Science and Technology Inputs for Information and Communication Infrastructure Development in Sri Lanka

New information and communication technologies will arrive on the market at a fast and furious pace. Two technologies of immediate relevance to information and communication infrastructure (ICI) development are broadband access and secure servers. Emerging features of an ICI include distributed computing and associated communications; sophistication of end-devices through links to global positioning systems, sensors that detect and transmit environmental conditions, unique identity systems; and Public key infrastructures for secure and authenticated commercial transactions or e-commerce. ICI developments in Sri Lanka will continue to be driven through private sector investments. An ICI develops in response to the supply of technologies and the demand by users. Given the pace of technology developments and the globalized nature of markets, the most important S&T input to ICI development is a workforce that is able to take the technologies and provide innovative solutions to e-business, e-government, and e-society uses of an ICI. In the long-term, the country needs to develop some capacity to innovate. In S&T capacity building strategies the role of the private sector is often underestimated, attempts are made to develop ‘appropriate’ technologies where they do not make economic sense, and public–private partnerships are prescribed for situations where the public sector simply does not have the S&T capacity necessary for such partnerships. We propose a strategy where the role of the government is to (a) provide an environment that enables industry to build their own R&D capacity through trade, direct foreign investment (DFI) or licensing relationships, (b) recognize that the universities in Sri Lanka are essentially teaching institutions and ensure that these institutions focus on preparing an innovative workforce, (c) nurture existing pockets of research excellence in the public sector that contribute to new knowledge, product development, or education and training; phase out other investments, (d) liberalize policies for private-public partnerships and (e) assess the performance of public and private sectors on a continuing basis through comparisons with institutions in other countries and loop back that information to the policymaking and funding processes.