They say that every dark cloud has a silver lining and so it is with the Coronavirus pandemic. Granted, the world has seen nothing like this in the last 100 years (since the Spanish Flu killed 50 million people around 100 years ago) and it might be some time before we see the Coronavirus disappear. But right now, the entire world is collaborating on possible drugs and vaccines that can keep COVID-19 at bay and some vaccine trials have already started. It has also ended many conflicts around the world, at least temporarily. That in itself is a worthy achievement, if it can be called that way.
Here in Sri Lanka, we have seen a massive mobilization of personnel and resources at every level from both the State and private sectors to defeat this invisible pathogen. Such a collective effort was perhaps last seen during the 2004 Boxing Day tragedy, the biggest natural disaster ever to take place in living memory. But the raging sea was a tangible, visible enemy at that time. This virus is not so – it can only be seen through an electron microscope. Every little effort helps to keep the virus at bay – even washing one’s hands frequently at home and keeping your distance (1-1.5 m) from the next person.
We have heard that necessity is the mother of invention and also that people emerge with the most brilliant of ideas when pressed to the wall. And so it is with the Coronavirus pandemic, where we have seen real ingenuity at work from practically every sector involved. First off the bloc was the Medical Research Institute (MRI) which developed an in-house test kit well before they arrived from overseas. We hope that its talented medical scientists have joined the worldwide efforts to find a vaccine and/or treatment for COVID-19.
The pandemic also created two other conditions that made such localization a sine qua non. It immediately created pressure on our precious foreign exchange reserves due to the worldwide economic downturn and made medical imports scarce, since each manufacturing country was scrambling to hold onto medical equipment requirements and even drugs without exporting.
Fortunately, our Security Forces, private companies and individual inventors rose to the occasion rather swiftly. The Engineering Sections of the three Forces have since perfected disinfection chambers, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and even medical robots to help in the fight against COVID-19. The Navy’s Medi-Mate Robot is a fine example of brilliant minds at work in the Tri-Forces. The remotely operated robot can carry meals and medicine to COVID-19 patients so that doctors and nurses can stay away and go near the patient only when such care is actually needed. Similar Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) were recently presented to the Homagama and Iranawila Hospitals by a private company which usually deals with FMCG products. We need to nurture these inventor teams and our companies must help commercialize these products.
The health sector itself was the source of many innovations in the current battle. Doctors and nurses at the Panadura Hospital created a smartphone app for entering the details of COVID-19 patients and also began turning out PPEs. Since then many other hospitals have started such projects. This is a healthy trend that must be sustained even after the pandemic. Several private companies have turned out 100 percent locally made high-tech Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds, saving a considerable sum of foreign exchange. Several other companies are reported to be working on respirators and ventilators. Indeed, we read recently that a Sri Lanka Telecom engineer has made a basic medical ventilator. This is a noteworthy achievement, since he has given his time over to perfecting a device that is usually not on his radar.
Our apparel industry has also come on board with discussions underway with UNICEF to manufacture 10 million pieces of gloves and 10 million pieces of other PPE items per week. This shows that UN agencies implicitly trust the quality and workmanship of local PPE products. They will certainly be second to none in the world in terms of quality, durability, innovation and value for money. 
Worldwide, we have seen companies that have been making things other than health equipment, such as Tesla and Dyson, coming forward to make medical ventilators and other medical equipment. Some, like General Electric, which manufactures advanced medical equipment, are entering into manufacturing more basic ones. But one interesting feature is that some of these companies have gone into a totally different field from their usual one - medical equipment.
Another company has found an innovative use for drones – to supply medicine for households in totally locked down (isolated) villages and towns. Abroad, there have been some trials in this direction, bit this is the first time that it has been done in Sri Lanka. Some have also suggested that Security Forces could make use of such drones for the surveillance of such isolated villages to check whether anyone flouts the strict stay-at-home orders. That is much less risky than sending Forces personnel physically to these areas and the cost is also much less than those of military-grade Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, though their range and vision is much greater.
Some of the innovations are unseen in the conventional sense of the word. For example, our educators, together with television and telecom companies, have developed unique online and TV resources for school and university students to study at home. The world will have to embrace these technologies a lot more if the Coronavirus becomes the ‘new normal’ as experts predict. In fact, online education has received a big boost during this pandemic period.
Our innovators and telecom companies can also work on a Coronavirus tracking app, which many other countries have deployed successfully. This will help in second and third ring contact tracing, which is critical to the success of anti-COVID-19 efforts. Singapore’s Trace Together App is a good example to follow. With almost everyone having a smartphone or two, this should be a good way of contact tracing. There are certain privacy concerns, but this is done for the greatest good of the greatest number and if certain liberties have to be sacrificed, so be it. 
The need to combat COVID-19 has spurred the multitude of inventors around the country, who have submitted more than 100 blueprints for various innovations and inventions to the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission so far. This creative streak must be developed further and if there are any promising products, they must be commercialized with the help of local and foreign companies.
There is no single approach to defeating COVID-19. It should be a ‘whole of society’ approach where every one of us plays a part, however minor. In this context, innovators play a major role. The innovators’ response shows that latent talents will come to the fore even under less than ideal and very challenging conditions. It is the duty of the Government and all other stakeholders to recognize their work and assist them in every possible way.