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Sri Lanka`s government, private sector to set up nanotech park
Saturday, 21 July 2007 - 8:14 AM SL Time
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The Sri Lankan government`s five-year project to develop a nanotechnology science park will help the country`s main industrial sectors to compete with global players that already use the technology.
The 5-year 55 million dollar (5.5 billion rupee) project will be funded through a Public-Private Partnership in which both parties will contribute equal sums of money.
A 50-acre land has already been chosen for the park in Homagama, south of Colombo. Leading firms in the apparel, agriculture and other main industrial sectors have pledged support to develop the park, Tissa Vitharana, Minister of Science and Technology said.
A temporary laboratory is already being set up with the assistance of the private sector to conduct research, since waiting another five years will give foreign competitors more advantage over local products in the global market, he said.
`We need quick action before waiting another five years to fight foreign competition.`
Vitharana said local materials such as silica sand and other minerals found in the island can be used to develop the technology.
`No matter how much infrastructure is developed and villages are provided new roads, industries that use local raw material must be developed. Only then would the country be developed,` Vitharana told reporters.
Nanotechnology is a branch of science and engineering devoted to the design and production of extremely small electronic devices and circuits built from individual atoms and molecules.
Products such as apparel can be developed to have self-cleaning, colour-changing and wrinkle free properties.
Rubber items with higher strength that can withstand more strain or tyres that are not worn out easily can also be made using the technology.
It can also be used to make polymer-based lighting which is solid, does not use gas as in conventional bulbs and can be 30 percent more energy efficient.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) plans to work with local universities to create a task force to operate the technology park, Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC), said Professor Ravi Silva, a nanotechnology expert, working in the University of Surrey, England.
The foundation also plans to conduct awareness campaigns and introduce nanotechnology topics in the universities.
Sirimali Fernando of NSF said the private sector has realized the hidden potential in research and development (R&D) and is now coming forward to fund and develop it. Sri Lanka`s private sector was late in doing R&D since the country lacked a culture of research, Fernando said.
`It is good the private sector itself is asking for R&D facilities. They have found out its value.`
Relatively new and fast spreading, nanotechnology is now used by countries like Japan, South Korea, and the United States as well as European states to develop innovative products that use less energy, are smaller and more efficient.
Apart from the technological advancement, entrepreneurship is also an important factor in taking nano science further into the industries sector, Silva said.
`We need to take the fear of failure out of people to be more entrepreneurial. Their knowledge must be increased (in the nano science sector).`
The nanotech business, estimated to be worth over one trillion dollars by 2010, can help resolve Sri Lanka`s energy crisis, poverty, water, food, health and environmental issues, Silva said.
At present Sri Lanka allocates only 0.14 percent (40 million dollars) of its Gross Domestic Product of 28.02 billion dollars for technological research and development. In the United States, the federal government spends over one billion dollars and other sectors spend over three billion on research and development.
Silva said four-fifths of total wealth creation in America is through technology, research and development.
`If we can be on top rather than fall behind competition in the nanotechnology area, we can have an economic takeoff.`
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