National IT Conference 2019 to foster embracing digital

The 37th National Information Technology Conference (NITC), the country’s flagship ICT event organised by the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) will be held between 8 to 10 October at the Shangri-La Hotel during the National ICT Week under the patronage of Minister of Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology Ajith P. Perera as the Chief Guest. 

Estonian e-Governance Academy Co-Founder Ivar Tallo and ICTA Chairman Professor Rohan Samarajiva will deliver keynote speeches at the inauguration ceremony scheduled to be held on 8 October at 6 p.m. 

NITC 2019 themed ‘Embrace Digital’ will be an international platform to deliberate latest developments, trends, and challenges of the digital era, and thousands of ICT practitioners are expected to gather at the largest and longest running annual ICT conference in the country. NITC 2019 has lined up more than 34 eminent international and local speakers under the tracks of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IOT), Embrace Digital, Digital Media and Digital Safety, Infosec, Software Engineering, Digital Economy, Digital Payments, and Digital Infrastructure. 

The Government of Sri Lanka recently announced the National ICT Week, to be held in October 2019 with the intention of creating a common platform for effective interaction among all stakeholders locally and internationally. The concept of ICT Week was the common call of the industry for long years and the Minister of Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology took necessary steps this year to announce the National ICT Week and provided the leadership to ensure a series of ICT industry events are lined up by key industry stakeholders.

Speaking ahead of the conference, Minister of Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology Ajith P. Perera said, “Rapid digital transformation is a key need of any country to stay ahead in today’s globally competitive world and Sri Lanka has to be more proactive in digital policy making, adaption and use of digital technologies on all spheres of the society. I value the contribution of Computer Society of Sri Lanka for this national endeavour to foster the embracing of digital services by all citizens in Sri Lanka.”

Computer Society of Sri Lanka President Prabath Samindra Wickramaratne said, “This year’s version of the NITC will be focused on positioning Sri Lanka as a digitally-enabled nation. One of the key highlights in this year’s conference is a series of knowledge sharing sessions by Ivar Tallo, who is considered as a key pillar of Digital Estonia, where he would unveil the success story of digital transformation of Estonia, a country which has been blazing a digital trail for many years with cutting edge systems and citizen-centric services to its population.”

NITC 2019 also features an annual colloquium track in which more than 20 papers shortlisted after an assiduous selection process will be presented by prominent local and international researchers on the third day of the conference. All papers presented at NITC are recognised by the IEEE of USA and subsequently published in the IEEE global database.

NITC 2019 will be supported by Ministry of Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology, ICTA, IEEE, and IFIP.