The Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිනිති තාක්ෂණ ආයතනය; ta, இலங்கை நனோ தொழில்நுட்ப நிறுவனம்) (abbreviated and commonly known as SLINTEC) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

research institute A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...

specialising in the field of

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

. It was incorporated in 2008 as a public-private partnership between the

Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...

and five private companies, and is notable for being the first public-private research institute in the country. In 2017, it was accredited as a degree-awarding institution by the

Ministry of Higher Education and Highways The State Ministry of Higher Education ( si, උසස් අධ්‍යාපන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය, translit=Usas Adh‍yāpana Rāj‍ya Amāt‍yāṅśaya; ta, உயர் கல்வி இராஜா� ...

, leading to the establishment of the SLINTEC Academy.

Background

The idea of a national science policy for Sri Lanka was first discussed in the 1980s, although the matter did not move forward in any concrete way for several decades due to the more pressing economic and budgetary needs of the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

on successive administrations. Nevertheless, a presidential taskforce was appointed in 1991 to examine possible policy actions to be taken in the field of the sciences. Further advancements came some years later, when the Science and Technology Act No. 11 of 1994 established, among others, the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

(NSF; formally founded in 1998 for funding scientific research in the country) and the National Science and Technology Commission (NASTEC; formally founded in August 1998 to formulate scientific policy) under the newly established Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST). Despite these efforts, R&D investments in the country were minimal, being just 0.19%

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...

in 2006 (0.11% in 2008), lower than regional peers such as India (0.61%) and Malaysia (0.63%), and generally holding at <0.2% through the years. This has been attributed to various factors, including a lack of an innovation culture in Sri Lanka and a risk-averse

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

that did not see much benefit in local R&D ventures. Sri Lanka has thus underperformed significantly in increasing the share of high technology exports as a percentage of its total manufactured exports when compared to regional peers such as India.

History

The National Nanotechnology Initiative was formed informally in the early 2000s as a collaborative effort between a group of expatriate Sri Lankan scientists and officials from the NSF and the MoST, seeking to promote nanotechnology research in Sri Lanka. The Initiative cited several other related objectives: *developing nanotechnology-based industry in Sri Lanka *attracting nanotechnology expertise of Sri Lankans both in the country and outside it *increasing the competitiveness of local industry through local R&D *value addition to national resources slated for exports *developing a local skills base centered around nanotechnology. The Initiative approached the minister of science and technology at the time,

Tissa Vitharana Upali Tissa Vitharana (born 30 August 1934) is a Sri Lankan politician, former Member of Parliament and former cabinet minister. He is the current leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), a member of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA ...

, going on to brief the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

in a presentation in November 2005. This resulted in a

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

memorandum the same year, proposing the formal commitment of the

to the initiative, which was approved by the cabinet on 23 August 2006. It defined a broad objective of generating a pool of experts with all necessary facilities for nanotechnology-based research at a national level. Due to a lack of funds, however, the project stagnated until the efforts of

Ravi Silva Ravi may refer to: People * Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director * Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist * Ravi (music director) (1926–201 ...

, a Sri Lankan professor and nanotechnology specialist at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...

, who persuaded five private companies to consider investing in the venture. The Ministry of Science and Technology announced a public-private partnership to establish a nanotechnology venture in 2007 with a holding company, NANCO (Pvt.) Ltd., being founded soon after. SLINTEC (through NANCO) was established with the state owning a 50% stake via an initial investment of LKR 250 million through the National Science Foundation, and five private sector partners each investing LKR 40 million and owning 10% stakes for a total

seed capital Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' su ...

of LKR 450 million. SLINTEC Interior210917

SLINTEC was incorporated as a private company in April 2008. In September of that year, the Board of Investment signed an agreement with NANCO for the development and management of a nanotechnology park in

Homagama Homagama is a town in the Colombo District, Sri Lanka, about south-east of Colombo. The Homagama Pradeshiya Sabha consists of the Homagama divisional secretariat and 10 GN division of Padukka DS division. The total Land area is about is of 90 ...

. SLINTEC was launched officially on 1 December 2008, with initial work taking place in a

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

; formal research work commenced on 12 August 2009, operating out of

MAS Holdings MAS Holdings, the largest apparel tech company in South Asia, is among the most recognized design-to-delivery solution providers in apparel and textile manufacturing across the world. The company was founded in 1987 by Mahesh, Sharad and Ajay Amal ...

' Silueta complex within the Biyagama Export Processing Zone, with research staff drawn from local universities. In 2010, NANCO was merged into SLINTEC. The construction of phase 1a of the Nanotechnology Center for Excellence on 50 acres of land within the Homagama Nanotechnology and Science Park began in June 2012, with the hexagonal facility formally opening on 21 October 2013. It currently houses both SLINTEC and the SLINTEC Academy, and a second hexagon is slated for completion by 2019. In 2013, Lankem joined SLINTEC as its sixth private sector partner. SLINTEC greenhouse 160118

In 2016, the Yunnan Rural Science and Technology Service Center helped establish a

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

within the Nanotechnology Park for use by SLINTEC.

Private sector collaboration

In March 2012, SLINTEC signed two commercial agreements: *One with Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. (NFCL), India. Funded by the

agrochemicals An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of ''agricultural chemical'', is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical refers to biocides (pesticides including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and nematicides) and syn ...

arm of its private sector partner Hayleys, SLINTEC had undertaken research into a nanoparticle-based slow-release fertilizer that reduced fertilizer loss through

leaching Leaching is the loss or extraction of certain materials from a carrier into a liquid (usually, but not always a solvent). and may refer to: * Leaching (agriculture), the loss of water-soluble plant nutrients from the soil; or applying a small amou ...

, microbial degradation and other methods (accounting for between 50-70% of conventional fertilizer wastage). NFCL bought the patent for the slow-release fertilizer for

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

2.2 million, acquiring rights for commercial production and distribution outside Sri Lanka. As part of the agreement, NFCL invested a further US$0.8 million as a seed fund for SLINTEC to develop second- and third-generation nanotechnology-based fertilizer products for NFCL. *Another with LAUGFS Holdings, wherein the two companies would establish a pilot plant to produce

titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891. It is a white solid that is insolubl ...

from the country's large

ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printing ...

mineral sands Heavy mineral sands are a class of ore deposit which is an important source of zirconium, titanium, thorium, tungsten, rare-earth elements, the industrial minerals diamond, sapphire, garnet, and occasionally precious metals or gemstones. Heavy m ...

reserves, ranked 9th in the world at close to 18 million

metric tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...

. The venture was based on SLINTEC research initially funded by the

Ministry of Technology and Research The Ministry of Technology ( si, තාක්ෂණ අමාත්‍යාංශය; ta, தொழில்நுட்ப அமைச்சு) is the cabinet ministry of the Government of Sri Lanka that directs the formulation and implem ...

and the National Science Foundation, drawing a LKR 80 million investment from LAUGFS. Other private sector clients of SLINTEC include MAS Holdings, Teejay Lanka PLC (formerly Textured Jersey),

CIC Holdings CIC Holdings PLC is a Sri Lankan conglomerate holding company engaged in merchandising and manufacturing chemical products. The company was incorporated in 1964 and listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange in the same year. Initially, the company was a ...

, British Cosmetics (who launched a new product range in June 2018 based on research carried out by SLINTEC) and Dynawash (introducing a new, environmentally friendly natural textile dyeing technology using biomass pigments). Reduced Graphene Oxide

Ceylon Graphene Technologies (Pvt) Ltd, a joint venture of LOLC Group and SLINTEC that aims to place Sri Lanka in the global market for

graphene Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure.

and associated products, was established in June 2018.

COVID-19-related technologies

In April 2020, SLINTEC announced that its scientists were able to reverse engineer Nasopharyngeal swab, nasopharyngeal swabs used for COVID-19 specimen collection and they have started manufacturing test kits consisting of Nasopharyngeal swabs and Oropharyngeal (Throat) swabs at a production capacity of 3,000 specimen collection kits per day.

Research focus areas

*Agriculture **Nanofertilizers **

Insecticides Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed to b ...

and

pesticides Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampric ...

**Targeted nutrient systems *Apparel/

textiles Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

** Nanofabrics ** Smart fabrics *

Energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

Graphene Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure.

**production of

graphene Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure.

from

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...

**graphene applications *Advanced materials *Healthcare **

Nutraceuticals A nutraceutical or bioceutical is a pharmaceutical alternative which claims physiological benefits. In the US, "nutraceuticals" are largely unregulated, as they exist in the same category as dietary supplements and food additives by the FDA, und ...

natural product A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical syn ...

research

SLINTEC Academy

, mottoeng = , type =

Graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

, established = 2017 , closed = , founder = , parent = Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology , affiliation = , academic_affiliation = , endowment = , budget = , officer_in_charge = , chancellor = Ishara Nanayakkara , president = , vice-president = , superintendent = , provost = Ranil Gunaratne , vice_chancellor = Veranja Karunaratne , academic_staff = 30 , administrative_staff = , postgrad = 27 , doctoral = 6 , address = Nanotechnology & Science Park, Mahenwatta, Pitipana , city =

10206 , country =

, coordinates = , campus = Urban , language = English , colors = , athletics_nickname = , website = , logo = File:Slintec_academy_logo_new.png , logo_size = 200 , logo_alt = , footnotes = The Academy of the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (also known as SLINTEC Academy) is a private non-profit

graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

, founded as SLINTEC's knowledge dissemination arm. The school offers

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

and PhD degrees in Nano- and Advanced Sciences, and was formally inaugurated on 22 September 2017 at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute. The Academy focuses on industry-oriented research as a core component of its course-/degree work, with a view towards creating a skills base within the country.

Establishment

Extraordinary

gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

2032/23 of the

recognized SLINTEC as a degree-awarding higher education institute on 16 August 2017. SLINTEC then established the Academy as a separate entity for the execution of the institute's educational mandate, with industrialist and entrepreneur

Mahesh Amalean Deshamanya Mahesh Amalean (born 4 April 1955) is a Sri Lankan engineer and industrialist. He is the current Chairman of MAS Holdings. Early life and education Amalean was born to parents with Gujarati ancestry, his father was in the family tex ...

appointed

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

. The school's first intake consisted of 19 students: 6 PhD- and 13 MPhil researchers.

References

External links

Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (official website)SLINTEC Academy (official website)Ceylon Graphene Technologies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology 2008 establishments in Sri Lanka Nanotechnology institutions Research institutes in Sri Lanka Universities and colleges in Colombo District Graduate schools in Sri Lanka