SLIC opens a unique ICT opportunity for Young Sri Lankan Visionaries

Sri Lanka Inventors Commission (SLIC) invites all young ICT visionaries between 18-25 to take part in an international competition organized by International Telecommunication Union, the UN agency for Information Technology.

The ‘Young Innovators Competition’ held by the ITU is open globally to anyone with an innovative IT based, development solution, and 12 finalists will will receive a fellowship to facilitate their participation at ITU Telecom World 2012 covering travel, accommodation, and expenses.

The competition is organized in two categories, namely; Concepts and Projects.

The Concept category is for well researched and documented ideas that have not yet been implemented, while the PROJECTS category is open to ongoing operations showing preliminary results ( e.g Prototypes) and in need of support to scale their impact.

SLIC's Commissioner, Mr. Deepal Sooriyaarachchi said, “Our mission is to to promote invention and

ingenuity in Sri Lanka, and we believe that the ITU's competition is a great opportunity to showcase Sri

Lankan talent. The commission is confident that the Sri Lankans will shine at ITU Telecom World 2012.

Please inform all students and tech enthusiasts in your institutions and organizations, encouraging them to take part in this competition.”

Submissions are required to be relevant to at least one of the following issues: Economic Development, Education, Human Rights, Health Care, Environmental Sustainability, Transparency, and Cyber Security.

The winners in the Concept category will receive 3,000-5,000 Swiss Francs and the Project Category winners will receive between 5,000-10,000. In addition to the prize money a one year mentorship programme is also on offer.

All applications can be made online and the closing date for submissions is 1st July at 00hrs.

Details as well as a link to the application site are available on the SLIC website; www.slic.gov.lk.

Sri Lanka Inventors Commission is the national body set up to promote invention and ingenuity in the country. It conducts many activities to promote and recognize Sri Lankan Inventors.

The School level programmes to promote inventiveness among students and the Annual Presidential Awards are some of the key activities of the commission.

In the recent past two Sri Lankan Inventors who took part at the International Inventors Exhibition in Geneva brought fame to the country by winning Gold and Silver awards.