Microsoft Gold Partner for FITIS Young Computer Scientists competition

From left: FITIS Software Chapter Treasurer Samath Fernando, FITIS Software Chapter Executive Council Member Kalinga Ihalagedara, FITIS Software Chapter President Fairooz Habeeb, Microsoft Sri Lanka and Maldives Country Manager Harsha Randeny, Microsoft South East Asia New Markets Chief Marketing and Business Operations Lead Thilanka Abeywardena, Microsoft South East Asia New Markets Marketing Specialist Keziah Smith, and FITIS Chief Executive Officer Dinesh C.A. Sattrukalsinghe

The apex body of the ICT industry in Sri Lanka, the Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS), has announced that Microsoft Sri Lanka has signed up as a Gold Partner for the Young Scientist Competition (YCS), organised by the FITIS Software Chapter.

The FITIS Software Chapter, formerly known as Sri Lanka Association for the Software Industry (SLASI) has organised the Young Computer Scientist (YCS) competition together with the Ministry of Education and with the support of University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC), for the 21st consequent time in Sri Lanka.

The competition aims to expose the computing talents of schoolchildren at early stages and encourage them to develop their talents and earn recognition for their innovations. This competition is modelled based on the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA).

FITIS is one of the key economies representing APICTA from Sri Lanka thus YCS provides an opportunity for Sri Lankan school students to represent Sri Lanka at the global level and demonstrate their ICT innovations at Junior and Senior level categories. The winners from each age group category of the competition are nominated for the APICTA (Asia Pacific ICT Alliance) awards that is to be held in Islamabad from 9 to 11 December. This year, six projects consisting of a contingent of seven students in total have secured a merit at the YCS competition and stand nominated to attend the APICTA competition in 2022.

Further FITIS working in close knit with Microsoft Sri Lanka, have taken gigantic strides to provide mentoring sessions for the APICTA nominees involving industry professionals, to help align these projects to International Standards of appeal. This would ensure that these projects stand tall and gain international accolades and recognition at the APICTA competition amongst other projects. Beyond the national pride it would bestow as a result if selected, would also enable a GTM (Go-To-Market) strategy on the lines of its endeavours towards successful commercialisation.

Furthermore, Microsoft Sri Lanka would be assisting in creating regional awareness sessions for the 2023 YCS competition thus spreading IT awareness throughout the country and reaching out to talent countrywide.