Sunday Observer

A total of nineteen corporate members have joined the Information Services Centre (ISC) of the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) this year to obtain information, said Head of the Information Services Centre Suranee Samarasekera.

"The mobile payment gateway supporting online payments through mobile phones will be launched soon" said Chief Operating Officer ICTA Reshan Dewapura.

Addressing the eHealth Sri Lanka 2010 conference themed toward IT enabled HealthCare he said, that plans are under way to introduce an eHealth policy in the country.

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka granted investment approval to Senit Technologies Limited and Vingrows Business Solutions Limited to commence operations under the BOI.

The positive values of the Government Information Centre-1919 could have a catalyst effect on all government institutions, said Chairman GIC-1919 Project Steering Committee and Additional Presidential Secretary Dr. I. H. K. Mahanama delivering the keynote address at the National GIC-1919 Conference held at Hotel Galadari, recently.

Human resource is the critical factor in the development and progress of modern organisations. Human beings are unique. It is very difficult to identify unique ways of employing people, developing their capacities, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and the organisation's needs. The Institute of Personnel Management Inc. (IPM), the nation's leader in HRM currently plays a vital role in this crucial development process by increasing its contribution through value addition to HR education and training in Sri Lanka.

A two-day international symposium on e-Health, titled e-Health Sri Lanka 2010 will be hosted by the Health Informatics Society of Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) and the Post Graduate institute of Medicine (PGIM) at the Waters Edge, Battaramulla on September 15 and 16.

Though Sri Lanka received Independence on February 4, 1948, several foreign countries and financial institutions imposed conditions on us since we are not financially independent, said Small and Medium Enterprise Development Support Unit Chief Coordinator and Senior Lecturer of Sri Jayewardenepura University Shaman Udayanga.

Quality is a prerequisite in order to be a valuable player in any business and it has always been the foundation of our business at Eurocenter. We were able to build a world class company because of the quality of our services in the global market, said the CEO of Eurocenter DDC, Mano Sekaram.

The ninth CNCI Achiever Awards 2010 for Industrial Excellence organised by the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) was held last week where 85 industrialists received awards and certificates.

The Education Ministry will set up a television channel for education.

Students, especially in remote areas of the country will benefit by this new channel, said Education Minister Bandula Gunawarden.

The IT industry of India has grown from a few million dollars in the 1990’s to $ 50b in 2009 contributing to 5 percent of the GDP while the industry is projected to grow to $225b by 2020, said Chairman Accenture India Harsh Manglik.

The MTI Venture Start-up Challenge brings together young professionals and students to compete in an innovative business competition centred on exploring emerging opportunities in Sri Lanka.

It is timely to address how information technology can be used to empower people to develop the country in this new era Sri Lanka entered into by defeating terrorism,” said Minister of Technology and Research Prof.Tissa Vitarana addressing the 28th National Information Technology Conference (NITC) 2010 organised by the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) in Colombo last week.

Though internet usage is 8.3 percent in Sri Lanka at present it will increase soon due to more people becoming computer savvy, said founder of 101010 Ramesh Srivats. He said that in the future, with people becoming knowledgeable about the internet and its uses Sri Lanka can leapfrog and make the maximum use of the net. Internet is not orderly and hierarchical but it is random. The paradigm used by the internet is mass media. On the net you can be yourself and can be funny, serious or angry.

The mapping out of schools to be developed under the Rs. 6 billion assistance package from the World Bank is now on. It is being carried out by the Education Ministry and the Finance Ministry with the idea of launching the program early next year, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

Any country that aspires to become a knowledge based economy should ensure and respect Intellectual Property (IP) rights and set up a robust IP protection mechanism, said Senior Director, Marketing (Asia Pacific) of Business Software Alliance (BSA) Roland Chan.

Harnessing human resources for development depends on the skills of a country's people. And that in turn requires a robust and effective higher education system in place as the only mechanism that can produce and sustain these skills, said Lanka Exhibitions and Conferences Services (Pvt) Ltd (LECS) Director, Imran Hassan at a media briefing held in Colombo last week to launch Adyapana 2010.

"Strengthen IT systems to avoid crisis No IT system is foolproof. Therefore every company has to carry out regular system audits to improve systems that are already in place to avoid a crisis", said Deputy Governor Central Bank Dharma Dheerasinghe, chief guest at the first ever roundtable conference themed 'Reputation in the digital society-Risks and rewards organised by Banking Frontiers, a magazine published in India together with Novell.

The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) said that the introduction of a floor rate to telephone operators has survived the telcom industry that was on the verge of collapse as a result of the price war between operators.

The "Accountancy Forum 2010" will be held on Tuesday, August 3 at the Hilton Hotel, organised by the Accountancy Students' Association of Kelaniya University (ASAK) for the seventh successive year.

“Thanks to our high literacy rate, Sri Lankans place a high value on education but it can be so much that they go to the extent of mortgaging their properties to send their children abroad for higher studies,” said Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Upali Vidanapathirana.

Thilaksha Kodituwakku, a young entrepreneur has developed a banking solution which can deliver financial services through mobile phones. 

By Gamini Warushamana

Girawa (www.girawa.com), a global voice services provider and Etisalat Sri Lanka, the mobile communication services provider recently reaffirmed their existing partnership to provide communication services to expatriate Sri Lankans.