Sri Lanka's first ever nanotechnology park 'Nanotechnology Centre of Excellence' (NCE) put up with state and private investment will be opened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at 10.30 a.m. on October 21.

It was constructed under the first phase of the Science Park being built in Pitipana in Homagama.

The park was constructed with an investment of Rs. 2,081.5 million, of which the government's investment was Rs 1,771.5 million, with the private sector investing Rs 310 million. MAS, Brandix, Dialog, Heyleys, Loadstar and Lankem are the private stakeholders of the project. The Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) was established in 2008 and it started research work in 2009. The SLINTEC has obtained 8 international patents and 2 local patents as at present and it hopes to provide commercial scale services using these patents in the near future.

The SLINTEC team is comprised of 23 young research officers, four engineers and four senior professors and it is headed by Prof. Weranja Karunarathna and Prof. Nalin de Silva.

Technology and Research Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said the Science Park once completed will play a decisive role in sustainable development and economic advancement.

The NCE aims to produce new products based on natural materials suitable for the competitive world market, and to implement research and development programmes to identify and solve local and international issues in the fields of agriculture, health and water purification etc.

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Nanotechnology Centre of Excellence opens on Monday