National CSSL ICT Awards 2017 is the annual Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry Awards ceremony organized for the fifth consecutive time by the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) in order to encourage, recognize and celebrate the excellence in ICT practice by rewarding the best and the finest of ICT professionals. The project was lead by Prof Samantha Thelijjagoda, student counselor/Council Member of CSSL.
For these ICT Awards, CSSL first called nominations and applications and then conducted the selection by a panel of experts from the ICT industry as well as academia. The judging panel included –
- Mr Shanta Yapa -Past President of Federation of IT Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS), Software Chapter
- Mr. Geethapriya Tillekaratne – Past Chairman, BCS the Chartered Institute for IT -Sri Lanka Section)
- Ms Sandra De Zoysa – -Member of the board of Directors-SLASSCOM (Group Chief Customer Officer, Dialog Axiata PLC
- Mr Ahamed Nishadh -Representative from ICT Agency Sri Lanka
- Mr Yasas V Abeywickrama-President CSSL
- Mr Prabath Samindra –Vice President CSSL
- Prof. Samantha Thelijjagoda – Project Lead for CSSL
The winner of CSSL ICT Student award –School category is Pasindu Chathuranga Wijesena from Ananda College Colombo. CSSL ICT Student Award-School Category winner is a student of Ananda College, Colombo. He entered to the Ananda Collage after grade 5 scholarship examination, after having primary education at Kahawatta Primary School, Kahawatta. He has taken part and won the gold at the following major national level contests:
- Sri Lankan Olympiad in Informatics – 2016 and 2017
- National Schools Software Competition – 2015
- Young Computer Scientist Competition – 2014
- Sri Lanka Science and Engineering Fair – 2013
- Junior Inventor of the Year – 2012
Has represented Sri Lanka at many international events.
The CSSL ICT Student award-Undergraduate category was won by Keet Malin Sugathadasa of University of Moratuwa.
He is a product of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa. As an emerging young student in the field of research, he has an interest in areas related to Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and Cyber Security. He has excelled well in academics, resulting in being the top of the batch for consecutive years maintaining the cumulative GPA 4.05 out of 4.2.
He won awards at many national and international competitions such as Google I/O 2016, Cakelabs IoT Hackathon, IESL YMS Hackathon Fiontrai 2016, Cima Launchpad 2016, Yarl Geek Challenge, Hackadev 2015 and AirAsia Air-volution 2017, bringing glory to the university as well as to the country.
CSSL ICT Researcher of the year is Dr. Lakshman Jayarathna.
He is a Senior Lecturer attached to the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC). He obtained his B.Sc (Hons) in Computer Science from the University of Colombo and his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Western Sydney, Australia.
He is currently the principal investigator of the Automated Content Based Audio Music Monitoring Approach for Radio Broadcasting Channels in Sri Lanka, in which his team is investigating an approach to identify songs for radio channels in Sri Lanka in order to ensure the intellectual property rights of the song creators. Further, he is currently the principal investigator of the Computational Approach to Train on Music Notations for Visually Impaired in Sri Lanka where his team is using music notations to enable visually impaired musicians to overcome the barriers they had in learning music, most highlighted in reading and regenerating music notations.
CSSL Emerging ICT leader of the year was awarded to Mr Mohamed Shehan.
He is a young entrepreneur, creative thinker interested in finding innovative solutions for the benefit of differently able people such as hearing impaired, visual impaired since the world today has not created much products or innovations that could solve their basic day to day problems.
He has initiated many projects and the “I-chum” (a high tech glass for visually impaired people), “Twig- Gab” (a wearable device for hearing impaired people) and “Dream Spawn” (a high tech device for controlling the dreams) are the top innovations, expected to add high value to the society.
The Best start-up of the year is LIVEROOM.
This is a startup based in Colombo which specializes Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality platform developments. The company’s main product is a cloud based sales and marketing platform powered by the latest augmented reality technology to support online sales.
This company started through a final year project when the founders, Sameera Nilupul and Chameera Wijebandara were at the university.
Few achievements of the company:
- Represented Sri Lanka at “4 Years From Now” (4YFN) 2016 and 2017 Barcelona, Spain
- Represented Sri Lanka at “Innov-Fest unbound 2016” at Singapore
- Finalist at “Unilever Startup Battle”, Singapore in 2016
- Among Top Three Startups to use “Google Tango Technology”, Paris
- One of the 57 rising Startups from Asia announced by
e27 and Startup Tracker
- Winner at e-Swarnabhimani competition organized by ICTA
- One of the top 3 startups at Lenovo Tango challenge held in Spain 2016
CSSL CIO of the year is Mr Udana Wickramasinghe
He is a seasoned Digital cum Business Executive who has provided effective stewardship for local and global organizations. He started his career in banking and moved into IT which helped him to gain significant experience in both digital and business arenas. He has over 22 years of experience, with 11+ at the C-level, in Sri Lanka, UK and Australia with an operational footprint covering territories including other European countries and emerging markets.
He is currently serving as the Director and CIO for Sri Lanka Tourism where he oversees operations of three key organizations including Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau, and Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management or formerly known as the Colombo Hotel School.
There were no winners for the ICT Educator and Female ICT leader for this year.
CSSL ICT Leader of the year is Mr Dulith Herath.
He is the award-winning founder and Chairman of Kapruka and serial entrepreneur. In just over 11 years of operation, Kapruka has evolved by leaps and bounds, scaling from a humble website running on a laptop to a billion-rupee icon of success and disruptive innovation.
As a renowned corporate personality in the business world beyond local boundaries, he is enriched with expertise and experience to guide, mentor and motivate the youth to be un-paralleled and un-wavering entrepreneurs to drive Sri Lanka towards one of the most exciting and dynamic economies.
National CSSL ICT Awards 2017 – Advertisement
CSSL ICT Student Award-School category Pasindu Wijesena

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ICT Leader of the year Dulith V Herath

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ICT Researcher of the Year Dr Lakshman Jayaratne

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K Malin Sugathadasa ICT STUDENT Award Undergraduate Category

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Mohamed Shehan Emerging ICT Leader of the Year

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The LiveRoom Pvt Ltd Best Start-up of the Year

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Udana Wickramasinghe CIO of the Year

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