PM to address Sri Lanka’s first National Summit on Foresight and Innovation

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will address Sri Lanka’s first National Summit on Foresight and Innovation for Sustainable Human Development organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs. 

The Premier is expected to speak at a high-level plenary themed “Reimagining Governance: An Opportunity for Sri Lanka”.

The Summit, held together with Ministry of Science, Technology and Research, Sarvodaya, LIRNEasia, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) as Core Partners and Ceylon Biscuits Limited as a Summit Partner, will focus on starting a national dialogue on the importance of foresight and innovation as a value addition to traditional development planning to achieve sustainable human development and the 2030 development agenda. The two day Summit, which will take place on 24 and 25 May at Waters Edge, Battaramulla, is also expected be graced by Minister of Science, Technology and Research Susil Premajayantha, and Minister of Digital Infrastructure and Telecommunications Harin Fernando, who will engage in a panel discussion on ‘Disruptive Innovation’.  

The Summit will connect many international resource people including those from the UN Pulse Lab (Jakarta), the UNDP Centre for Public Service Excellence (Singapore), myForesight (Malaysia), Mind Lab (Denmark), Gil (Germany), Superflux (UK), UNDP Kolba Lab (Armenia), UNDP MiLab (Moldova), eGov Centre (Moldova) and Fields of View (India) to name a few. 

Speaking about this collaboration UNDP Country Director Jorn Sorensen stated: “As the development arm of the United Nations working in Sri Lanka for the past five decades, we are extremely proud to be able to connect a diverse set of resource people internationally, and convene all key players in the development sector in Sri Lanka.”

State Minister for National Policies and Economic Affairs Niroshan Perera, speaking on the importance of this summit said, “Sri Lanka is at a crucial juncture; we must now choose to look outwards and beyond the present context to create the future we want. Through this Summit we will develop and learn about foresight tools from a national planning and policy point of view, which will prove pivotal over the next 75 years as national and international contexts grow more complex and challenging.”

Foresight and innovation are rapidly becoming tools that governments and other non-traditional partners for development are incorporating into their work. Through these methodologies, they seek to create coherent policy frameworks that will effectively utilise limited resources. Therefore understanding emerging trends and opportunities while successfully evading inevitable challenges is key. This summit, will contribute to enhancing development practices and policies that are visionary, to create the world we want and need by 2030 by fostering a development sector that is forward-thinking and visionary. 

At the closure of the Summit Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera, is expected to join the launch event of UNDP’s 50th anniversary celebrations titled “Shared Goals. Shared Prosperity: 50 years in Sri Lanka and Beyond”.