Twenty-five high-potential research ventures transformed intellectual property into market advantage during Sri Lanka’s Scale Up Your IP programme, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has reported. The university spinoffs gained critical commercialization skills during an intensive three-day workshop in Colombo in February 2025.  

Organized by WIPO and the National Innovation Agency (NIA) of Sri Lanka, with funding from the Funds-In-Trust Japan Industrial Property Global, the programme targeted the critical gap between laboratory innovation and commercial success. 

Sri Lanka’s universities and R&D centers produce breakthrough innovations, but commercialization remains difficult, WIPO said in a statement. R&D-intensive ventures face persistent challenges in defining market value, protecting intellectual property, and securing investment. Early integration of IP into business models offers a clear competitive advantage, attracts funding, and enables successful scaling. 

“A great idea or deeptech prototype needs early-stage strategy to succeed in the market. The Scale Up Your IP Program takes participants beyond theory – showing innovators how to integrate intellectual property into their commercialization strategy, and to transform it into a growth-driving asset aligned with commercial objectives,” the statement said. 

The three-day intensive program focused on actionable skills. Participants worked directly with their own ventures through interactive sessions covering mapping unique selling points to identify competitive advantages, using IP databases for competitor analysis and market opportunity identification, developing brand strategies for deeptech innovations, navigating complex IP ownership challenges, structuring spin-off companies to maximize commercial potential and creating investor-ready “data rooms” to enhance funding opportunities. 

Dhanushi Hettiarachchi, chief executive officer of medtech startup Ophta Innovations and a medical doctor said the event was worthwhile: “Thrilled to learn from the world’s best on intellectual property, a crucial asset for the success of deep tech startups. A big thank you to National Innovation Agency (NIA) Sri Lanka and WIPO for bringing this valuable opportunity to Sri Lanka!” 

Himal Gunawardhana, founder and chief technology officer of healthtech startup ITSELF Automation was also enthusiastic about what he had learned: “Grateful for the opportunity to scale up my IP knowledge! This invaluable experience has deepened my understanding of intellectual property and its commercialization in the academic landscape. Looking forward to applying these insights to innovate and contribute to the field of healthcare and medical devices.” 

More recently, Sri Lankan government officials met with members of the World Intellectual Properety Organization (WIPO) and the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) in August as an initial step to bringing its laws governing music into alignment with international ones. 

The meeting was held at the Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development, chaired by Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe. Participants highlighted the urgent need to strengthen legislation for the music sector and to implement related decisions. A special committee will be appointed to submit recommendations within three months. 

Representatives of the All Ceylon Performers and Songwriters League (ACPOSL) attended the event, including chairman Nilar N. Cassim, Sunil R. Gamage, Ravi Siriwardena, Navarathna Gamage, Darshana Ruwan Disanayake, Ranga Dasanayake and Nadika Jayawardena – along with officials from the National Intellectual Property Office. 

It is against this backdrop of optimism that we bring you Sri Lanka’s IP Experts, a list of 15 key intellectual property lawyers in Sri Lanka. Heritage Partners (Suren Gnanaraj and Eric Dathika Wikramanayake), John Wilson Partners (Sameendra Perea and John Wilson) and Sudath Perera Associates (Himani Perera and Sudath Perera) each placed two lawyers on our list. A total of 12 firms are represented on this year’s Top 15 list. 

Most of the lawyers named to our list have multiple practice specialties. Many of them are litigators, while others concentrate on prosecution work or provide strategic advice.  

All of them have something in common: they are experts in their fields and, in one way or another, they provide extra value for their clients. They are Asia IP’s Sri Lanka IP Experts. – GREGORY GLASS 

Sri Lanka’s IP Experts is based solely on independent editorial research conducted by Asia IP. As part of this project, we turned to in-house counsel in Sri Lanka, Asia and elsewhere around the world, as well as South Asia-focused partners at international law firms, and asked them to nominate private-practice lawyers including foreign legal consultants, advisers and counsel.  

The final list reflects the nominations received combined with the input of the editorial team at Asia IP, which has more than 50 years of collective experience in researching and understanding Sri Lanka’s legal market. 

All private practice intellectual property lawyers in Sri Lanka were eligible for inclusion in the nominations process; there were no fees or other requirements for inclusion in the process. 

The names of our 15 IP Experts are published here. Each IP Expert was given the opportunity to include their biography and contact details in print and on our website, for which a fee was charged.