Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka

The best way to make the benefits of ICT to reach all the people, especially the disadvantaged as envisaged by H. E. the President is to develop local e-content talent, says President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga. The Presidential Secretary said so while participating as the Guest of Hounour at the e-Swabhimani Awards 2011 held in Colombo recently. Speaking further on the occasion in particular about ICT and school education Weeratunga said that even providing computer laboratories even to remote schools would be of  no use if there was no  appropriate e-content. 

All efforts, therefore, must be made to develop local e-content covering every sector, Weeratunga urged. 

Participating in the event as the Chief Guest, Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that e-Swabhimani played a pivotal role in meeting the challenges H. E. the President had placed before us. “I would invite all to join in working towards the national ICT goals, as we endeavour to make Sri Lanka the wonder of Asia” .

Participating in the occasion ICTA CEO Reshan Dewapura  placed e-Swabhimani in its perspective about  pointing out the event’s theme “7 years of e-Sri Lanka and the growth of the e-Society” and saying: “As clearly articulated in our government’s policy ‘Mahinda Chinthana – the Vision for the Future’, it is important to recognize and give prominence to local talent, local skills and local innovations and also to recognize these talents in a very progressive manner”.

Held for the third consecutive year by the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) eSwabhimani Awards, this time, produced valuable local e-content which were an improvement on the previous two years. Out of 149 applications received under nine categories there were 20  winners, 12 special merit awardees, 20 recipients of certificates of appreciation, two  developers bagging jurors’ distinction awards and one recipient of the the Youth Encouragement Award introduced for the first time this year.

e Science and Technology

Under the  e-Science and Technology category  there were two certificates of appreciation, two special merit awards and two winners. The certificates of appreciation were for the product (1),  Microwave Radio Link Planning Tool  developed by   W M D R Gunathilaka, H G C P Dinesh and  N B Narampanawa and the product (2)  Affno m-Suite  produced by Affno (Pvt) Ltd.

The special merit awards were for (1) Sri Lanka Science Index and (2) the  Mihimadala NSF Science Magazine on TV developed by the  National Science Foundation. The winners in this category  were (1) Sherna  Corera for the product FreeWave, and (2) UniverSL Software Solutions PLC for the product mobile to site content update platform (mscup)

Entertainment and Games

Under the eEntertainment and Games category  there was one special merit award and three winners. The special merit award was secured by InGame Entertainment for the product Gamer.lk.. The three winners were  (1) Asia Broadcasting Corporation (Pvt) Ltd for the product Hiru FM and Sooriyan FM  offering entertainment in online radio, (2). Arunoda Susiripala for the product Yalu Chat, a fun application which operates on simple sms technology and (3) Isuru Kusumal Rajapakse for the product, Velenda, an online game, in which the player tests his skills in running a small boutique. ,

e-Business and Commerce category

Under the e-Business and Commerce category there were three awards of certificates of appreciation, two special merit awards and two winners. The three certificates of appreciation were for (1) www.books.lk  produced by Four Corners Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, (2) Chinese Dragon Café Website and Online Ordering System produced by Pyxle Private Limited  and Chinese Dragon Café and (3) LexEcon  eSME  Initiative produced by LexEcon Consulting Group and  Secured Signing Ltd. The two special merit awards were for  (1) Online Ordering System for Keels Super by Four Corners Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. and Jay Kay Marketing Services and (2) Ceylon Artist by Ceylon Artist. Services. The winners in this category were (1) Kapruka.com (Pvt) Ltd for the product  Kapruka.com the much acclaimed e-commerce platform and Ridgecrest Asia (Pvt) Ltd for the produt TicketsLK.

e-Learning and education 

Under category, e-Learning and education there were two awards of certificates of appreciation, one special merit award and three winners.  The certificates of appreciation were for  the product  (1) Creative Networks  produced by The Computer Society, Royal College, Colombo 07 and GIT Champion  produced by Janaka Maduwantha Dias Senanayake while the special merit awardee was Square Mobile for the product. Word Puzzle, an SMS based word game helps build the players English Language vocabulary. Winners in this category were: (1) Medical Joyworks  for the product, Prognosis: Your Diagnosis, an application freely downloadable from the iPhone App Store   or the Android Market (2) Vicit Innovative (Pvt) Ltd for the product e- Sinhala Guruthuma, an interactive web tool for learning the Sinhala language (3) Bhasha Lanka (Pvt) Ltd  for the product, Bhasha Dictionary, a centralized Sinhala-English e-Dictionary

e-Culture and Heritage 

The only awardees under category, e-Culture and Heritage there winners (1)  Sri Nimal Padmakumara   for the product, Hela Pirulu, a unique website which epitomizes our cultural heritage through proverbs and (2) Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd, Ministry of National Heritage and  The Department of Archaeology and Sri Lanka Tourism  for the product Mobitel mGuide an Interactive Voice portal, a guide to tourists and visitors to sites of archeological interest

e-Government and  Institutions

The  category, e-Government and Institutions, yielded three certificates of appreciation, two special merit awards and three Winners. The certificates of appreciation were for product  (1) AIB Paddy Insurance System  produced by Indunil  Jayasuriya and Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board, (2) Mobile Meter Reader for Utility Industry  produced by Ajanthan Eliyathamby, C. M. Shafeek and  T. B. Adhikari  and (3) Network Based Access Control System produced by Automated Barcode Solutions (Pvt) Ltd. The two special merit awards  were (1) ICT  Agency of Sri Lanka for the product eDivisional Secretariat Application System and (2) : D.K Kerthetissa (Gramaniladhari Thannekumbura) and  D.K.D Madubashitha for the product GAMPATHI  - An Informational web portal for Thannekumbura GS Division (in the  Kandy District. The winners were (1) Department of Posts for the product e-Pay Automation System, which automates the Postal Outlets of the Department of Posts in Sri Lanka (2) ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, National Disaster Relief Services Center and Joint venture comprising  hSenid Business Solutions and Respere Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd for the product Sahana Disaster Management System for National Disaster Relief Services Centre and (3) D.M.A.K Dissanayake, W.M.D.R Gunathilake and The Ceylon Electricity Board for the product: Semi-Automated Power Line Vegetation Management Tool – a tool which will enhance the quality of service provided to the customer

e-Inclusion and Participation

Category, e-Inclusion and Participation had five awards of certificates of appreciation, two special merit awards, one winner. The certificates of appreciation were for the product (1) Hanthana Linux   produced by Danishka Navin, (2) Key Touch  produced by Dasun Sameera Weerasinghe, (3) Hiru News produced by Asia Broadcasting Corporation Private Limited, (4) Nenapiyasa Web Site produced by ICT Agency of Sri Lanka and Helium 1800 and (5) Sinhala 7 produced by Sumagasoft. The special merit awardees were (1) Madura Anushanga Shelton for the product,  Real Time Singlish and (2) ICT Agency of Sri Lanka for the product Danuma.lk and Bhasha Lanka (Pvt) Ltd  with the product Bhasha SETTdeco, a web service that enables easy access to Sinhala and Tamil Unicode web content, is the solitary winner in this category.

m-Content

Category, m-Content had two certificates of appreciation, one  special merit award and three winners. Awardees of certificates of appreciation under this category were  (1) Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd and Deshabandu Sumanadasa Abeygunawardene for the product, My Astro and  (2) Myriad Digital (Pvt) Ltd and MIT Geomatics for the product CityGuide Live Traffic Navigator.  The combined recipients of the sole special merit award under this category were: ICT Agency of Sri Lanka and the Department of Railways for the product Train Schedule Android App. The winners in this category were (1) FortunaGlobal (Pvt) Ltd and Derana Macro Entertainment (Pvt) Ltd and their winning product was Ada Derana Mobile App, a content delivery app designed for users of Apple and Android powered mobile devices and (2) Bhasha Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, their winning product being Bhasha SETT Browser a mobile web browser for the Android.

e-Health and Environment

Recognition of local e-content talents in category, e-Health and Environment, consisted in three certificates of appreciation, one special merit award and two winner awards. The products that led to the certificates of appreciation were (1) Geographical Mapping System for Multi Disease Surveillance  produced by Anjana Prabhath WIjesekera,  (2)  Sri Lanka Animal Health Information System  produced by Theekshana – The UCSC Company and (3) Suwasariya - Health Net web site produced by Health Education Bureau  and  ICT Agency of Sri Lanka.  The Developer, S'Hela Int' Creative Solutions and Provincial Health Department, Sabaragamuwa bagged the only special merit award in this category and the relevant product was Sabaragamuwa Health Institutional Information Management System. Developer s (1) Dr. E.S.S. Rodrigo, PGIM and Health Information Society of Sri Lanka and Provincial Director of Health Services, Sabaragamuwa Province and  (2)  Office of the Regional Director of Health Services, Kegalle and the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka bagged the two winner awards under this category for their respective products, namely, (1)  ePraja Suwa Arunalu, a system that simplifies the cumbersome record required of Public Health Midwives and (2)  Hospital Health Information Management System

Jurors’ Distinction Award

Sanjaya Ratnayake and Ruvindee Rupasinghe jointly received one of the two  Jurors’  

Distinction Award s at the eSwabhimani 2011. Their product was iReport while the product, iCommute produced by iCommute (Pvt) Ltd secured the  other Jurors’  Distinction Award  of  eSwabhimani 2011. 

Youth Encouragement Award

The Youth Encouragement Award introduced this time was bagged by  Coyote (Pvt) Ltd for the product,  thepapare.com.  As the name indicates  ‘thePapare’ keeps the spirit of sports alive through its live coverage of sports events and its very vibrant and exciting forum. It has previews, match reports, live streaming, updates, and a specialist’s columns. 

A large audience comprising enthusiasts and experts in e-content development including ICTA Chairman Prof. P. W. Epasinghe graced the occasion. 

Caption For more information please visit www.icta.lk and www.eswabhimani.lk

Caption ( IMG_9706): 

Seated in the front row are Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga (keenly using an ICT facility), Presidential Advisor and ICTA Chairman Prof. P. W. Epasinghe and ICTA Board Director Dr. R. B. Ekanayake

Caption(IMG_9832):

Telecommunication and IT Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya presents the relevant trophy and certificate to one of the winners.  ICTA CEO Reshan Dewapura looks  on.

This article is carried in the Island of 29th November 2011.