The Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed their intent to further collaborate to develop the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector for sustainable employment generation in the future, and to bring about innovation through knowledge transfer programs.
A letter of intent in this regard was signed by the Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Thorbjørn Gaustadsæther, and Channa Manoharan, Vice-Chairman and Board Director, SLASSCOM in the presence of Marianne Hagen, State Secretary, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She also attended a TechKids session by Shiraz Azad, Manager SLASSCOM TechKids.
State Secretary Hagen said, “I’m delighted to see the continuation of the Kids Can Code initiative. Children are the future. I’m very happy for this good collaboration between Sri Lanka and Norway on ICT development and entrepreneurship.”
The initiatives in this collaboration aims at creating sustainable mechanisms for the next generation of IT employment by introducing coding to children, targeting children from the ages, 6 - 15.
This is a method of teaching children the basic elements of coding in an interesting way, with special emphasis on encouraging girls to code. Beginning in 2018 with support from ICT Norway, SLASSCOM has initiated and supported code clubs in various parts of the country.
Another aspect of this collaboration will focus on startup companies. Supported by ICT Norway, SLASSCOM has provided international exposure for multiple startups by participating at the Oslo Innovation Week, over the past three years.
There is potential for this initiative to be extended to encourage several Norwegian startups to visit and work from Sri Lanka. This exchange will enable innovation and knowledge sharing between Sri Lanka and Norway.