Sri Lanka has set its national vision to become an upper middle-income country by 2025 by transforming the country into the hub of the Indian Ocean with a knowledge-based, highly comparative, social market economy. To do so, the country tries to harness science, technology and innovation to create the conditions which will generate economic growth.
In order to realize the vision of national development with sound STI capacity, it is necessary for the government to have the officials equipped with knowledge and expertise in establishing and implementing national STI policy, its action plans and an efficient STI system. In most of the cases policy formulation and implementation in Sri Lanka are based on ad hoc approaches and intuition.
The National Science and Technology Commission (NASTEC) under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Research (MoSTR) of Sri Lanka has requested Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), South Korea to provide a customized training program for STI stakeholders about STI policy development and R&D commercialization mechanisms by submitting the Project Concept Paper (PCP) in March, 2017.
As per this request a special workshop on capacity building in STI policy formulation and R&D commercialization commenced in Colombo yesterday, 30th May 2018. A special team from STEPI will conduct this training program with presentations on various policy tools, R&D planning and evaluation techniques and R&D commercialization approaches with relevant case studies from Korea.
Inauguration ceremony of this workshop was held yesterday(30th May 2018) at Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration(SLIDA) auditorium with the participation of the members of the STEPI team from South Korea, officials from NASTEC, Ministry of Science, Technology and Research, and invited scientists and guests from institutes in Sri Lanka.
Prof. Gunapala Nanayakkara, Chairman of NASTEC delivering the welcome speech of the inauguration session described the present situation of Science, Technology and Research in Sri Lanka, Dr. Eun Joo Kim from the STEPI Team and Mr. H M B C Herath, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Science Technology and Research also delivered speeches during the ceremony. Concluding the session vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Kalpa Samarakoon from NASTEC.
The 5 day workshop comprises of 6 lecture sessions conducted by resource personnel from STEPI, Group discussions and study visits.
Objectives of the workshop
According to the NASTEC media report main objectives of the workshop are,
- Enhancing capacities of the senior level officials and managers of the related S&T agencies, academia, and research institutes.
- Help government officials who are involved in STI policy-making and R&D program management to improve practical application capabilities in their fields.
- Share experiences of the STI policy development process of South Korea.
- Explore policy ideas that can be applicable in Sri Lankan STI policy development process
Given Below are the titles of the six sessions of the workshop
Session 1 – National Research and Development Program : Feasibility Study and Planning – Dr. Hyun Yim (Senior Research Fellow, KISTEP)
Session 2- National Research and Development Program : Management and Evaluation – Dr. Hyun Yim (Senior Research Fellow, KISTEP)
Session 3 – Korean Economic Development Model (Role of STI) – Prof. Young-Rak Choi (Senior Research Fellow Emeritus, STEPI)
Session 4 – Approaches and Practices of Setting the National STI Policy : Korean Experiences – Prof. Young-Rak Choi (Senior Research Fellow Emeritus, STEPI)
Session 5 – R&D Commercialization: Licensing – Dr. Hyun Woo Park (Senior Research Fellow, KISTI)
Session 6 – R&D Commercialization: Spin-Offs – Dr. Hyun Woo Park (Senior Research Fellow, KISTI)
