You might remember Dr. Muditha Senarath-Yapa from my previous podcast. He was the head of John Keells Research and the Vice President of John Keells Holdings. This time I invited him to talk about innovation, how to foster it from a young age and how it can benefit Sri Lanka in the years to come. Muditha is a seasoned New Technology Development Consultant and thrives in managing cross-functional research teams and driving groundbreaking projects at the forefront of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and advanced technologies. His passion lies in fusing scientific exploration with business acumen to deliver transformative solutions that propel companies to the forefront of their industries.

00:00 What is Innovation?

07:06 Science/innovation brought prosperity examples

13:43 What National plan would you propose to achieve this?

24:11 How can we foster this mindset from the school level

28:33 American kids selling candy in the park

30:54 We lack people’s skills

33:34 Is spending money on R&D is a waste?

46:03 Can small scale businesses do R&D?

54:50 Things you can do in your home/garage

01:01:19 Encourage hobbies among people

01:03:38 Challenges in taking product to market

01:09:54 Information at our fingertips

01:10:40 Allocate time to develop knowledge

01:13:43 Time to make change in our country