The National Science Foundation (NSF) is mandated to carry out the National R&D survey biennially to capture the R&D status of the county in terms of resource deployment and related outputs. The whole R&D landscape is segregated into four sectors viz. Government, Higher Education, Business Enterprises and Private Non-profit to ensure comprehensive coverage of data.
The Business Enterprise (BE) sector encompasses R&D activities carried out by the corporate sector. R&D performance of this sector is a vital indicator of the nation’s innovation capacity and the extent of commercialization driven by industrial R&D. The data from this sector is crucial for guiding national development strategies, especially by leveraging the potential of the rapidly evolving BE sector. Therefore, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), as the principal authority for national statistics in Sri Lanka, is the most appropriate collaborating partner for the NSF in obtaining R&D data for the BE sector and hence the accuracy and reliability of these data is ensured. Therefore, the NSF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the second time with the DCS for a period of five years which is significant to the NSF.
The Higher Education (HE) sector also plays a salient role in national R&D efforts in Sri Lanka. In order to gather accurate data from this sector, collaboration with the University Grants Commission (UGC) is essential being the primary coordinating entity for State universities and other higher education institutions in Sri Lanka. In order to strengthen this collaborative partnership, a MoU was also signed between the NSF and the UGC for the third time or the next five years.
These partnerships are vital for the NSF to collect reliable R&D data and produce accurate national R&D indicators enabling policymakers, planners, researchers, scientists, technologists etc. for evidence-based decision making. National level R&D statistics obtained from this R&D survey are submitted to UNESCO Institute of Statistics and SDG data portal Sri Lanka.
The MoU with the DCS was signed on 18th June 2025, followed by the MoU signed with the UGC on 19th June 2025. Senior officials representing both institutes participated on these two occasions. Mrs. D.D.G.A Senevirathne, Director General of DCS, Mr. E.M.M.K Ekanayaka and Dr J.S.N.P Dharmawardana, Deputy Directors of the Industries, Construction Trade and Services Statistics Division, Mr. Jayathilaka and Ms. Bandara, Statisticians of the Division participated representing the DCS. Senior Professor Kapila Seneviratne, Chairman UGC, Dr Priyantha Premakumara, Secretary UGC, Ms. Dinusha Jayawardena and Ms. Kandana Arachchi, Assistant Statisticians of the UGC attended the event representing the UGC. Prof. Saman Seneweera, Chairman, Dr Sepalika Sudasinghe, Director General, Dr Shantha Siri, Additional Director and the heads of the Divisions of the NSF attended the event representing the NSF.