Sri Lanka to set up an innovation agency 

The Government of Sri Lanka recently passed a bill to establish a National Innovation Agency (NIA) to promote innovation and research at the country level.

Working closely with the government to initiate and fund national innovation programmes is said to be the prime agenda of the NIA. This is expected to not only support the nation’s economic goals but also facilitate a creative economy.

Dr. Niranjala Nanayakkara, Director General of Innovation and Research of the Presidential Secretariat, had previously stated that it was imperative to identify gaps in ongoing innovative initiatives before moving forward.


The NIA would be instrumental in identifying obstacles to innovation and work towards rectifying them.

It is also set to ensure that the government formulates national policies with regard to innovation and research.

On the whole, the NIA claims to “promote [a] better understanding on social innovation, science and technology innovation, defence innovation, eco-innovation and service innovation, and their impact on the economy.”

In the past, the Citra social innovation lab has conducted design thinking workshops to operationalise the new agency. Through its network of partners, Citra expects to be able to introduce international expertise to assist the NIA.