Introducing nanotechnology to industries

Ananda KANNANGARA

Science and Technology Minister Prof. Tissa Vitarana stressed the importance of introducing Nanotechnology to industries and said fund controllers in the country must extend their fullest co-operation to develop the technology.

He was speaking at a seminar on `Tapping the World of Nanotechnology’, organised by the National Science Foundation and Small and Medium Enterprise Developers of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka (FCCISL).

Nanotechnology is a branch of engineering that deals with the design and manufacture of small electronic circuits and mechanical devices that are built at the molecular level of matter.

The Minister also said that there was a major economic crisis in the world and Sri Lankan could take advantage of this situation by using Nanotechnology.

The Minister thanked the government for releasing a 60-acre land at Homagama to set up a Nanoscience Park with facilities for research and development in Nanotechnology.

He also said that the Sri Lanka Nanotechnology Institute, at Biyagama is a public-private partnership and it would help to conduct research activities and also apply Nanotechnology for the advancement of technologies.

Dr. Rohan Munasinghe of the Moratuwa University, Engineering Faculty said that governments and industries are investing on research and development in Nanotechnology, since it is an interdisciplinary field that encompasses physics, chemistry, biology and engineering.

Prof. Veranga Karunaratne of the Sri Lanka Institute of Technology said that Nanotechnology is at the infant stage in our country and scientists could contribute to develop technologies.