The fourth consecutive edition of Sri Lanka’s most sought after SLASSCOM National Ingenuity Awards which seeks to recognize and celebrate innovation in the IT/BPM sector of the country is all set to take centre stage on the 25th of February, 2022. Hosted by the Sri Lanka Association of Software Services Companies (SLASSCOM), the Awards Ceremony seeks to confer recognition on trailblazing innovators who are at the forefront of producing solutions and products that are intended to satisfy business, technology, social and environmental needs. SLASSCOM’s 2025 vision of achieving $ 5 billion in revenue, 200,000 jobs and 1,000 start-ups, is underpinned by innovation and disruption thereby creating a unique and differentiated position for Sri Lanka. This year’s edition of the SLASSCOM National Ingenuity Awards will play a key role in making this vision a reality. To achieve this feat, much like previous editions of this awards, SLASSCOM has placed emphasis on encouraging innovation-centric students, start-ups, SMEs, established IT-BPM companies and the corporate sector as a whole to apply and benefit from the opportunity to publicly showcase their digital innovations and disruptions. Alongside this, SLASSCOM’s ambitious agenda aimed at building a self-sustaining platform to identify, mentor and uplift local start-ups, through this initiative still stands. As the Awards Ceremony reflects inclusivity regardless of demographics, they will recognise participants across all nine provinces in the country. Accordingly, the initial phase will be staged on a provincial level and the competition will then move on to the national level, culminating in its grand finale to be held on the 25th of February, 2022. Applications are now officially open for interested participants to compete across twelve award categories which seek to recognize the value that innovations carry in each specific category. They are, Best Disruptive Product Innovation, Best Client Delivery Innovation, Best Innovation in Internal Processes, Technology or Framework, Best Start-up, Best Innovative Product / Project - University, Best Innovative Product / Project - School, Emerging Woman Technopreneur of the Year, Best Global Business Service / BPM Entrepreneur, Most Innovative Global Business Service / BPM, Best Global Services / BPM Transformation Award, Best Global Business Services / BPM on Regional Expansion, and Best UN17 SDG Initiative / Software Solution in the IT/BPM Sector. Commenting on the outlook of the fast growing IT-BPM sector in Sri Lanka, the Chairperson of SLASSCOM Sandra De Zoysa had this to say, “Inspiring new brigades to enter our industry remains as one of the key driving forces of the future forward attitude of the sector. Sri Lanka has positioned itself on par with other benchmark nations in terms of IT-BPM advancements. As we look towards the future, the SLASSCOM National Ingenuity Awards seeks to celebrate such accomplishments and progress. The growth enjoyed by the sector so far needs to be accelerated. We can take our Island of Ingenuity forward by inspiring more people to join, invest and grow with us, and this is exactly what the SLASSCOM National Ingenuity Awards strives to achieve.” Meanwhile, Charindra Wijemanne, Conference Lead of SLASSCOM National Ingenuity Awards 2022 also weighed in with her thoughts stating, “SLASSCOM National Ingenuity Awards is a platform that will bring out the best innovators in the IT-BPM industry of Sri Lanka. This will open doors for businesses of all sizes, start- ups, entrepreneurs, freelancers, Universities and School students to be recognized for their innovative thinking and contributions to uplift our industry.” In line with its philosophy of opening doors, making connections and taking the right steps to bring young innovators’ future forward, the SLASSCOM National Ingenuity Awards 2022 is supported by Wiley as Platinum Innovation Sponsor, ADL and Pearson as Platinum Sponsors, while IFC will support the event as a Technical Partner. LSEG and Hayleys Advantis will support the event as Gold Sponsors. ADA, ISMAPAC, hSenid, Nagarro and SDB have pledged to be Award Category Sponsors. Event Partners include Export Development Board, Board of Investment, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), Lankan Angel Network (LAN), Uva Start-up, Northern Chamber of IT, Council for Start-ups, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Sri Lanka Nordic Business Council, British Computer Society, Computer Society of Sri Lanka, North Eastern Chamber for ICT, National Chamber of Commerce, and National Chamber of Exporters. PwC Sri Lanka will be the Process Governance Partner who will independently review and recommend processes and areas pertaining to Calling for applications, Selection of judges, Shortlisting of applications at regional and national levels, and the access control to the Awards Management System - Judgify, to ensure the highest standards are maintained in the conduct of the awards. SLASSCOM is the national chamber for the IT/BPM industry in Sri Lanka. The chamber acts as the catalyst of growth for the Sri Lankan IT and BPM industry by facilitating trade and business, propagation of education and employment, encouraging research and innovation, and by supporting the creation of a forward thinking and progressive national policy framework. Member organisations of SLASSCOM account for approximately 90% of the IT/BPM industry export revenue.