Addressing a media briefing held in Colombo, he said that the government is firmly facilitating ICT industry towards achieving US$ 5 billion export target by 2022 and continuously supporting the creation of a eco system for innovation and start-ups through initiatives such as spiralation lead by Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA).Strategic initiatives are already being implemented with the aim of enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of government service delivery in a citizen centre manner. Government wide digital infrastructure is being strengthened with the Lanka Government cloud and Lanka Government Network which connects all key government entities across the nation.
There is also an increase in digital adoption at grassroots and empowering entrepreneurs to capture markets through the use of digital technologies, such as SMART Social Circle initiatives. To enable a culture of innovation and to promote the use of ICT in the day today life of the people , many countries have declared ICT weeks such as JAPAN IT week and Oslo innovation week in order to attract focused attention of other countries and possible investors and promote ICT usage within communities.
This ICT and Innovation week will defiantly attract international attention which can be used for our advantage to invite influential personalities, founders of startups, incubators, accelerators and other entities who can support the Sri Lankan Tech ecosystem to go global.
This will also encourage knowledge tourism and further strengthen Sri Lanka as a host destination for IT and innovation events. During the ICT and Innovation week from October 7 to 14, several activities and events will be conducted. Among them, API Asia Conference on October 2, Forum on privacy and cyber security legislature on October 3, Software product quality certification programe on October4, Seedstars International Pitching Competition on October 7, National IT Conference on October 8, National Best Software Quality Awards on October 11, Disrupt Asia Conference and Innovation festival on October 12 , Disrupt Asia Ecosystem Builders Forum on October 13, Quality and Business Excellence Summit and Analytics Summit on October 14 and eSwarabhimani national Awards on October 18.
