Home / MAIN IMAGE / MIT’s first Asian initiative buds young Lankan entrepreneurs

MIT’s first Asian initiative buds young Lankan entrepreneurs

  Published : 12:19 am  August 4, 2011  |  No comments so far  |     

By Cassandra Mascarenhas
For the first time in Asia, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Accelerating Information Technology Innovation Initiative (MIT AITI) in collaboration with the University of Moratuwa (UOM) hosted Demo Day 2011 yesterday, the culmination of a unique start-up incubator during which six teams of young entrepreneurs from the UOM pitched six start-ups based on mobile technology before an audience of distinguished guests from industry, academia and government.

AITI is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) programme that promotes economic development in emerging regions by cultivating a new generation of young technology entrepreneurs. Since its launch in 2000, AITI has conducted 32 programmes in six African countries and in total over 1,800 students have participated in a variety of intensive courses, from web programming to mobile technology.
This year marks AITI’s inaugural programme in Sri Lanka and at the same time marked this programme’s entrance into Asia, in cooperation with the University of Moratuwa. Through a demanding six week programme, AITI has guided six teams of UOM students in building real mobile software start-ups. At the Demo Day, each team publicly pitched their start-ups with the goal of attracting a round of funding and ultimately launch a profitable and sustainable enterprise.
With a panel of judges consisting of representatives from the three largest mobile service providers in Sri Lanka – Dialog, Mobitel and Etisalat, who were also co-sponsors of the event, as well as two other entrepreneurs from WSO2 and Microimage respectively evaluating the six start-ups, 29 students divided into groups of six presented their innovative start-ups based on mobile technology.
“Six weeks ago, we embarked on a pretty audacious journey. We took a big risk and decided that within six weeks we would, with some of the best students in this country, build up six start ups in such a brief period of time, start-ups based on mobile technology and today, we are happy to announce that we have been absolutely successful and today six start-ups will be launched,” stated the lead entrepreneurship instructor with MIT AITI Samidh Chakrabarti.  “Our programme is meant not only to produce companies, but to increase both innovator and investor confidence in a market whose time has come and this event is intended to serve as a catalyst for technology entrepreneurship in the Sri Lankan market, which is rich in technical talent.”
The programme which commenced on 27 June saw the students put to the test by three MIT-affiliated instructors who have been coaching a select group of twenty-nine UOM students in how to build software start-ups. The teams have undergone rigorous training in both business and technology en route to developing mobile applications that provide innovative solutions to important problems.
Previous AITI courses in other nations have been incredibly successful with several start-ups achieving profitability and serving as job creators in their regions. Given the technical sophistication of UOM, AITI believes that its programmes in Sri Lanka can break new ground.

Arsenic theory not diminished rice consumption

Arsenic theory not diminished rice consumption

Daily News 04/08/2011

Chamikara Weersinghe

The allegations of Arsenic presence in rice and pesticides by a group of scientists at Rajarata University have not affected the rice consumption in Sri Lanka, said Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute Deputy Director Research Dr Rupasena Liyanapathirana.

There has been a sharp increase in rice consumption instead, said Dr Liyanapathirana. The rice consumption has increased from 1.9 million metric tons to 2.2million metric tons over the last five years, he said.

Asked if they had conducted any research on arsenic content in rice, Liyanapathirana said they are currently gathering information about the allegation concerned, but they were unable to find any established theory to support this allegation.

Meanwhile, Registrar of Pesticides office in Peradeniya blamed the scientists at Rajarata University for creating any unwarranted fear in throughout the country over pesticides in rice. Pesticide Registrar Dr Anura Wijesekara said the scientists at Rajarata are yet to establish the truth about their findings concerning Arsenic presence in rice and pesticides.

They are expected to establish whether it was Arsenic in pesticides that caused the death of many farmers in agricultural areas due to kidney disease.

They have leaked their allegations and assumptions before they have been verified and this should not have been the case, Wijesekeara explained. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Customs is holding up 15 truck loads of pesticides at the port.

They have been lying there for nearly two months for tests to be conducted for the presence of Arsenic and other hazardous chemicals. A Customs official said the consignments will be released after tests while importers have questioned about the delay in the release of their goods.

Moratuwa University to draw up conservation plan

Recently discovered Dutch bunker in Galle Fort

August 3, 2011, 10:04 pm

By Pabodha Hettige

The Archeological Department of Moratuwa University has been entrusted with the task of drawing up a conservation plan for the newly discovered Dutch bunker at the Galle Fort.

Project Planning officer of the Galle Heritage Foundation (GHF), Tharanga Liyanarachchi said that the bunker was discovered on August 1 under the clock tower of the Galle Fort. The GHF believes that the bunker had been built in the 1680’s and was used by the Dutch as a military chamber.

"Once the conservation proposal is finalized a team of archeologists from the Department of Archeology will carry out the conservation preserving all the Dutch archeological characters," Liyanarachchi said. Once conservation is comleted the GHF is planning to open the newly discovered bunker along with nine others, discovered previously, to the public in 2012. The new bunker, made out of clay plaster, limestone and coral is regarded as the biggest inside the Galle Fort and it had not been subjected to any kind of renovations during the British period, he said.

Parallel to the conservation, the GHF, along with the Road Development Authority, will be engaged in renovating 21 roads inside the Galle Dutch Fort, Liyanarachchi said.

He also said that already 40 per cent of renovation has been finished and the estimated cost for the whole project is nearly Rs. 200 million and it will be funded by the Ministry of Economic Development. "One the renovation project is completed and the archeological heritage opened to the public it will help to boost the tourism industry in Galle," Liyanarachchi said.