Goal 09: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure

The University of Kelaniya (UOK) plays a pivotal role in advancing SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure across Sri Lanka. Recognizing that sustainable industrial development and technological innovation are vital engines for national economic resilience, UOK integrates academic research with real-world industrial applications. Through dedicated institutional bodies—including the Centre for Technology Transfer & Industry Linkage (CTTIL), the Faculty of Computing and Technology (FCT), the Center for Sustainability Solutions (CSS), and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre—the university maintains an ecosystem that accelerates research commercialization, retrofits physical campus infrastructure for energy efficiency, and equips graduates with industry-ready competencies. 

Technological Innovation, Patents & Industry-Academia Linkages

1. Electronics Design and Innovation Centre (EDIC)

The Electronics Design and Innovation Centre (EDIC) is an official specialized technical unit housed within the Department of Physics and Electronics under the Faculty of Science at the University of Kelaniya. Designed to bridge academic electronic theory with real-world physical manufacturing, EDIC serves as the university's primary laboratory for hardware R&D, circuit prototyping, signal measurement, and electronic testing. It provides undergraduate students, postgraduate researchers, and hardware founders with specialized diagnostic tools, rapid circuit fabrication equipment, and expert faculty mentorship.

• Hardware Prototyping & Testing: Houses specialized design laboratories equipped with high-precision oscilloscopes, signal generators, logic analyzers, and rapid printed circuit board (PCB) prototyping systems.

• Specialized R&D Mentorship: Faculty researchers and engineering assistants provide technical guidance in embedded IoT architectures, microcontroller programming, wireless power transfer, automated electronics, and renewable energy technologies (such as solar photovoltaic/PV energy harvesting and battery management systems).

• Industrial Validation & Standards Alignment: Collaborates with government and industrial bodies—including the National Engineering Research and Development Centre (NERD), the Export Development Board (EDB), and local manufacturing firms—to conduct structural stress testing, safety auditing, and commercialization refinement for locally designed hardware products.

• Upgrading Scientific Research Capabilities: EDIC directly enhances national scientific research capacity by providing student inventors and researchers with state-of-the-art diagnostic tools, enabling high-tier hardware innovation within Sri Lanka.

• Sustainable Retrofitting & Green Technology: The center's focus on low-power IoT automation, wireless power management, and solar PV harvesting helps retrofit traditional hardware systems with energy-efficient, environmentally sound technologies.

• Domestic Tech Development & Value Addition: By guiding hardware inventions from raw circuit schematics to tested, market-ready products, EDIC facilitates domestic technology development, reduces reliance on imported electronic components, and strengthens local manufacturing supply chains.

 For more Details:-science.kln.ac.lk/units/edaic/ 

                             science.kln.ac.lk/units/edaic/index.php/research/industry-oriented-projects 

2. Industry Interaction Cell for Computing and Technology (IICFCT) / Industry Hub

 The Industry Interaction Cell for Computing and Technology (IICFCT)—commonly referred to as the FCT Industry Hub—is the official industry bridge and software innovation ecosystem for the Faculty of Computing and Technology (FCT). The hub fosters structured, long-term partnerships between university talent, global ICT corporations, software exporters, and industrial manufacturing leaders.

• Industry-Academia Collaboration: Initiates and manages Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), joint R&D initiatives, industry-sponsored laboratories, guest lectures, and structured internship placements.

• Industry Advisory Council Engagement: Works alongside an active Industry Advisory Council featuring executives from leading organizations (e.g., IFS, SLASSCOM, Zebra Technologies Lanka, Orel Corporation, Hemas Manufacturing, Ceylon Biscuits Limited, and Brandix) to align academic curricula with modern industry standards.

• Multidisciplinary Innovation Labs: Operates specialized computing zones and makerspaces focused on industrial automation and robotics, sustainable technology, software engineering, artificial intelligence, and materials/process technology.

• Skill Bootcamps & Hackathons: Hosts national technical design competitions, coding bootcamps, and career readiness programs to prepare students for rapid deployment into high-tech sectors.

• Expanding ICT Infrastructure & Capability: The hub expands advanced computing facilities and high-performance software environments, increasing student access to information technology and advanced software engineering frameworks.

• Inclusive Industrialization & Economic Diversificatio: By connecting academic software research directly with IT exporters and industrial enterprises, IICFCT drives the growth of Sri Lanka’s knowledge economy and diversifies national industries into high-value digital services.

• Resource-Efficient Technologies: Research projects undertaken within the hub focus on smart grid analytics, automated workflow tools, clean-tech software, and process optimization that improve resource efficiency across industrial operations.

For more details:fct.kln.ac.lk/industry-hub 

Industry Consultative Forum 2025

CNC Machining Workshop for FCT Students 

 Signs Strategic MoU with Sri Lanka Inventors Commission to Accelerate Venture Commercialization 

 Entrepreneurship Workshop for Sport Science and Physical Education Undergraduates 

4. Centre for Technology Transfer & Industry Linkage (CTTIL / UBL Cell)

The Centre for Technology Transfer & Industry Linkage (CTTIL) serves as the university-wide central University Business Linkage (UBL) Cell at the University of Kelaniya. Operating under the guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC Circular No. 10/2016), CTTIL is the central administrative body responsible for protecting intellectual property, managing technology transfer, and negotiating commercial licensing agreements between UOK research units and private sector industries.

• Intellectual Property Portfolio Management: Manages UOK's entire IP lifecycle, handling Invention Disclosure Forms (IDFs), patent applications (both local and PCT international filings), industrial design registrations, and trademark filings.

• Commercial Licensing & Negotiation: Drafts, reviews, and executes Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), and commercial License Agreements (such as landmark license agreements executed with major industrial partners like Orel Corporation).

• Startup & Spin-Off Formation: Establishes formal guidelines and support systems for university spin-off companies derived from academic research outcomes.

• Commercialization Capacity Building: Organizes specialized workshops on technology valuation, licensing negotiation, and IP management for academic staff and postgraduate researchers.

• Domestic Technology Diversification & Commercialization : CTTIL acts as the legal and commercial bridge that transfers locally developed technologies into Sri Lanka's industrial market, fostering value addition and technological self-reliance.

• Upgrading R&D Capabilities via Private Investment: By executing commercial licenses and joint R&D agreements, CTTIL channels private-sector capital directly back into university research laboratories, building sustainable long-term research infrastructure.

• Sustainable Industrialization: Ensures that patented innovations—ranging from sustainable chemical processes to energy-efficient industrial devices—are deployed at scale to solve real-world industrial and infrastructure challenges across the country.

Industry-Sponsored R&D Projects

The University of Kelaniya (UoK) has established a market-responsive ecosystem addressing complex industrial challenges across supply chain optimization, industrial automation, and advanced data analytics. This operational framework is anchored by two key institutional facilitators: the Industry Interaction Cell for Computing and Technology (IICFCT) under the Faculty of Computing and Technology (FCT), which aligns academic research priorities with enterprise needs alongside an active industry advisory council, and the Centre for Technology Transfer & Industry Linkage (CTTIL), which manages intellectual property (IP) portfolios, patents, and licensing agreements to commercialize campus innovations within commercial markets.

In data analytics and digital transformation, UoK leverages corporate partnerships and targeted postgraduate curricula to clear enterprise bottlenecks. A strategic MoU between the Department of Industrial Management and Mastercard Sri Lanka drives research in digital transformation while recognizing top talent through the Mastercard Digital Excellence Award. Collaborations with partners like Acuity Knowledge Partners and meetups such as PyData Sri Lanka expand national expertise in Python, artificial intelligence, and data engineering. Additionally, the multidisciplinary Master of Data Analytics (MDA) program equips professionals with practical machine learning, predictive modeling, and AI tools to streamline data-driven organizational workflows.

UoK’s advancements in industrial automation and telecommunications are supported by high-impact corporate alliances. A major corporate partnership with Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT-MOBITEL) fuels industrial research in governance, smart transportation, and agricultural automation, backed by SLT-MOBITEL’s campus-wide IP/MPLS enterprise network infrastructure. Highlighting its commercialization capabilities, UoK executed a landmark licensing agreement with Infosoft Lanka (Pvt) Ltd to market a campus-invented data communication technology that solves critical technical bottlenecks in wired industrial automation and Industrial IoT (IIoT) frameworks. Furthermore, through the Faculty of Science and Department of Industrial Management, UoK collaborates with Orel Corporation and Orel IT on automated IoT hardware, off-grid power systems, and IT infrastructure consultancy.

To optimize regional supply chains and distribution networks, UoK partners with TRACE—a premier tech-driven innovation ecosystem—to foster interdisciplinary research, startup incubations, and workflow optimization solutions. Concurrently, academic researchers in the Department of Industrial Management analyze regional logistics obstacles, conducting empirical studies on the drivers, barriers, and implementation frameworks for integrating Blockchain technology into Sri Lanka’s logistics sector. Through these unified facilitators, specialized degree programs, commercial agreements, and cross-sector partnerships, UoK serves as a primary engine for domestic technology transfer and industrial innovation.

Molecular & Advanced Research Labs

The Molecular & Advanced Research Labs at the University of Kelaniya (UoK) operate as an interdisciplinary ecosystem bridging physical science and computational engineering across the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Computing and Technology (FCT). Strategic governance is shared among three primary units: the Research Center of FCT (RC-FCT), the Research and Services Centre (RSC), and the Central Equipment Laboratory (CEL)—a centralized, high-end instrumentation repository established through national grants (such as HETC and AHEAD) and aligned with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) standards. Operations center around three core research pillars: genetic analysis and molecular biology (led by the Department of Plant and Molecular Biology), material science and clean technology (anchored by the Photovoltaic and Solar Energy Material Research Group within Physics, Electronics, and Chemistry), and computational integration (FCT), which uses bioinformatics and machine learning simulations to model data parallel to wet-lab testing.

Access to these labs nurtures talent across all academic levels while supporting regional industry collaboration. Undergraduates in specialized programs—such as the B.Sc. Hons in Molecular Biology & Plant Biotechnology or Biosystems Technology—receive hands-on training with industry-standard equipment, culminating in mandatory final-year research projects. Postgraduate candidates (M.Phil. and Ph.D.) work alongside principal investigators on grant-funded initiatives. Beyond academia, the network functions as a regional analytical and testing center for agricultural, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing enterprises. The Industry Interaction Cell of FCT (IICFCT) and CEL actively manage commercial testing contracts, technical consultancies, and technology transfer pathways to bring laboratory breakthroughs into the commercial sector.

This integrated laboratory network directly advances United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure). By maintaining state-of-the-art analytical tools within CEL and fostering cross-faculty research, UoK strengthens domestic scientific research capabilities and elevates technical R&D standards (SDG Target 9.5). Clean-tech innovations developed by the Photovoltaic and Material Science research groups support SDG Target 9.4 by introducing energy-efficient materials and sustainable industrial inputs. Furthermore, by opening advanced testing infrastructure to local businesses and small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) and transferring patented technologies via IICFCT, UoK facilitates domestic technology development, industrial diversification, and local value addition (SDG Target 9.b), establishing university-led research as a driver of resilient national growth.

For more details:-  medicine.kln.ac.lk/depts/bchem/index.php/research-and-service-component 

                              science.kln.ac.lk/depts/bota/ 

                              science.kln.ac.lk/units/cel/ 

Short Course on Tropical Plant Diversity, Diseases and Diagnostics at Department of Plant and Molecular Biology 

Workshop on ‘Mammalian Cell Culture, Cytogenetics and Techniques in Molecular Biology’ at Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Chemistry  

Campus Infrastructure & Digital Transformation

High-Speed Network & Campus ICT Centre

The Information and Communication Technology Centre (ICTC) at the University of Kelaniya operates as the core independent unit orchestrating the institution's computing, networking, and enterprise digital architecture. ICTC establishes a robust campus network backbone featuring an integrated fiber-optic infrastructure and maintains universal connectivity tools, including high-speed Kelani WiFi, secure remote access via Kelani VPN, and centralized cloud communication through Kelani Mail for students, faculty, and administrative staff. Complementing this physical and digital network, the centralized IT HelpDesk and online management portals streamline identity verification, credential security, student course registrations, and cross-faculty technical support. By establishing a high-bandwidth, reliable, and secure digital environment, ICTC directly fulfills SDG Target 9.c (significantly increasing access to information and communications technology) and SDG Target 9.1 (developing quality, reliable, and resilient infrastructure), guaranteeing uninterrupted academic delivery, secure administrative operations, and continuous remote research capabilities across all university campuses.

For more Details:- ict.kln.ac.lk/ 

E-Learning & Administrative Modernization

Building upon its network foundation, UoK’s academic delivery and administrative workflows rely on specialized e-learning platforms and paperless operational modules designed to maximize resource-use efficiency. The university operates dedicated Learning Management Systems tailored to distinct academic tiers, including e-Kelaniya (eKel) for undergraduate degree programs, alongside specialized platforms such as the Postgraduate LMS (PGLMS) and Diploma LMS (DPLMS). These academic portals integrate with enterprise collaboration suites—including Microsoft Office 365 and Zoom—to support hybrid lectures, digital assignment submissions, interactive virtual seminars, and cross-departmental research projects. In parallel, administrative modernization is driven by digital service modules such as the digital evaluation system (EVAL) and automated online payment gateways. These paperless e-services significantly reduce physical paper consumption, optimize administrative processing times, and streamline institutional resource management, aligning directly with SDG Target 9.4 by upgrading organizational infrastructure to enhance resource-use efficiency and adopt modern, environmentally sound operational processes.

For more Details:-www.kln.ac.lk/services/lms-zoom-eservices 

                             fgs.kln.ac.lk/ 

Energy-Efficient Building Retrofits

Beyond software networks, UoK integrates physical campus development with clean energy technology R&D and building retrofits. The university functions as a national institutional center for renewable energy innovation, hosting advanced research and prototype manufacturing initiatives for Sri Lankan solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in collaboration with national energy and scientific bodies. Concurrently, physical campus complexes undergo progressive energy-efficiency retrofits coordinated alongside the Center for Sustainability Solutions (CSS). Strategic physical upgrades include installing rooftop solar PV arrays across lecture complexes, replacing legacy lighting with energy-efficient LED arrays, and optimizing climate control through inverter-based intelligent HVAC systems to lower the campus carbon footprint. By combining physical building retrofits with active solar technology manufacturing, UoK simultaneously advances SDG Target 9.4 (retrofitting infrastructure with clean, environmentally sound technologies) and SDG Target 9.5 (enhancing scientific research and upgrading technological capabilities).

Educational Training Project on Prototype Manufacturing of Solar Panels

Signs an Agreement with Green Building Council of Sri Lanka