{"id":3776,"date":"2021-04-28T20:19:47","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T14:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.renasl.org\/?p=3776"},"modified":"2022-08-30T19:08:44","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T13:38:44","slug":"did-you-know-episode-3-the-rise%e2%80%afof-innovation-and-start-up-culture-in-sri-lanka%e2%80%af%e2%80%af","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.renasl.org\/fr\/3776\/did-you-know-episode-3-the-rise%e2%80%afof-innovation-and-start-up-culture-in-sri-lanka%e2%80%af%e2%80%af\/","title":{"rendered":"Did you know? Sri Lanka is a major Innovation and Startup Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

The big global innovation and start-up hubs\u202fare having to make room for an Asian\u202fnewcomer. Get to know why Sri Lanka is a major innovation starup hub<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Author:<\/strong> Zazkia Jogner Berlin<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n

In 2020, Sri Lanka was ranked in the top 20 Asian Economies on the Global Innovation Index.\u202fSri Lanka’s impressive climb on the heavily competitive global innovation arena is starting to turn heads globally, and rightfully so.\u202fAs post-pandemic measures lead to novel strategies\u202fdue to restricted movement, companies are\u202fincreasingly searching for\u202fthe most competitive and cost-effective innovative solutions without sacrificing quality.<\/p>\n

There are a couple of key factors\u202fthat have contributed to\u202fcreating this innovation and start-up friendly ecosystem.\u202fPerhaps most\u202fimportantly, it is the collective support and encouragement stemming from an array of governmental bodies,\u202fNGOs\u202fand private enterprise initiatives which is enabling this multi-level push towards a world-leading innovation culture.<\/p>\n

Start-up and innovation ecosystems<\/h2>\n

During\u202fthe past decade, the Sri Lankan Government has\u202fmade progressive steps towards\u202fcreating\u202fan efficient\u202fstart-up and innovation\u202fecosystem.\u202fThis has\u202fincluded\u202fdigitizing\u202fthe\u202fprevious\u202fanalogue way in which to start a company,\u202fmaking it an\u202feasy and streamlined process.\u202fThe government\u202falso continues to actively work towards cutting the red tape\u202fbetween\u202finnovators, investors and business mentors through creating\u202faccessible\u202fstart-up and innovation\u202fprogrammes.<\/p>\n

Three of these\u202fschemes\u202finclude the \u00ab\u00a0Enterprise Sri Lanka\u201d programme by the Sri Lankan Export Development Board, which provides young innovators with business loans, \u00ab\u00a0Spiralation\u00a0\u00bb organized by the Sri Lankan Information and Communication Agency (ICTA), supporting start-ups with seed funding, and \u00ab\u00a0Disrupt Asia\u00a0\u00bb, a\u202fstart-up\u202fconference gathering investors, academics, students,\u202fcorporates\u202fand entrepreneurs to connect and share ideas and\u202fexpertise.<\/p>\n

Other non-governmental bodies supporting and mentoring start-ups and innovations are also increasing in numbers, including SLASSCOM Sri Lanka, one of the country’s online\u202fstart-up\u202fhubs.<\/p>\n

\"Sri
Sri Lanka, the new Innovation Hub \u00a9John Adams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the start-up ecosystem expands, physical hubs and meeting places are also being created across the country, allowing creators and new business owners access to supporting spaces in which to run their operations. This also\u202ffacilitates\u202fa possibility of daily,\u202freal-life community networking interaction and knowledge exchange. While most of these are still based in the capital of\u202fColombo, there are a few spread across the country with more satellite hubs currently being\u202fconstructed.<\/p>\n

Should you\u202fbe unable\u202fto\u202fvisit one of the\u202fphysical hubs, the government has made the cost of data affordable\u202fand fast, enabling you to work remotely whilst still having a high-speed internet connection.<\/p>\n

These initiatives work in parallel to\u202ffacilitate\u202fa vibrant,\u202ftransparent\u202fand accessible\u202fculture and community where ideas and information can be shared.<\/p>\n

Education and knowledge sharing<\/h2>\n

In\u202f2019, 9076 ICT graduates including both government and private universities were projected according to the latest ICTA National IT-BPM Workforce Survey. In addition to these university programs, the ICTA offers students\u202fadditional\u202fvocational education in IT and a subsequent opportunity of providing loans to youth starting their own businesses following the successful completion of its program.<\/p>\n

A majority of\u202fthese programs are taught in English, maximising the opportunity for students to compete amongst the global\u202fcohort of ICT graduates. This is also attracting international companies wanting\u202fa\u202fcompetent, English speaking offshore workforce who seek world-class ICT capabilities.<\/p>\n

Recently and\u202fperhaps partially\u202fdue to the pandemic, some of the graduates who\u202fpreviously left\u202fthe country to work internationally returned\u202fhome to continue working remotely for their employers, or to launch their own businesses. Graduates that choose to pursue the entrepreneurship route benefit from already being equipped with understanding the fundamentals of launching their own business – all made possible by the accessibility of high-speed internet access and the supporting start-up ecosystem infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\"Graph
Graph -\u202fICTA National IT-BPM Workforce Survey 2019, P.56<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Table
Table -\u202fICTA National IT-BPM Workforce Survey 2019, P.57<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Notable Sri Lankan start-ups<\/h2>\n

Through these\u202fcombined\u202fmeasures by governmental and private actors, the number of both Sri Lankan start-ups initiatives and innovations continues to increase. This support structure ecosystem generates an accessible and iterative feedback loop that enables these new start-ups to grow and flourish while fuelling a collaborative culture and community which every start-up and innovation culture thrives on.<\/p>\n

As a\u202ftestament to this are two of the most exciting Sri Lankan start-ups making global headlines:<\/p>\n

Diyazen<\/h2>\n

Diyazen,\u202fcreated by the Sri Lankan technology company\u202fArimac,\u202fdescribes itself as \u201can end-to-end digital solutions provider focussing on mobile and enterprise solutions, artificial intelligence & machine learning, immersive technologies, and game design and development company\u201d.<\/p>\n

Diyazen\u202fis a\u202fhumanoid\u202frobot built with cognitive technology that includes multilingual processing, face recognition and emotional comprehension.\u202fIt\u2019s\u202ften-hour\u202foperating time in between charges enables it to be utilised during longer shifts such as that of the hospitality industry for which it was originally created to support.<\/p>\n

Should you not\u202frequire\u202fa robot for hospitality use,\u202fDiyazen\u202fis built on a modular platform that allows its functions to be configured and customized depending on the required usage.<\/p>\n