The EU-Sri Lanka Innovation Partnership (EU-SLIP) is organising the Stocktaking Info Session on 7 October. It is the culmination of the project, where project achievements, challenges and lessons learned will be presented.

The results of each project activity will be summarised to draw conclusions and receive feedback from innovation stakeholders. Participants will be invited to share their testimonials, discuss overall experience of involvement in the project and future needs to ensure effective, continuous collaboration between Sri Lanka and Europe.

“Horizon Europe” (2021 – 2027)
13 October 2021 from 12.30 to 16.30 (Sri Lanka time) Virtual Event

The EU-SLIP project in cooperation with the EU Delegation in Sri Lanka and relevant Sri-Lankan authorities, invites stakeholders from the Research and Innovation sectors as well as researchers from the public and private sectors to participate in the Horizon Europe Information Day that will take place online on 13 October 2021 from 12.30 to 16.30 (Sri Lanka time). The Info Day will give to the attendees the opportunity to receive information about the structure of Horizon Europe as well as on the modalities for participation in the calls for proposals. In parallel, the participants will be able to ask questions in an interactive way throughout the event. The virtual event link will be shared at a later date.

The preliminary agenda is attached herewith

For registration please send an email to: george.bonas@ceriss.eu.

The EU-Sri Lanka Innovation Partnership (EU-SLIP) has launched an AI Thematic Challenge! This initiative is aimed at European and South Asian startups leveraging AI and related technologies for sustainable development across sectors! Through this thematic challenge, startups from South Asia and Europe working on similar AI solutions will be matched to each other in order to collaborate/ co-create complementary innovative AI solutions and venture into new markets together.

How can startups participate?

European and South Asian startups deploying AI technologies in any of the sustainable development goals related sectors i.e. the financial services, healthcare, education, agriculture, water, transportation sectors etc., are kindly requested to submit an application via this link. Startups are requested to submit an application as soon as possible as we have exciting opportunities for the AI startups that end up being matched!

Next steps

The EU-SLIP team will review the startup applications received and as a next step, match startups from Europe and South Asia with an overlap or fit in sector/product/technology/business model. The matched startups will be introduced to each other so they can discuss potential areas of co-development and co-creation.

Moreover, a selected number of startups that participate in this AI thematic challenge will be invited to participate in the EU-South Asia Help Desk Interactive workshop and Matchmaking Session taking place on 18 June 2021. This networking and startup matchmaking workshop will provide the startups with the opportunity to network with startups from the other region as well as find out about market access and internationalisation support opportunities into the EU/South Asian markets.

Please contact the EU-SLIP Team (eu-srilanka@servicefacility.eu) for any questions or clarification needed on the EU-SLIP AI thematic challenge.

This toolbox will be a one stop shop to provide services, guidelines, international networks, processes and standards for internationalization. The aim is to address the main challenges to internationalization that EU and South Asian start-ups face by providing them with:

• Access to international networks
• Access to information on opportunities and events
• Access to mentors
• Access to soft landing hubs
• Standards and processes for internationalization
• Access to funding, investors, customers and partners

Stakeholders in Europe and South Asia are kindly asked to share information on the support services, events and general opportunities they offer to international start-ups via email (eu-srilanka@servicefacility.eu).

All information received will be consolidated and uploaded onto the EU-SLIP webpage so that it is easily accessible for start-ups ready to leverage international business opportunities. Should you have further feedback or questions regarding the toolbox, please get in touch with us via email.

The EU-Sri Lanka Innovation Partnership (EU-SLIP) has launched an Agritech Thematic Challenge! Through this Agritech thematic challenge, Sri Lankan and European agritech startups deploying disruptive solutions that improve crop yields, market linkages and supply chains to promote food security and a resilient agricultural sector can participate in this challenge where they will be connected to corporates as well as matched to startups from the other region working on similar solutions. This is in order to support the matched startups to co-create on complementary innovative agritech solutions and potentiallyintroduce them to the Sri Lankan and European markets.

The application deadline for startups to participate is March 31st 2021!

What’s in it for the startups?

The EU-SLIP Team has already engaged two corporates – Growrite and Commonland who are ready and very interested in supporting European and Sri Lankan agritech startups deploying disruptive solutions that improve crop yields, market linkages and supply chains to promote food security and a resilient agricultural sector.

How to apply?

1. If you can provide deeptech solutions to any of the Agritech topics listed below, and you haven't already done so, please apply for the Growrite innovation call by clicking on this link and use the reference code EU-GR 01 to apply:
   • Precision agriculture
   • Data analytics in agriculture
   • Farm services.
   • Fintech in agriculture
2. If you can provide disruptive solutions on improving: (i) agriculture yields and adding value to the Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs), (ii) food processing, (iii) market linkages, and (iv) supply chain traceability of local produce, and you if haven’t done so already, then apply for the Commonland innovation call by clicking on this link for more details and use the reference code EU-CM 01 to apply:
   • Monitoring crops efficiently with minimal human intervention
   • Harvest predictions, disease prevention technologies
   • Automatic weed monitoring systems
   • Farm tracking devices and advanced tools
   • Geo tagging and QR technologies for sustainability & traceability certifications
   • Logistics and warehousing

Please email eu-srilanka@servicefacility.eu for any questions you have or if you would like to learn more about how to support the agritech startups participating in this thematic challenge.

In the context of the EU-SLIP project two Webinars have been organized to present the ‘Green Deal’ call for research proposals to researchers in Sri Lanka.

The ‘Green deal’ call was part of the (ending) ‘Horizon 2020’ Framework Programme of the European Union for Research and Innovation. It covered a wide spectrum of research disciplines with clear focus on applied research and innovation projects.

The Webinars “The European Green Deal call for research proposals - tips for participation” have been organized for the following Universities:

• University of Peradeniya (9 October 2020);
• Open University of Sri Lanka (29 October 2020).

As a follow-up of these Webinars, the project provided personalized assistance to researchers in their efforts to network with researchers in EU for applying to the Green Deal call.

It should be noted that in Spring 2021 the new 7-years long Framework Programme for Research and Innovation ‘Horizon Europe’ will be launched by the European Commission. Researchers and innovators from Sri Lanka will be fully eligible for participation in joint research projects with European researchers and/or in mobility actions under ‘Horizon Europe’.

For further information please contact Dr. George Bonas (George.bonas@ceriss.eu)

Here is the PowerPoint deck presented during the ‘Green Deal’ webinars.

Working with Sri Lankan Universities and assisting their efforts towards commercialization of their research results is among the primary objectives of the EU-SLIP project.

In that context, a series of web meetings have been organized in January 2021 among Experts working for the project and the management of University – Business Linkage Cells (UBL Cells) of the following Universities:

• Sabaragamuwa University;
• University of Colombo;
• University of Jaffna;
• University of Moratuwa;
• Uva Wellassa University.

During the meetings the policies and activities in place for promoting commercialization of research results have been discussed, achievements have been highlighted and challenges have been identified especially towards internationalization of the UBL Cells’ activities with emphasis on cooperation with the European Union.

The challenges and needs that have been identified will orient future activities to be implemented under the EU-SLIP project in cooperation with the respective UBL Cells for the strengthening and consolidation of the commercialization efforts of the Universities.

For further information please contact Dr. George Bonas (George.bonas@ceriss.eu)