MAS recognised as one of South, Southeast Asia’s Most Influential Innovators

MAS Holdings CEO Suren Fernando (left) hands over South and South East Asia Innovation Awards received to MAS Holding Chief Innovation Officer Ranil Vitarana at a presentation yesterday in Colombo - Pic by Upul Abayasekara 

• Twinery, Innovations of the apparel giant, placed among top 28 winners of Annual Clarivate Award

Twinery, Innovations by MAS, was a recipient of the South and South East Asia Innovation Awards held recently. 

The awards are organised annually by Clarivate PLC (formerly Thompson Reuters) one of the global leaders in the intellectual property and innovation fraternity. This year the top 28 out of 235 organisations received the award.

This is the first time a Sri Lankan entity has won such an award. MAS Holdings is also the first apparel manufacturing entity to receive the prestigious recognition and joins other top 100 innovators including major conglomerates such as GE, the TATA Group, Petronas, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., and ITC Ltd., who have been recognised in the past. 

The awards are based on a rigorous analysis of patent volume, citation volume, patent success and the level of globalisation, using patent data from Derwent World Patents Index™ (DWPI) and Derwent Patent Citations Index (DPCI). This year, 235 organisations from academia, government and the corporate sector were identified as the top innovators in South and South East Asia. Among the top 28 who received the Innovation Award this year were, The National University of Singapore; The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India; Petronas, Malaysia; Siam Cement Group, Thailand; Indian Oil Corporation; Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. and the Welspun Group, India.

“We’ve come a long way in our IP journey, and this is truly a proud moment for MAS,” said Mahesh Amalean, Chairman, MAS Holdings. “At Twinery we explore ways to build new textile technologies and bring smarter apparel and soft-goods to the market. Innovation is part of the fabric at MAS.” 

Chief Innovation Officer Ranil Vitarana explained: “Environmental sensitivity and innovation are ingrained in the Twinery culture. As a result, we hire and partner with smart people to create and produce innovative, environmentally safe, intelligent clothes for smart consumers, and businesses.”

Explaining the portfolio of innovative products that have contributed to this recognition, Vitarana said: “Twinery has been working hard since 2014 to help women manage and support physical changes and health concerns through our FEMTECH pillar. A good example of this is ‘Become,’ which is a female-led start-up powered by MAS. ‘Become’ is focused on helping women control their menopause symptoms naturally. Our silky fabric is made from a mixture of complex yarns to create a lightweight material that is seamless, breathable and cool against the skin. Using our patented Anti-Flush Technology, which absorbs heat from the surface of the skin when it gets hot, then releases warmth back onto the body during the chill that follows.”

Vitarana continued: “Every cyclist would like to ensure that he or she would not meet with an accident because a driver couldn’t see them in the dark. Our solution is our patented illumination technology that can revolutionise the future of clothing. FIREFLY is a product that was honoured at the CES® 2017 Innovation Awards and received an award at ISPO. It is the only next-to-skin illumination technology that can easily be integrated into any gear, keeping you safe and visible at all times.

“Another of the Twinery innovations is SPRYNG. It is a powerful, completely wireless compression device that can get almost 90% of the blood from your lower extremities returning to your heart. With just 15 minutes of use, calf muscles that have been weakened by long bouts of sitting, standing or exercise, are refreshed.” Having raised over $ 1 million on Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, this product is making recovery and rejuvenation accessible to a larger audience. 

Adding to Vitarana’s comments, Mahesh Amalean reiterated: “We have a great team working on various innovations and they are the driving force behind innovative product development. This award is a tribute to our world class pool of young professionals working hard to come up with out-of-the box solutions. I’m very proud of our team. Today, we have a portfolio of 64 patent families and 170 patent applications filed globally, with patents filed in several countries including the USA, UK, Europe, China, Japan and Australia. We aim to achieve much more by 2025. At MAS, we are more than just an innovation company; we are a company built to harness the power of thread; a simple component, yet capable of great things. With our revolutionary breakthroughs, soon every thread will be a smart, intuitive thread.”