Building the Sri Lankan Knowledge Economy - Publication Launch

April 10, 2008 - The World Bank in partnership with LIRNE Asia, Point Pedro Institute of Development (PPID) and Distance Learning Center (DLC) recently launched the first in a series of dialogues on Building Sri Lanka's Knowledge Economy. The event was held in Colombo, with the participation of Vice Chancellors and senior officials of Sri Lankan higher education instititutes, Think Tanks, Government Officials, Donor organizations, NGOs and Media.

 The event commenced with the lighting of the traditional oil lamp, in a virtual setting, signifying the advancement of knowledge while preserving traditional cultural values.

Naoko Ishii, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka delivered the opening remarks welcoming the participants and defining the Knowledge Economy as “an Economy that creates, disseminates and uses Knowledge wisely for the growth and welfare of the country”. She also emphasized that the discussion will provide positive feedback towards how Sri Lanka can harness its existing and new knowledge for its economic advancement. She also stressed the importance of sharing knowledge to create new knowledge and to promote growth opportunities.

Ismail Radwan, World Bank Senior Private Sector Development Specialist and co-author of the publication titled "Building the Sri Lankan Knowledge Economy" said “knowledge is important for development. It’s not a new idea. Harnessing of knowledge has always been central to development…. the most important thing about the KE is not only about high tech industries. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel you just have to use the wheel….its about adapting existing technology."

The presentation focused on the four pillars of the Knowledge Economy as organized in this publication, with illustrations from the World Bank's Knowledge Assessment Methodology and examples from other World Bank knowledge sources such as the Doing Business report, which ranks Sri Lanka 101 out of 178 countries on the ease of Doing Business.

Speaking about the large numbers of scientists, Sri Lanka loses each year to prestigious positions such as at NASA, Radwan said “we need to promote a culture that is evidence based and open to intellectual enquiry and promotes ICT literacy. This is the goal of cultivating a scientific culture” and Sri Lanka needs to work wisely on cultivating its scientific culture that is welcoming to scientists and scientific enquiry.

Download the presentation

Next on the agenda was a panel discussion on each pillar of the Knowledge Economy. This was facilitated by Dr. Harsha de Silva (Lead Economist of LIRNEasia and a renowned media person).

Pillar 1 - Business Environment - Mr. Mike Udabage, (Director, Techne Ventures Sydney Australia) a Sri Lankan expatriate residing in Sydney Australia focused on the need to change the business culture in Sri Lanka by taking an example from grassroots level businessman who do business to make money.  Private Sector should take the lead in changing the business environment by simply asking the question “does my business make money?” and not by making changes to the businesses for the sake of being on par with the rest of the world.
“We need to manage our business environment, while policy makers should focus on making changes in the external business environment….innovation and technology is good, but it should make money” stressed Mr. Udabage.

Download the presentation

Pillar 2 - Information Infrastructure - Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, Executive Director of LIRNEasia and former Director General of Telecom explained the rapid changes that have taken place in Sri Lanka and in the world in terms of developing its information infrastructure. “I do not think we should simply look at the Government for all the solutions” said Prof. Samarajiva explaining the work around solutions that the companies are taking on their own and he insisted on encouraging these initiatives further.

Pillar 3 – Innovation System – A Critique – Dr. Sujatha Gamage, Director Knowledge Networks, LIRNEasia provided critical remarks to the pillar on “Innovation System” as illustrated in the publication launched.

Recommending a Knowledge network model of innovation or a systems model, Dr. Gamage quoted World Bank definition of Knowledge Management that captures the essence of a successful knowledge economy. “This necessarily should not be a system that is limited to the universities alone.” Said Dr. Gamage defining the KE according to the World Bank “Knowledge Management is connecting people to each other and to the information they need to effectively act…..it is a more decentralized diffused kind of innovation system”

Pillar 4 – Human Resources – Kabir Hashim, Member of Parliament, provided a historical overview of strengths, weaknesses and challenges faced by Sri Lanka over the years in first dealing with the challenges of an Open Economy and currently dealing with a Knowledge Economy. His presentation included a cross country comparison of Sri Lanka and other economies. Speaking as a politician and a former Minister of Tertiary education, Mr. Hashim concluded that politics is the most important thing that needs to be cleared up to develop Sri Lanka’s human capital. In conclusion he defined politics as  “the art of obtaining the money of the rich and the votes of the poor on the pretext of protecting one from another”

The discussion continued with a lively debate between the panelists and the audience.

Towards the end of the discussion, an essay competition for Sri Lankan University students and faculty members on “How to Build Sri Lanka’s Knowledge Economy?” was launched. The details of the competition and submission of essays can be found online on www.worldbank.lk. The deadline for the competition is May 20, 2008.