Oct 10, 2019 (LBO) – The University of Moratuwa is shifting gears in innovation and commercialization through the University Business Linkage Center (UBLC).
UBLC was initiated with a University Grants Commission Circular and is funded by the World Bank for a few years through the AHEAD (Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development) project.
The UBLC Operations Committee will look to help commercialize projects that have been evaluated to have a potential for commercialization. The Projects that are selected to be commercially viable will be given incubator facilities to run their business startups for a few years.
The Center has a Patent and Technology Transfer Office (PTTO) and a Startup Incubator. PTTO will help with patenting and licensing of innovations, for which a leading law firm of Sri Lanka has already pledged their support.
The startup incubator will foster startups by providing various supports startups need such as secretarial, taxation, market research, business modeling, human resource management, and audit services. This way, it is expected to elevate the success rate of local startup companies.
The industry experts Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe (Managing Director - Lanka Bell), Fayaz Hudah (Co-founder - Spiralation) and Talal Rafi (Entrepreneurship Specialist - USAID Project YouLead) provide the Operations Committee the insights from the perspective of the industry.
UBLC is, in fact, an All-in-One ecosystem for commercialization of research outcomes. As expected, UBLC will start delivering high-value patents and innovative products out of the University on a regular basis which will then lead to establishing high-tech companies and employment opportunities.
The innovation commercialization process once integrated into the system will have a lasting effect on wealth creation and national development.