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Tuesday, April 07, 2009 - 04.11 GMT |
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Sri Lanka inventors win Gold, Silver, &
Bronze at international awards |
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Sri Lanka made a large haul of prestigious
awards at the 37th International Exhibition
of Inventions, Techniques and Products of
held in Geneva last week.
Sri Lankan inventors won the won the World
Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
Award, the International Press Prize, 3 Gold
medals, 1 Silver medal and 2 Bronze medals
for the 7 inventions the country presented
at exhibition, the Office of Sri Lanka’s
Permanent Representative to the UN, in
Geneva, reports.
Two of the four most prestigious special
awards of the inventors’ exhibition were won
by two Sri Lankan inventors. Mr. Dammika
Sujith from Chilaw was awarded the WIPO
Award (the only cash price awarded at this
competition) for his coir fibre extracting
machine and Mr. Chandrasena from Mawathagama,
Kurunegala, whose head and mouth operated
computer mouse attracted a lot of media
coverage, received the International Press
Prize. Winning two of the four special
awards by one country is rare at this
exhibition and this is the first time Sri
Lanka has been honoured with such
recognition.
This exhibition, which was held under the
patronage of the Swiss Confederation, is
considered the world’s largest market place
for inventions. It hosts annually about 750
exhibitors from around 45 countries and
displays about 1000 new exhibits. During
this event, industrial and commercial
companies, inventors, researchers,
associations, private and state agencies and
institutes present their inventions, the
result of their research and their new
products.
Sri Lanka has been participating in this
prestigious event held in Switzerland since
1994 with last year’s 3 Sri Lankan inventors
also winning awards including the Genius
Award, a special prize awarded by the
Hungarian Inventors Association.
This year, seven Sri Lankan inventors
presented their inventions at the
exhibition:
• Coir fibre extracting machine by Mr.
Dammika Sujith of Chilaw - - Prize of the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
and Merit Gold with special commendation by
the Judges
• Head and mouth operated computer mouse for
the disabled by Mr. M.A. Prince Chandrasena
of Mawathagama, Kurunegala - International
Press Prize & - Merit Gold with special
commendation by the Judges
• Low cost drying system for food and agro
products by Mr. Kapila Weeratunga Arachchi
of Heerassagla, Kandy - Merit Gold with
special commendation by the Judges
• Automatic air-pumping mechanism for
motorbikes and cars by Mr. D.G.W. Jayawansa
of Vavuniya - Silver Medal
• Mobile cash transfer system by Mr. Harold
Wijethunga of Colombo - Bronze Medal
• Automated hopper making machine by Mr. E.M.
Ranatunga of Matara - Bronze Medal
• Disaster early warning system by Mr.
Kariyawasam Thirana Gamage Janaka of Kahawa
- Bronze Medal
The Sri Lanka Inventors Commission selected
the participants at this exhibition by
calling for applications through open
advertisement in the print media. The 7
exhibitors were chosen from
inventions/innovations that had won
Presidential and National awards for
inventions and patented inventions. The
selected inventors attended the exhibition
with the Commissioner of the Sri Lanka
Inventors’ Commission, Prof. K. Kapila K. C.
Perera.
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