Sri Lanka has the manufacturing base ready, and 85 percent of Sri Lanka’s industrial economy is concentrated on manufacturing. In the Global Innovation Index 2014, we rank at 69 in “innovation infrastructure” close to Thailand and Brunei, said Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen,
addressing the launch event of INCO 2015 at the Staff Training Centre of Rajagiriya recently.INCO is reportedly the largest and most influential engineering related and Customer Focused annual Industrial Exhibition and Trade Fair in Sri Lanka. It is almost the only customer focused exhibition conducted by a professional organization in Sri Lanka.

“I am given to understand that the dedicated INCO organizing Committee and Institute of Incorporated Engineers of Sri Lanka are now moving to make INCO as the most customer-focused exhibition in South Asia in the near future -a sign of the great progress of this event since its commencement. There is no doubt that the success of INCO is good news for not only our engineering but more importantly, our industry sector” said Minister Bathiudeen. “Approximately 680000 people are engaged in the industry and 12 percent centred on the second aspect of our industrial economy -that is mining sector. The third aspect of our industrial economy which is the ‘electricity gas and water sector’ takes only 0.19 percent of it, but still plays a key role. Within the manufacturing sector, the largest number of establishments are under the “food and beverages sub sector” with 4250 establishments and 127,000 persons engaged in them.
“As a former student of Engineering, I am pleased to note of the many awards being handed over to achievers at the INCO.

These awards have continuously encouraged entrepreneurs, keen engineering students, other upcoming engineering talents of the future and more importantly our innovators. Sri Lanka has been ranked at 105 among 143 countries in the Global Innovation Index 2014.Within this index, we rank at 69 in “innovation infrastructure” sub index staying close to Thailand and Brunei. When it comes to the most important “Innovation Output Sub-index” we are at rank 81 doing better than Philippines and Nigeria.

What I stress here today is that efforts such as today’s INCO play a fundamental role in our advancement in the rankings such as t he i nnovation i ndex.” The Mega Industrial exhibition INCO 2015, to be held in June 2015, has also become a special platform for entrepreneurs to identify new projects, manufacturers and suppliers and also to an opportunity to network. The event expects to see participation of SAARC countries in a significant way.