SLASSCOM Innovation Awards and Gala to recognise Sri Lanka’s greatest tech innovators

The Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) in conjunction with the SLASSCOM Innovation Forum is proud to host the Annual SLASSCOM Innovation Awards and Gala 2019, an event with the aim of recognising and celebrating the country’s greatest innovators, which will take place from 5 p.m. onwards on 14 November at Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo.

The event hopes to bring together over 300 of the industry’s senior and middle level technology professionals from the fields of IT and Business Process Management (BPM) who will witness the premier tech innovation awards event focused on recognising and celebrating business excellence within the Sri Lankan IT and BPM industry. 

The theme for this year’s awards is ‘Cultivating an Innovation Ecosystem’ and innovators can apply under a total of seven categories, namely Best Product Innovation, The Best Disruptor Award, Best Client Delivery Innovation, Best Innovation in Internal Processes, Best Technology or Framework Innovation, Best Start-up Product/Service and Best Innovation in Business Process Management. 

Commenting on the significance of the event, SLASSCOM Chairman Ranil Rajapakse stated: “We are delighted to be hosting the Innovation Awards for the second consecutive year in collaboration with the SLASSCOM Innovation Forum, making this the premier event for recognising tech innovation and the individuals behind them in Sri Lanka.”

Adding his insight, Chrishan de Mel, Executive Director SLASSCOM said, “The SLASSCOM Innovation Awards recognises companies who have delivered outstanding solutions and services to our global clients. Be it in product engineering, business process management or process improvement, the Innovation Awards highlight the companies that enable us to be that Island of Ingenuity. I would also like to thank our international panel of judges for their availability and support.”

Last year’s awards and winners for the categories were: Best Product Innovation won by chargeNET, Best Startup Product or Service and Best Client Delivery Innovation won by PAYable, Best Disruptor Award won by PickMe, Best Innovation in Internal Processes won by Embla, Best Innovation in Business Process Management won by MASLegato and Best Technology or Framework Innovation award which was awarded to iPay.

Judging the applicants is a distinguished panel of international judges with extensive knowledge and experience in the fields of research, consulting, entrepreneurship and innovation. The panel comprises three eminent individuals: Achyuta Ghosh – Head of Research of NASSCOM, India; Jeanette Cheah – Co-founder and CEO of The Hacker Exchange, a global, tertiary-accredited company; and Eli Itin – Founder and Senior Innovation Consultant at Northern Star Innovation, a boutique consultancy specialising in the creation and management of organisational innovation. 

The judging process will be in three stages. Applicants can submit their applications via the SLASSCOM portal and thereafter the judging panel will examine and analyse the applications and any clarifications needed will be obtained at this time. Following this, the judges will re-analyse the documentation and select the winning application in each category. 

Extending their support towards the betterment of innovation in Sri Lanka are the events’ Strategic Partner – Millennium IT ESP, Silver Sponsor – embla Software Innovation, Digital Media Partner – zMessenger, Official Newspaper – Daily FT, Hospitality Partner – Shangri-La Hotel, Corporate Sponsors – Dialog Enterprise, Horizon Campus and hatch.  

Apart from recognising the winners in seven identified categories, the SLASSCOM Gala segment also paves the way for a unique opportunity where individuals from various IT and BPM organisations can come together to share knowledge and network. As a result, this event will also be the largest social gathering of all SLASSCOM members for the year 2019. Following the distribution of awards, the event is set to culminate with a glamorous night of entertainment including live band performances and a gala dinner. 

The SLASSCOM Innovation awards is the premier tech innovation awards held in Sri Lanka which recognises and rewards teams across the industry who help put Sri Lanka on the map by coming together to innovate, reinvent, reimagine and redefine the world as it is today. 

For more information regarding tickets, sponsors and how to apply, visit bit.ly/SLASSAW.