Thursday, August 29, 2019

ICT Expo under theme: ‘Towards a Digital Nation’

ICTA rep Waruna Sri Dhanapala, Chairman FITIS Abbas Kamrudeen, Chairman INFOTEL Steering Committee MP Ajith Perera, Chairman INFOTEL Committee Fazloon Sheriff. Pix by Dinesh Anthony Perera

The Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS), is to host the National Information Communication Technology Exhibition titled INFOTEL 2019. This would be the 27th iteration of the exhibition. INFOTEL would be held from 1st to 3rd November, at the BMICH. The FITIS Secretariat would be coordinating the event.

Chairman FITIS, Abbas Kamrudeen said, “INFOTEL is going to be all about moving towards a digital age. It is an absolutely vital topic that we are going to be capturing. For any nation, in the next five years, any nation that does not absorb digital transformation would not be competitive.”

Ajith Perera said that he had taken his young children to previous iterations of the INFOTEL Conference and had enjoyed the experience. There is an initiative by the government to register freelancers and startups in order to better target schemes.

INFOTEL 2019 would attract over 150 trade stalls and 10,000 students, 8,000 teachers and over 50,000 members of the public. The Ministries of Defence, Education, Treasury, Irrigation, Tourism and Agriculture would be collaborating at the event.

INFOTEL 2019 would highlight segments in digital emerging areas. Digital lifestyle, smart city concept, digital service platforms, digital enterprises, Internet of Things, Robotics, Startups, E-Marketing, E-Government, E-Health, Fin Tech and Digital Banking, Career Guidance and Higher Education.

Perera added that a data protection law was required and that had been drafted and is in the process of becoming legislature. He added that cybersecurity was a new frontier on which legislation has to be created and that in the coming 2 weeks, new laws would be presented to Parliament.

The organizers highlighted the event as a platform for future business opportunities. Large government institutions with potential requirements for information technology are to be present at the event. Space would also be made available to companies of foreign origin to showcase their services.

On November 1, at the start of the event, there would be a digital leadership forum. In the afternoon of the same day, there would be an afternoon forum focusing on the public sector. The organizers stated, ‘the leaders who would be attending this session would have an opportunity to experience digital solutions which could be implemented in their organizations.’

Stalls would be made available for startup ventures. The Export Development Board and the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), would be key partners in the project. ICTA will showcase several e-government initiatives at the event.

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