Jointly organized by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) and the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission (SLIC), the research conference “From Innovation to Impact -2020” (FITI-2020) was held in Colombo on 16th December 2020 with the participation of limited number of participants including researchers and invited guests. The conference had been organized as the second in a series to be held annually. FITI 2020 was technically co-sponsored by IEEE and the IEEE Sri Lanka Section. SLIC was the financial sponsor of this event.
Founded in 1944 and incorporated by Act of Parliament No 11of 1966, the SLAAS is the premier organization of scientists in Sri Lanka; SLAAS represents almost all disciplines of science and is focused on promoting and advancing science in the country. FITI 2019 was conceptualized last year in order to celebrate the 75th anniversary of SLAAS.
SLIC is a Statutory Body which came into operation on August 01, 1987 by virtue of the powers vested in the Sri Lanka Inventors Incentives Act No 53 of 1979. SLIC is the leading catalyst in bringing out the innovative capability of the nation, and is the forerunner in the facilitation process in converting practical ideas into practical applications.
Prof. Janitha Liyanage the general president of SLAAS delivering the welcome speech emphasized the importance of innovations in enhancing economic growth of a country and improving the quality of life of its people.
“The FITI conference is aimed at providing a platform for innovators to showcase their innovations and receive feedback from their peers” prof. Janitha mentioned.
Prof. Sampath Amarathunga, Senior Professor and the current chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) participated the event as the chief guest and in his guest speech he talked about the Knowledge Economy in Sri Lanka and challenges we are facing as a country in uplifting the current situation.
The inauguration session of the conference included two keynote speeches. The first keynote was delivered by Prof. Janaka Ekanayake, Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. In his keynote Prof. Janaka discussed how new innovations coupled with modern day information technology including artificial intelligence can be used in battling the pandemic situations like the one we are facing right now.
The second keynote address was delivered by Prof. Artūras Kaklauskas, Professor of Informatics, Civil Engineering, Management, Economics of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania and former Director of the Institute of Intelligent Building Technologies. In his address Prof. Artūras talked about Social Innovations have been developed as a novel social practice that meet social desires in an improved approach than the current results, subsequent from – for instance – working environments, economics of social innovation, education, community development, health, and well-being.
According to Prof. Rangika Halwathura, commissioner of the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission mentioned that even though FITI 2020 received nearly 100 submissions, after the peer review process by over 150 local and international reviewers, only 36 papers were accepted for presentation (acceptance rate ~40%). All accepted and presented papers of FITI 2020 will be submitted for publication to the IEEEXplore, Prof. Halwathura mentioned.
The conference includes two technical session tracks on societal impacts of R&D innovations and social innovations. Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic situation some of the presenters presented their research papers using ZOOM technology over the internet while some presenters presented their findings in person at the conference.
