ICTA National Digital Consortia Concludes on a High Note

The participants of the inaugural ‘National Digital Consortia’ Google Cloud Corporate Manager Divya Jain, Amazon Web Services India and South Asia Space and NPOs Head of Education Sunil P.P., Amazon Web Services India and South Asia, Zoom SEA/India Solutions Engineering Manager Inho Oh, Huawei APAC Chief Digital Officer Michael MacDonald, Microsoft APAC Financial Services Leader Basudev Banerjee and Oracle VP – Solution Engineering Shuchim Trehan

The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) announced that it successfully concluded the inaugural ‘National Digital Consortia’, from 10 - 13 January, in partnership with FITIS, SLASSCOM, BCS, and CSSL. The event featured six Global Tech Giants - Microsoft, Zoom, AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle, and Huawei. The event was a platform to present the latest products services and share insights on the latest trends in the global tech industry.

Commenting on the event, ICTA Chief Digital Economy Officer Anura De Alwis stated: “As the apex body driving digital transformation in the nation, the purpose behind organising an event of this nature is to expose Sri Lanka to the latest developments in the technology industry.

“It is a first-of-its-kind, bringing six global technology giants onto one platform. In doing so, we wanted to expose the public sector, private sector, tech industry, technology enthusiasts, and the general public to the latest happenings in technology. Thereby encouraging the adoption of digital technology”. 

He also went on to say: “Digital Economy is a key pillar in the overall national digital transformation strategy. We are now in a phase of executing the national digital economy strategy, and it’s been a fantastic experience seeing our digital economy grow. The adoption of digital technology is crucial in enhancing the digital economy of Sri Lanka. For the very first time, we can now measure the digital economy, and the digital economy contribution to GDP stands at 4.37% as of today.”  

The sessions showcased the latest technology trends in Agriculture, Health, Education, and Fintech. Additionally, fireside chats, case studies on digital government transformation, Cyber Security, Customer Engagement, and Transformation were some of the key topics discussed. 

Google hosted the first session on 10 January, where they focused on innovation in agriculture, education, and healthcare with the help of Google Cloud. The Google Cloud team thanked ICTA for the opportunity in letting them represent Google Cloud. The team valued the engaging discussions, allowing them to understand the local market better, and look forward to more collaborative engagements in the future. Amazon Web Services (AWS) discussed the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in transforming agriculture, education and accelerating digital transformation. 

Zoom hosted the second session on 11 January. Digital government transformation was yet another key topic discussed, followed by a panel discussion on ‘Reimagining Customer Engagement’. 

On 12 January, Oracle hosted the sessions with four simultaneous product and industry-related sessions on agriculture, healthcare, fintech, and education. Oracle thanked the organisers for the invitation to participate in the event and congratulated ICTA for taking the lead in organising a successful event. 

Microsoft conducted the last session held on 13 January. They discussed one of the most talked-about topics during COVID-19; Cyber Security and drove their orientation towards the digital economy. Microsoft appreciated the enthusiasm and eagerness of the audience to engage with the speakers. While congratulating ICTA for successfully concluding such a large-scale event, they expressed their willingness to work closely with ICTA on future engagements.

Huawei too, expressed their willingness to collaborate with ICTA in future, and appreciated the organisers for a well-organized event. Over 1,000 participants actively engaged with the six multinationals during the four-day event.  The multinational corporations expressed that the event added much value to them and created a platform to build links to establish themselves in Sri Lanka.