Sri Lanka’s innovative economic strategy has been developed under three pillars, namely, that of making the SMEs more digitally competitive, making companies more globally competitive and scaling up the start-ups to reach the next level. The country is in need of more growth drivers and the next spurt of growth should come from innovation, Advisor, Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, Anushkha Wijesinha said.
The country lags behind digital leaders and there is significant disparity between cross sectors. The sectors of agriculture, manufacture and tourism have the potential of contributing three percent more for the GDP growth if they concentrate on innovation and technology, he said at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce organised ‘Future of Business’ seminar held on the theme ‘Innovation in Action’ in Colombo last week.
However, he noted that adaptation of new technology is accelerating in the country at present.
“We need to attract, develop and retain youth to the skilled labour force. This indicates that we need to have a comprehensive view on the human resource policies adopted. As Sri Lanka has a unique position and opportunity to leapfrog among the competitive countries we should not miss this opportunity provided by the use of technological advancement”, he said.
Today, many of the companies lack financial discipline, governance and effective board of management. They should look at the core competencies and new business models and recognise customers’ journeys which are supported by innovative digital products and services, Partner, McKinsey & Co, Ganaka Herath said.
The country needs an innovative culture and business model innovation. It is also important to have an innovative strategy, incremental innovation, innovative deal activity. It is necessary to transform the mindset and have digital investment portfolios, digital products and services. There should be a clearly defined road map of initiatives at the end of the innovative strategy which will need to be executed for the end results, he said.
“Innovation is the next motivation to retain human resources in an organisation. The three aspects of innovation are task motivation, expertise and creative skills. The intellectual culture will drive innovative culture and mapping customer journey, product and price comparison and proactive strategy to take customer demands head-on will be necessary in modern commercial world,” he said.
Sri Lankan government is moving towards addressing the bottle neck issues in innovation and there are diverse agents of change where the country has undermined their importance.
The country is a hard place to get in and no country can be exclusively rely on locally born talent to achieve development, Director of Havard Centre for International Development and Professor of the Practice of Economic Development at the Kennedy School of Government Prof. Ricardo Haussmann said.
“Without foreign expertise the country is missing getting the knowhow. In the case of the USA, we rely on international talents. In Singapore and Hong Kong there are 46 and 40 percent migration population respectively. Many companies in Sri Lanka were started by immigrants or with connections made while living abroad. International connection is an opportunity for development,” he said.
The ‘Future of Business’ event was a part of Chamber’s initiative to help drive and foster innovation for local businesses.
It aims to disseminate knowledge and highlight the practical challenges or opportunities in innovation and business development through these events.