‘Hardware Without Borders’ empowers Sri Lankan innovators to scale globally

Hardware Without Borders, a knowledge-sharing session that brought together entrepreneurs, engineers, and product builders in collaboration with Xynapse Labs and Hatch Works was hosted at Hatch Works, recently. The event convened global and local experts to discuss what it takes for Sri Lankan hardware innovators to successfully scale and enter international markets.
Designed to address the critical gaps faced by hardware founders in Sri Lanka, the session focused on manufacturing readiness, funding strategy, certification requirements, and the execution challenges that arise beyond prototyping.
The evening opened with a keynote by Michael Korn, Founder of Blue Garage, who shared his journey building a UK-based shared manufacturing ecosystem designed to remove early barriers for hardware startups. Drawing from his own experience scaling a physical product company, he emphasised that early-stage hardware success is less about cost optimisation and more about speed of learning through rapid prototyping. 
He highlighted the importance of accessible facilities, community knowledge-sharing, and flexible infrastructure that allows founders to experiment without committing to long-term manufacturing investments too early. The discussion also explored opportunities for cross-border collaboration, particularly how Sri Lankan engineering talent can integrate into global product development pipelines.
Heather Swift Hunt, Head of Design & Technology at Kickstarter, followed with a deep dive into how hardware teams use crowdfunding strategically rather than purely as a funding mechanism. She outlined Kickstarter’s role in validating demand, building early adopter communities, and enabling founders to maintain independence before taking external investment. 
Key themes included the importance of visual storytelling, narrowing product messaging to one or two clear value propositions, building a pre-launch audience well before campaign launch, and using crowdfunding as a tool for feedback-driven development. She also addressed practical considerations for Sri Lankan founders launching internationally, including entity setup and partnership models in regions where Kickstarter payments infrastructure is not yet available.  
The event concluded with a panel discussion featuring Heminda Jayaweera (Executive Director, TRACE), Tilak Dissanayake (Senior Advisor, Xynapse Labs), moderated by Dilith De Silva (Co-Founder, Xynapse Labs). The panel explored the structural challenges and opportunities facing Sri Lankan hardware startups, from certification readiness and regulatory strategy to market positioning and ecosystem support.
Speakers emphasised that many hardware projects struggle not because of technical capability but due to gaps in early planning, including understanding target markets, certification pathways, and manufacturability considerations. The conversation highlighted the need for founders to integrate engineering, business strategy, and user-driven design from the earliest stages, while leveraging local expertise and international partnerships to bridge scaling constraints.
Participants engaged in interactive discussions, gaining practical insights and real-world perspectives on transforming local innovation into globally competitive products.
Speaking about the initiative, the organisers emphasised that Hardware Without Borders is part of a broader effort to strengthen Sri Lanka’s hardware innovation ecosystem by connecting local talent with international expertise, resources, and networks.