David Dominic, Advisor to FITISS |
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For the last twelve years, FITISS has been strongly behind the Sri Lankan ICT industry leading all facets of technological growth in the country. From setting directions for the IT policies, assisting policy formulations, developing awareness of ICT technologies and products, growing overseas markets for local ICT companies - FITISS has touched every single point of the ICT industry.
With 2009 being declared as the Year of ICT and English by His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa, FITISS is proud to announce several initiatives to make that vision come true.
The FITISS (Federation of IT Industry and Services Sri Lanka) was established to form a single point of contact for the industry and sponsors all events that are organized by the member associations. The SLASI (Sri Lanka Association for the Software Industry), SLCVA (The Sri Lanka Computer Vendors Association) and ACTOS ( Association of Computer Training Organization Sri Lanka) and LISPA (License Internet Service Providers Association) are industry associations, which come under the FITISS umbrella, whilst ISACA(Information Systems Audit and Control Association) and BCS (British Computer Society-Sri Lanka Section are professional associations which are closely associated with the FITISS as members of the INFOTEL Lanka Society .
Udaya SilvaUdaya Silva, Past Chairman for FITISS |
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With the year 2009 being declared as the year of IT and English by the government, FITISS has organized its activities around this theme. FITISS therefore will be in the forefront with its plans and actions directed towards supporting the government. The Sunday Times spoke to Mr. David Dominic, Advisor to FITISS and Mr. Udaya Silva, Past Chairman for FITISS about their programme plans for the year 2009/ 2010.
"We will be planning to have Mini Infotel Exhibitions this year in various regions. Our very first Mini Infotel was held in the year 1999 in Gampaha and from there we have progressed to the areas of Matara, Kurunegala, Jaffna and Kandy. All our Mini Infotel events have been highly successful and are considered to be one of our social responsibility programs carried out towards the enhancement of the computer literacy of the community. The school where the exhibition was held was supported to set up a computer lab and training was provided for the teachers as well. In addition to this SLASI will be organizing its Young Computer Scientist Competition this year as well, where many schools in Sri Lanka will participate and a winner will be selected to participate in the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards Competition," says Mr. Dominic.
This year FITISS will be conducting special programmes for schools, which will include quiz programmes held through radio and print media. FITISS will also support the activities planned for the year by the Ministry of Education in order to strengthen ICT in the Education System. It is closely working with the ICT branch of the MoE as a cooperate social responsibility activity as has been done in the past years as well.
Conferences, workshops and seminars on various technical issues are planned with the intention of creating awareness of the latest developments with regards to ICT. In addition to these events special seminars on soft skills for ICT and road shows will also be scheduled this year.
Commenting on their plans for the year, Mr. Udaya De Silva said, "In summary we have looked at the programmes, activities and other plans for the coming 2 to 3 years. We are focusing more however on the year 2009, which has already been declared the year of IT and English. Having looked at all our plans and strategies FITISS is very much in line with the governments policies for IT and English. Therefore this year we are focusing towards taking IT to the rural areas as well as helping to build awareness of ICT among the general public.
FITISS comprises of the formation of the ICT companies in all aspects, which includes the areas of software, hardware, trading, telecom service providers etc., and therefore covers the entire spectrum within the ICT industry. The fact that we have been in existence since the year 1996, after being established under the patronage of CINTEC, which was then considered to be the apex body for the ICT industry, which was also backed, by the support and assistance of the government is further endorsement of our stability in the industry."
With the need for a unified body within the current context of the emerging trends and booms within the ICT industry worldwide increasing, the FITISS in the future will have a bigger role to play. With the current global crisis taking place more emphasis will also be directed towards building up the ICT industry. In the past the FITISS has been working very closely with the state universities, which include the University of Moratuwa and the University of Colombo, by supporting them in their respective ICT initiatives. Whilst looking after the interests of the country the FITISS also looks after its membership and lobbies with government and regulatory authorities as the voice for the ICT Industry. To highlight one such example, SLCVA which comes under the FITISS umbrella actively supported the importers of colour printers in resolving their issues, by facilitating the importation and the license control processes with the regulatory authorities.
FITISS also represents Sri Lanka as a member the Asian Oceanic Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO), which is established to generate regional co-operation within the ICT industry. The members comprise 20 key IT industry associations of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia ,India , Bangladesh, Pakistan, Taipei, Myanmar, Nepal , Philippines, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Lao, Thailand and Vietnam. Through them, ASOCIO provides a collective representation of more than 10,000 IT companies in the region. All the representatives of ASOCIO are also backed by the support of their individual governments. In this regard the FITISS is working towards maintaining its position as the key industry body, which will be in the forefront of taking the ICT industry forward whilst also keeping inline with the government's plans and objectives.
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