Innovation has become the buzzword of the decade across the world. Understanding truly what it stands for and putting a metric behind it may seem an arduous task. But, the Global Innovation Index (GII) does just that.It produces a comprehensive broad-based model of measuring innovation that captures its complex nature in both developed and emerging economies.

Since its first edition, published in 2007, the GII has gained international recognition, leading to numerous countries incorporating the GII into their innovation agendas and metrics. The GII is co-published by the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

With the intent of recognizing the extent of innovation and increasing Sri Lanka’s visibility in the GII rankings, SLASSCOM has organized the Innovation Summit & Awards “Celebrate Ingenuity!”, to be held on 14 June 2018 at the Cinnamon Grand, Colombo. The keynote speaker for the event, Dr. Soumitra Dutta, is the Founder and Co-editor of the GII and the former Dean and current Professor of Management at the SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University. He is also the Co-Editor of the Global Information Technology Report, published by the World Economic Forum and has served for over two decades as the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Dr Soumitra Dutta says “It is very exciting to be a part of the first ever SLASSCOM Innovation Summit in Sri Lanka. It will bring to light the importance ofleadership in creating vibrant digital innovation ecosystems and what some of the leading economies are doing better than others. Hopefully this will catalyze Sri Lanka’s journey towards innovative greatness.”

With the recent unveiling of Sri Lanka’s national branding of the ICT/BPM sector, IOI – Island of Ingenuity, the SLASSCOM Innovation Summit becomes a true celebration of ingenuity and innovation. As part of the SLASSCOM Innovation Summit, there will also be an Innovation Awards segment to recognize and celebrateingenuity. The core judging panel will consist of acclaimed international figures, led by Dr. Soumitra Dutta. When asked about the awards, SLASSCOM Chairman, Ruwindhu Peiris, says “We’ve carefully selected categories of awards that truly embodies the spirit of innovation. It will be great to see the applications that come in and to bring to the limelight all the innovation spurring growth in Sri Lanka’s ICT/BPM sector”.

Applications are now open for the award categories: Best Product Innovation, Best Startup Product/Service, Best Client Delivery Innovation, Best Disruptor, Best Innovation in Internal Process, Best Innovation in Business Process Management, and the Best Technology or Framework Innovation. For more information, please visit bit.ly/celebrateingenuity to submit your applications and event registrations.

Photo Caption - Professor Soumitra Dutta