The SLASSCOM Technology forum recently hosted the first-ever conference on emerging technologies, under the theme ‘Age of Disruption’, featuring a panel of acclaimed speakers from around the world who covered some of the most spoken technological advancements of today. 

Participants were able to gather insights in developing a range of breakthrough technologies and they were also able to immerse themselves in the endless possibilities of emerging global trends.

The two-day event, which covered everything from advanced computer vision to AR/VR and quantum computing, catered to a wide range of participants from C-level and senior management to tech experts, undergraduates, academics, students, and even parents. 

The esteemed panel featured some of the leading experts from the global arena, such as Dr. Franz G. Fuchs, Research Scientist at SINTEF, Leader of the Gemini Center on Quantum Computing, Norway; Dr. Beshan Kulapala, Director and Co-Founder at Vega Innovations; Namal Jayathileke, VP – Engineering and Emerging Technology at Axiata Digital Labs;  Jennie-Marie Larsen, Co-Founder and CEO of Alchemy AI; Arvind Neelakantan, Epic Games Evangelist, India/ASEAN; Dr. Kalana Withanage, Senior Software Engineer, Lockheed Martin; Michael MacDonald, Chief Digital Officer and Executive Consultant at Huawei Asia Pacific; Suren Pinto, CEO, Wavenet International;

Vivek Gupta, Country Head R3 – India;  Amitha Dissanayake, Technical Lead at Yaala Labs; Koumudi Ganepola, Senior Software Engineer at Yaala Labs; Sanjay Mendis, Director at FlexID and Co-founder at 230 Interactive; Sumaiya Suhail, Product Manager – Strategy and Innovation at Wavenet International; Sasikumar Ramachandran Nair Sr. Solution Architect at NVIDIA Graphics; Thilina Premasiri, Director and Head of Game Development at Arimac; Raveen Wijayatilake, CEO, Ingame Entertainment and President of Sri Lanka eSports Association; Ken Natasha Violeta Program Manager Asosiasi Game Indonesia; Zahra Nalir, Community Manager at Gapstars; Isi Casas Del Valle Pacheco, Air & Space Lawyer at Space Hero; Supreet Kaur, Space Systems Engineer at Rocket Women, Brooke Owens Fellowship, International Space University; Kavindi De Silva, Global Events Lead, Space Hero and Abilasha Purawar, Founder & CEO of Blue Sky Analytics .

The event also featured two major topics, space and gaming industry. The panel discussion on space business was an impressive highlight as it is the very first time Sri Lanka broached this topic on such a large scale. Some of the topics covered by the panel included the evolution and privatisation of the space industry and how this will give more people access to space and to commoditise resources; combining government and private sector efforts; space travel; business models around the space industry; opportunities for tech startups and entrepreneurs; and whether Sri Lanka could also play a role in it and options for collaboration with space-faring countries; space laws, ethics, sustainability; and more.

The gaming industry panel discussion addressed the importance of this rapidly growing industry thanks to a plethora of new tech and covered gaming development, the e-sports community, and the possibility of creating an ecosystem between the two. Some of the topics covered included gaming market and opportunity – both global and local; ease of access into the game market and barriers to entry; the rise in game-centric decentralised, metaverse projects; game development, GTM and monetisation strategies; how could Sri Lankan creators leverage the platforms out there; e-sports and synergy with game development; bridging the gap between technical knowhow and artistic expression; gamification and evolution of touchpoints; and more

Speaking on the success of the conference, SLASSCOM Chairperson Sandra De Zoysa said, “Providing a supportive platform for businesses in emerging tech to scale up and expand is one of SLASSCOM’s five key focus areas aimed at developing and growing the industry by the year 2025. As a catalyst for growth in the Sri Lankan IT and BPM sphere, we hope to continue facilitating trade and business, propagating education and employment, and encouraging research and innovation. This conference is just one step in our long-term efforts to bring Sri Lanka’s IT/BPM industry to the forefront of the global stage.”

Moving forward and adapting to disruptive innovation opportunities created by new and emerging technologies requires a forward-looking view and SLASSCCOM intends to play a key role in working interactively with their combined capabilities, to support local organizations and the industry to successfully adapt to many of the new and emerging technologies that in turn will result in disruptive innovation.

SLASSCOM was supported in this venture by Axiata Digital Labs (Platinum Sponsor), Global Wavenet (Gold Sponsor), Huawei Technologies Lanka (Silver Sponsor), NVIDIA (Technology Partner) and Dialog Enterprise (Corporate Sponsor).