The government has recognised the importance of the ICT (information communication technology), sector as a key driver of the economy and will work towards providing a legal framework to facilitate its growth.
The sector needs to showcase its capabilities to attract business, local and global. To this end exhibitions of the nature of ‘Infotel 2019’ will provide the platform, Minister of Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology and Chairman, INFOTEL Steering Committee 2019, Ajith P. Perera said.
The Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS), the apex body of the ICT industry, will host the INFOTEL 2019, the National ICT exhibition, for the 27th consecutive year. This year’s INFOTEL will be held from November 1-3 at the BMICH on the theme ‘Towards a Digital Nation’.
The government welcomes the active contribution of industry and professional organisations such as FITIS to bring technologies closer to the people. The Infotel Expo is an ideal opportunity to build links and foster connectivity in moving forward, he said.
“This year’s INFOTEL themed as ‘Towards a Digital Nation’, aims at building a holistic nation that thrives on digital technology. This would enable citizens of all sectors, and the government to synchronise all economic activities around technology for growth and development. Sri Lanka has already recognised the importance of a digital economy to face future economic and social challenges. However, to achieve this target, as a nation it is important to integrate ourselves into digital technology,” Chairman of FITIS, Abbas Kamurdeen said.
“As we live in a rapidly changing world, digital technologies have the potential to transform the country into one of the most prosperous digital nation as we are a small sized nation. Change and adaptability across the country is possible where implementation and investment on digital infrastructure is conceivable so long as it is a shared and a deliberate effort from Sri Lanka’s digital community,” he said.
“To build an inclusive digital government, digital culture, and digital business, it is important to engage in this conversation that would bring together all stakeholders to one place. Hence, INFOTEL 2019 aims to provide this landscape to showcase and feature digitalisation initiatives and innovations whilst ensuring accessibility to all stakeholders, Chairman of the INFOTEL Committee, Fazloon Sheriff said.
INFOTEL 2019 will highlight the segments in digital emerging areas ranging from digital lifestyle, smart city concept, digital service platforms, digital enterprises, IoT, robotics, startups, e-marketing, e-government, e-health, fin tech digital banking, carrier guidance and higher education.
“There will be a digital leadership forum led by an international expert with business leaders in the private sector. During the second half, there will be a forum which will focus on the public sector. The leaders who would be attending this session will have an opportunity to experience digital solutions which can be implemented in their organizations and conduct business to business meetings, CEO of FITIS, Aruna Alwis said. While the Ministry of Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology has been sponsoring the Digital Government Pavilion of INFOTEL for the past three years, FITIS is also receiving the support of several other Ministries such as Defence, Education, Finance and Planning, Irrigation, Tourism and Agriculture.