Thilanga assures to revitalise Centre of Excellence for Robotics Applications

Monday, 3 February 2020 00:53 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

State Minister of Technology and Innovation Thilanga Sumathipala has assured to revitalise the Centre of Excellence for Robotics Applications (CERA) to achieve its fullest potential.

He said he would directly intervene in addressing the deficiencies of CERA aiming at its successful transformation into an advanced technological centre. The Minister made these remarks during an observation visit, he made to the said institution which currently functions under the purview of the State Ministry of Technology and Innovation under the present government.

“This institution was initiated as a public-private partnership project several years ago and is now in an inoperative condition. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has taken steps to place this institution, which functioned under a different ministry during the days of the earlier government, under the scope of our ministry,” State Minister Sumathipala said.

“We will do our maximum to take this centre of excellence for robotics application to the maximum state of development that it could achieve within the next two years. This will ensure the acquisition of higher production capacity for our industries. The application of robotics would benefit industries by way of lowering the production costs and increasing the efficiency of the production process as well as resulting in a higher level of finishing for our local products. Our objective is to transform this centre into a pilot institution. I will personally intervene in the development of the centre. We have to make an investment on the centre in order to build a country based on novel technologies in line with vistas of prosperity.”

By converting the CERA to a pilot institution, the children of the future generations would be given the opportunity to rally around this technology as well as enabling youths to improve their knowledge. Also a platform would be created for industrialists who expect large production capacity to elevate themselves to the next technological tier.

Additional Secretary to the Ministry Saman Perera, and a group of officials of the Co-ordinating Secretariat for Technology and Innovation were also present on this occasion.