Helixionn Innovations wins Gold Award for Innovation of the Year at Sahasak Nimavum

An initiative towards empowerment of the local Kithul Industry of Sri Lanka

The “Semi Automated Flat Pan for kithul treacle processing” developed and commercialized by Helixionn Innovations, an institution dedicated to promoting scientific innovations of Sri Lanka through local and global partnerships, won the Gold Award for the “Innovation of the Year for the year 2021” under the commercialized category at the Sahasak Nimavum National Invention and Innovation Competition held recently. The semi-automated flat pan for kithul treacle processing is designed to ease the process of producing kithul treacle. It is a locally designed and developed semi-automated system that can be used by both large scale and medium scale producers of kithul treacle to increase the efficiency of production while maintaining the quality of the treacle. National Invention and Innovation competition is an annual event organized by the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission (SLIC).

“Everyone likes kithul treacle but producing high quality kithul treacle at large scale is a difficult process. Our invention makes the process so much easier. The product adheres to ISO 22000 standards ensuring that the food produced is safe for human consumption. It is LP gas operated and could even be used even in a household. It allows 200 liters of fresh sap to be turned into quality treacle in less than 6 hours,” said the Co-Director, Mr. Thisal Gamage, commenting on the award. He added that the machine can also be used to produce treacle and jaggery using crops such as Palmyrah and Coconut with minor adjustments.  Mr. Damkith, the co-director, also thanked all stakeholders at Helixionn Innovations and said they are committed to revolutionizing the trend of innovations in Sri Lanka.  Helixionn Innovations established in the year 2020 continues to render dedicated services to develop strategies, conceptual designs, pilot scale processes and technology tools to meet the research and innovation demands of the customers in the fields of life sciences, biotechnology and automation while focusing on placing local innovations on the global map.

Co-director Mr. Thisal Gamage, Co-director Mr. Damkith Weerasinghe and Project Coordinator Ms. Suvini Karunaratne at Sahasak Nimavum awards ceremony