science, technology and innovation activities in the country. It will also work towards promoting value addition and commercialisation in line with the National Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Strategy of Sri Lanka approved by the Cabinet in August 2010.

A key goal of the COSTI will be to coordinate and monitor the planning, preparatory and implementation stages, linkages with science centres and other relevant organisations abroad and subsequent monitoring the functioning of the National Science Centres. The COSTI reports to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation.

At this time in the history when Asia is becoming a formidable economic power we too should recognise the importance of science, technology and innovation in fuelling a national economy.

To raise Sri Lanka to a developed status the science and technology Policy along with others must be integrated with other inputs such as infrastructure transport, telecommunications, power, etc., a fair and efficient legal system, including law enforcement, and above all peace and security.

National development can only be achieved in an environment in which individuals have faith in the system and feel comfortable investing in productive enterprises.

New chapter

Implementing the Mahinda Chinthana vision for the future, the Research and Development Ministry has taken measures to increase the number of research scientists and technologists in Sri Lanka to 7,200 by 2016.

Currently there are about 4600 research scientists and it is not sufficient to battle the economic war. The Ministry hopes to establish a full time research cadre in the universities and absorb 500 personnel per year.

According to statistics available with the Ministry of Technology and Research, Sri Lanka has nearly 30 research institutes under nine ministries and around 48 university faculties.

Research

Over 50 percent of the research and development institutes are in the Western province while the second highest number is in the Central province. Out of those in the Central Province, over 90 percent are dedicated to agriculture research and development work.

The statistics indicate that nearly 50 percent of the State research institutes are dedicated to agricultural research and development while only five are dedicated to industrial research and development and two for health. Accordingly, the Sri Lankan university system consists of 78 science-related faculties with 425 departments with science laboratories in 16 state universities.

On the direction of Minister of Technology and Research, Patali Champika Ranawaka the Ministry in collaboration with the National Science and Technology Commission, formulated the '10 x 10' Investment Framework for research and Development for 2015-2020. This initiative is aimed at achieving ambitious expectations from the science, technology and innovation sector preceded with a plan that targets national needs.Accordingly, the framework identifies ten national priority areas and ten intervention methodologies - hence the title '10 x 10' Investment - i.e. focuses on water, food /nutrition /agriculture, health, shelter, energy, textile industry, environment, mineral resources, information/ communication technology / knowledge services and basic sciences / emerging technologies / indigenous knowledge. The ten interventions are policy studies, pure and applied research, innovations, information and communication, technology, nanotechnology, biotechnology, indigenous knowledge and intellectual property rights, testing and standardisation, capacity building, popularisation.

New policy

All institutions under the Ministry of Technology and Research - The National Science and Technology Commission (NASTEC), National Science Foundation (NSF), Industrial Technology Institute (ITI), Arthur C. Clarke Centre for Modern Technologies (Clarke Centre), National Engineering Research and Development Centre (NERD), Institute of Fundamental Studies (IFS), National Research Council (NRC), Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) and the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment (SLAB) and the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission, have been directed to formulate plans after studying the national policy documents which are the Budget speech for 2011, the Science and Technology Policy, the 5-year Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy and the 10-year policy framework in the Mahinda Chinthana Vision for the future.

This will ensure that all these institutions will focus on identifying activities that will contribute to national development objectives and thereby to economic development. Requests for funding such activities can then be justified.

Every individual needs to use scientific knowledge to make choices for themselves that arise everyday, from health and nutritional issues to resilience to disasters.

Unfortunately for Sri Lanka the public perception of science and technology is one of sheer indifference. The majority of Sri Lankans, including policy makers and the younger generation have not yet changed their mindset about the direct involvement of science and technology in national development. Given the high literacy and relatively high per capita income compared to other countries in the region, Sri Lanka lacks a science culture due to the lack of understanding of science and technology and innovations.