🎙️ Keynote Speaker – Dr. Muditha D. Senarath Yapa

Director General, National Initiative for Research and Development Commercialization (NIRDC)
Chief Innovation Officer, National Innovation Agency (NIA), Sri Lanka

Dr. Muditha D. Senarath Yapa is a distinguished scientist with an impressive academic and professional background. A graduate of Royal College, Colombo, he pursued higher education at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, earning a Chemistry Special degree with first-class honors. He then advanced to the United States to obtain a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Senarath Yapa completed two years of postdoctoral research at the Art Conservation Research Center of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He later worked at Carnegie Mellon University and the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC), serving as an assistant scientist and later as a senior scientist & business development manager.

In December 2012, he joined John Keells Holdings to establish John Keells Research (JKR), the innovation arm of the conglomerate. As head of research, he led the unit for nearly a decade, applying science and technology to drive the development of future technologies.

Currently, Dr. Senarath Yapa is the Director General of the National Initiative for Research and Development Commercialization (NIRDC) and serves as Chief Innovation Officer of the National Innovation Agency (NIA). He is also a member of the NASTEC board, the technical committee of NARA, and the SLINTEC board of directors. He continues to dedicate his career to bridging scientific expertise with practical and commercial advancements.