National initiative launched to nurture digital technology awareness and adoption in northern region

• First regional cluster development initiative commences from the Northern Province

The Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) is at the forefront of driving digital transformation to make Sri Lanka a digitally-inclusive nation. ICTA together with the Ministry of Technology, Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRCSL), telecommunications partners and industry partners launched this two-day forum with the objective of creating awareness about the national digital transformation agenda for the country and engage with regional partners to create a conducive environment in the Northern Province for digital technology development.

This northern forum is the first of the five regional cluster development programs planned in the Western Province, Southern Province, Eastern Province, and Central Province. This initiative focuses on creating collaboration among stakeholders in the northern region such as Government agencies, industry, SME sector working in agriculture technology, education technology to introduce new and advanced technologies from local and international experts, providing necessary support for new technology research and development, and connecting solution providers with technology-based companies.

The Government Forum on the 25th was conducted with an online participation of 158 participants and staff of Jaffna and Manner connecting from the district offices. The main Stakeholder Engagement forum on the 26th was attended by 140 online participants and physically connecting 15 each from the five District Secretariats went up to a total of 225 participants which was well-received. 

Ministry of Technology Secretary Jayantha De Silva commenting on this initiative stated, “We need to facilitate and support our young talent whom I believe are second to none. To do that, we need to create more jobs, use technology to increase productivity, build capacity and develop the supporting infrastructure in the regions. We have plans to establish five technology parks and revamp two IT parks in Jaffna and Manner. The IT/BPM industry itself requires 300,000 technology professionals and we have many initiatives planned to achieve this goal. As a nation we are now in a progressive path for betterment of the future generation. We want everyone to be a part of this journey and reap its benefits.”

ICTA Chairman Professor Lalith Gamage stated, “We at ICTA are facilitators of the national digital transformation agenda and have developed a comprehensive strategy to deliver this. We have identified five areas – Digital Government, Digital Economy, Digital Laws and Policies, Digital Services and Digital Technology. Digital Government focuses on digitalising citizen centric services, ease of doing business and digitalising services for government efficiency. We have developed a foundational framework to deliver this and are progressing in this area.”

He also went on to say, “In line with the Digital Economy strategy, five key pillars are identified as drivers to achieve our vision of making Sri Lanka a digitally inclusive nation. Namely; Technology Industry Development, Startup Ecosystem Development, Capacity Building, Technology Diffusion, and Regional Cluster Development. We have many supporting initiatives to implement these and take the message of digital transformation to grassroots levels.”

ICTA Chief Digital Economy Officer Anura De Alwis speaking at the session stated, “We started this initiative from the Northern Province since, according to statistics and information we believe that, Northern Province would be a fast adopter of our digital transformation initiatives. For example; the 2nd largest start up community in Sri Lanka is represented by the north province. And we want to take that message to the other regions as well. We at ICTA are facilitators. We have facilitated many initiatives to support startups such as an alternative credit framework for startups, removing impediments for startup development through the spiralation program. We want to support our startups to go to the global stage. Many programs are in place to develop digital capable youth, future ready women, digitally capable ‘differently abled persons’, and digitally capable ‘elderly generation’.”

An MOU was signed by ICTA Chief Executive Officer Eng. Mahinda B. Herath and Northern Chamber of Information Technology Chairman T. Thavaruban, signifying the partnership between both organisations in moving forward towards developing digital technology in the Northern region.

Regional Cluster Development Director Indumini Kodikara stated, “ICTA would like to thank all partners who have joined us in this national initiative; Ministry of Technology, Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, Dialog Axiata Ltd., Sri Lanka Telecom and Mobitel, Bharati Airtel Lanka Ltd., Hutchison Telekom Sri Lanka, Lanka Bell Ltd., University of Jaffna, SL Association of Software Services Companies (SLASSCOM), Federation of Information Technology Sri Lanka (FITIS), Chairman British Computer Society (BCS), NCIT, CSSL, SLINTEC, SLIBTEC, Extreme SEO and specially thank all the Government, private sector and all others who connected from the Northern region. Without them we will not be able to take this journey and wanted them to hold hands with ICTA in moving forward.”