Sri Lanka’s IT industry aims towards implementing artificial intelligence

The IT industry in Sri Lanka plans to move deeper into artificial intelligence and use its strengths to help a vision of becoming a center of information.

Ranil Rajapakse is the Chairman of the Software and Services Companies Association of Sri Lanka.

He was quoted saying, "We need to broaden the awareness of AI, and related technologies across the population of Sri Lanka as the country advances rapidly. AI is a critical contribution to the ambitious goal of Sri Lanka - to become a hub for science and innovation."

We also need to focus on moving up the value chain to add high value and bring more revenue to the industry if we are to continue its growth.

He spoke at Colombo's AI Asia Summit, an industry forum. The event selected more than 350 delegates, according to the organizers. The summit this year expressly provided a forum for the latest advances in artificial intelligence, predominantly in emerging AI applications and research, while the event was featured

Local and international speakers shared AI and emerging trends. Chrysanth Fernando–Senior Research Scientist at Google DeepMind Romesh Ranawana–CTO at TENGRI UAV Ltd, Smith Gunasekara–Head of AI and Machine Learning at Boeing Analytx and Tone Therese Paulsen–Product Lead, (Nordics and Europe) at Boost.ai were among the speakers.

Speaking at the event, Trine Jøranli Eskedal, the Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, stated that the Norwegian Embassy in Sri Lanka had signed a two-year agreement with SLASSCOM to collaborate with the ICT industry.

"It is important for us to expand the awareness of AI and related technologies across the population of Sri Lanka as the country is advancing rapidly and making a crucial contribution to the ambitious goal of Sri Lanka to become a hub for information and innovation," said Norwegian Ambassador Trine Jøranli Eskedal.

OSL Take: Sri Lanka is engaged in a rapid development program of ICT and digital infrastructure in the country. The launching of the draft policy framework to promote AI is yet another instance indicating the growing opportunities in Sri Lanka’s ICT and digital infrastructure sectors.

Sri Lanka’s information technology industry is aiming to expand deeper into artificial intelligence and use its strengths to support the goal of becoming a knowledge hub. Foreign businesses/investors could explore business/investment opportunities in developing and promoting ICT and digital infrastructure solutions in Sri Lanka.

VBS/AT/20200102/Z_TB2