SLASSCOM’s Tech Forum to help position Sri Lanka as vibrant tech ecosystem

SLASSCOM Board Director – Tech Forum Nuwan Perera

SLASSCOM Chairman Channa Manoharan

With the objective of positioning Sri Lanka as a vibrant tech ecosystem in Asia, the Tech Forum of Sri Lanka Association for Software Services Companies (SLASSCOM) is focusing its efforts towards developing the technology knowledge base of the country, to gear it to strategically compete in the global arena. 

“Enabling Sri Lankans to take our country to the world stage as an incubator for smart working professionals is a passion that has been continuously driving the Tech Forum,” says SLASSCOM Chairman Channa Manoharan, citing that the forum’s objectives align to SLASSCOM’s Vision 2022 of achieving $ 5 billion in revenue, 200,000 jobs and 1,000 start-ups, thus making it a unified and well directed commitment. 

The Tech Forum has formulated a three-pronged strategy in its plan to position Sri Lanka as a country that offers not low cost labour as is the case previously, but sustainable value additions in technology to the world’s economies and organizations. The forum is focused on empowering Sri Lanka to be recognized as a test bed for innovation and IP creation, attract global organizations to use Sri Lanka to set up innovation labs, and enable MNCs and local companies to setup operations in the island. 

The strategies include the formation of Centres of Excellence (COEs) and Accelerators, building future skills and a strong technical community, and positioning Sri Lanka via engagement through differentiated events. 

“When it comes to setting up COEs and Accelerators, we have advisory boards with professionals from around the globe,” explains SLASSCOM Board Director – Tech Forum Nuwan Perera. The forum already has several established COEs namely SLASSCOM Product and Platform Council, SLASSCOM AI COE and SLASSCOM Cybersecurity COE. 

“All these centres of excellence are functioning actively – we are very encouraged by the contribution we get from locals, expats and foreign experts,” he outlines. Future COEs lined up for the forum include Emerging Tech, Biotechnology, Gaming and FinTech to name some. 

All the forum’s accelerators and COEs follow a particular governance structure that is very well defined in order to maintain efficiency, continuity and synergistic benefits. They consist of a two-tiered structure including the Advisory Board made up of eminent local and foreign resource persons and the Executive Committee comprising selected forum contributors, industry representatives and academics. 

Regarding its strategy to build skills and a tech community, the Tech Forum is working in tandem with universities to bridge the gap between industry and academia in order to develop the next generation of industry ready professionals. 

The Tech Forum is also actively engaged in building a strong tech community in Sri Lanka, and have put in place many plans to host multiple events including Tech Talks, Webinars and Meetups, as well as engaging with global and local audiences through tech summits and recruiting international resource personnel to embrace learning opportunities. 

“In our journey of positioning Sri Lanka as a tech eco system, we will be establishing several MOUs with local and international bodies,” avers Nuwan highlighting that the forum is looking at leveraging international networks and ecosystems to amplify Sri Lanka’s capabilities through them, and will be signing MOUs with research laboratories in Europe and other parts of the world in the near future. 

The next exciting event in the Tech Forum’s agenda is the AI Asia Summit scheduled to be held on 25th- 27th February, one of many industry networking and knowledge creation activities planned for the year.