CSSL announces National IT Conference – 2017 with major regional and international partnerships

The National IT Conference (NITC) of Sri Lanka will be held from 11 to 15 September in Colombo, in partnership with the SEARCC Conference – 2017. 

The theme of the forthcoming conference will be ‘Towards Digital Prosperity’. Under this apt theme, the conference will focus its deliberations on eight specific tracks – CIO Perspective, Digital Inclusion, e-X (e-Healthcare, e-Education, e-Tourism, e-Services), Digital Media and Broadcasting, IOT and IOE, Mobile Apps, Digital Security and FinTech.

This theme is quite relevant as in the current context in Sri Lanka as well as elsewhere, there is growing interest and vibrant discussion on how digital infrastructure, digital systems and digital economy can help people at large. The Computer Society of Sri Lanka is eager to explore these possibilities for the betterment of people worldwide.

It is customary for SEARCC (South East Asian Regional Computer Confederation - http://www.searcc.org) to organise a conference in a selected country in the region every year. Sri Lanka was given the opportunity to host the 2017 conference, which will run parallel to the IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing) General Assembly. 

Participation at the forthcoming event is expected to be encouraging with the IFIP General Assembly anticipating a strong delegation of its members to visit Sri Lanka for the parley. In terms of feedback, 60+ foreign individuals are due to attend the General Assembly from nearly 50 countries. In addition, the SEARCC Conference, SEARCC Executive Committee meeting and associated meetings will bring over 20 top notch IT leaders from the South East Asian Region, including Australia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, India and Taiwan. 

IFIP General Assembly, SEARCC Conference and National IT Conference have created a unique international, regional and national blend. IFIP is the leading multinational organisation in ICT recognised by the United Nations and other world bodies. IFIP has the representation of ICT Societies from 56 countries/regions, covering five continents with a total membership of over half a million. It links more than 3,500 scientists from academia and industry (http://ifip.org).

The National IT Conference is Sri Lanka’s largest as well as the national event in the ICT industry. The CSSL (Computer Society of Sri Lanka) has organised this confab for the past 34 years consecutively. This year marks the hosting of the 35th successive conference. By partnering with two other regional and international organisations, the NITC will be staged on a very strong and broad platform. 

The CSSL was optimistic that this experience will enrich Sri Lanka’s ICT professionals and the industry as a whole. The CSSL has now sought invited speakers from amongst IFIP General Assembly participants to address its National IT Conference. This will help the organisers to use these participants as a source of speakers to disseminate knowledge to the industry. The CSSL expects many of its speakers this year to be international speakers.

CSSL President Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama said: “An event of this magnitude with such broad international participation has not been held in Sri Lanka in the recent past in relation to the ICT sector. So, we truly believe that this is a golden opportunity for the ICT industry and the country at large.”

The event happens throughout a period of one week, which is from 11 to 15 September. The CSSL looks forward to support in terms of speaking at the conference with valuable inputs, submitting papers, organising committee volunteering and sponsorships to make Sri Lanka proud during this historic event. Contact CSSL via email [email protected] in this regard.