Sri Lanka to host APICTA 2015 International Awards with ICTA as National Partner

 The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka, making a token presentation as the National Partner of APICTA 2015 at the official launch in Colombo recently. From left: FITIS Chairman Chinthaka Wijewickrama, APICTA 2015 Co-Chairman Abbas Kamrudeen, University of Colombo School of Computing Director Prof. Gihan Wickramanayake, APICTA 2015 Co-Chairman Ruwan Amarasekera, ICTA Chairperson Chitranganie Mubarak, ICTA CEO Muhunthan Canagey

From left: APICTA 2015 Co-Chairman Ruwan Amarasekera, ICTA CEO Muhunthan Canagey, ICTA Chairperson Chitranganie Mubarak, APICTA 2015 Co-Chairman Abbas Kamrudeen, FITIS Software Chapter Ex Co-Member Shanta R. Yapa

The APICTA 2015 International Awards ceremony, considered the ‘Oscars’ of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Asia, will be held in Sri Lanka this time, the Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS) and BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, Sri Lanka Section, said at a special ceremony to mark the official announcement at the Colombo Hilton, recently.

APICTA, the largest ICT awards ceremony in the Asia Pacific region, will be held in Colombo from 18-21 November this year, with the participation of around 650+ ICT innovators, experts, investors, traders and entrepreneurs from 16 member countries. Many other ICT-related significant programs have been organised to run parallel to APICTA 2015 as it is a historic international event, which Sri Lanka is honoured and privileged to host.

The National Partner of APICTA 2015 is Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA). ICTA, the apex ICT institution of the Government, has been mandated to take all necessary measures to implement the Government’s Policy and Action Plan in relation to ICT. ICTA is required to assist the Cabinet of Ministers in the formulation of the National Policy on ICT and provide all information necessary for its formulation. ICTA, which is wholly owned by the Government of Sri Lanka, implemented the e-Sri Lanka Development Project under which significant progress has been made.

At the ceremony, where the official announcement was made on Sri Lanka hosting APICTA 2015, ICTA Chairperson Chitranganie Mubarak, read out to the audience the message sent by President Maithripala Sirisena to mark the occasion. Quoting from the message, she said that the President has decided to declare 16-22 November as ‘ICT Week’. To coincide with the unveiling of APICTA 2015 Awards, the INFOTEL 2015 Exhibition, considered the biggest show in the ICT sector, will be held from 20-22 November at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo. Also ICTA is the National Partner of INFOTEL 2015. 

ICTA CEO Muhunthan Canagey said: “This is a great opportunity for Sri Lanka to position the country among the international community. We can promote our products and services and this enables us to showcase our talents to the world. APICTA also brings leading ICT firms and professionals under one roof and we can certainly look forward to new business opportunities, investments, joint ventures and technology transfers with APICTA 2015.”

FITIS Software Chapter President Abbas Kamrudeen said: “The Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) is an international awards program organised by APICTA, which aims to increase ICT awareness in the community and assist in bridging the digital divide. Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) is an alliance of national ICT organisations representing their respective countries to build and enhance a mutually cooperative network to promote ICT, enhance technology innovations, capability and adoption and encourage the development of indigenous ICT solutions for the global market.”

“16 countries in the Asia Pacific region have been members of this regional alliance, including countries with developed and established economies like Australia, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, etc. By providing networking and product benchmarking opportunities to ICT innovators and entrepreneurs in the region, this awards program is designed to stimulate ICT innovation and creativity, promote economic and trade relations, facilitate technology transfer and offer business matching opportunities via exposure to venture capitalists and investors. APICTA Awards were founded in 2001 and it is for the first-ever time in the history that the event will be hosted by Sri Lanka. At present, Sri Lanka is the chair of this regional ICT Alliance.”

Apart from the APICTA Awards, the other main parallel event is the APICTA 2015 Business Forum, which will create a common platform for investors, traders and the business community to benchmark their innovations, explore possible business partnerships and investments, explore import and export market entry points and share innovative ICT solutions for business etc. A business lounge will be operated during this event and would consist of a breakfast meeting with the Japanese delegation, a panel discussion and one-to-one business match-making lounge. 

Parallel to the Business Forum, a Student Knowledge Sharing Forum will also be conducted. This is expected to contribute towards the skills and knowledge upgrading of youth in tertiary and secondary education for both Sri Lankan as well as foreign students visiting Sri Lanka to attend the APICTA 2015 competition.”

The National Best Quality ICT awards (NBQSA), which is the annual national competition for innovations and the Youth Computer Scientist (YCS) awards, which aim to expose the computing talents of school children at early stages and encourage them to develop their talents and earn recognition for the their innovations, are being organised as the feeder events for the APICTA 2015.  

The events calendar for the APICTA 2015 are as follows: 18-20 November Asia Pacific ICT awards competition, 20 November APICTA 2015 Awards ceremony, 20-21 November APICTA 2015 Business Forum, 20 November APICTA 2015 Students’ Forum and 20-22 November INFOTEL 2015 Exhibition.