ent.
‘Very often the potential foreign investors point out that our administrative costs, our business environment is very unprofitable.’
He added that commercial disputes frequently take so long to resolve that they undermine investor confidence.
‘We have these lengthy legal processes which make disputes so long that basically it takes a generation to resolve a legal dispute.’
Dr. Aturupane also said Sri Lanka’s innovation ecosystem remains underdeveloped, pointing to weaknesses in intellectual property protection, limited access to global research databases and inadequate institutional support for researchers seeking to commercialise new ideas.
He further identified rent-seeking behaviour among sections of the public sector as a recurring concern raised by prospective investors.
Concluding his address, Dr. Aturupane said Sri Lanka’s ability to benefit from technological change and the digital economy will ultimately depend on broader economic reforms rather than innovation policy alone.