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The competition for the National ICT Excellence Awards(NICE) to be held in October will pave the way to develop high quality products in Sri Lanka and it return e-Sri Lanka will gain through quality software that are needed to implement this initiative successfully said Dr Dileepa De Silva an IT Consultant .Dr De Silva is also a Fellow of British Computer Society and he chairs the National Software Awards Competition.

He said that ICT industry should work together to be a force in the future. Creation of Sri Lanka Information and Communications Technology Association (SLICTA) which has been established with the aim of providing a single voice of the ICT industry is a great initiative which has paved way for Sri Lankan ICT companies to have a dialogue with the government and ICT Agency in the future. Following is the interview.

1. Give us a brief Description of the NICE Awards Programme Structure and APICTA Awards ?

A.National ICT Excellence Awards (NICE) program consists of three main competitions, namely National Best Quality Software Awards for Commercial Software Products organized by British Computer Society, Sri Lanka Section, Universities & Tertiary Student Projects Awards organised by Universities and Young Computer Scientist Awards organised by Sri Lanka Association for the Software Industry (SLASI).

Most important aspect of this year's event is the commitment of SLASI, Software Exports Association (SEA), Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL), University of Colombo School of Computers (UCSC), University of Moratuwa and Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology(SLIIT) to be involved in the organisation committee.

2. How was the response to the commercial sector Awards conducted by The British Computer Society?

A. The response from the industry is very encouraging as we have received 38 software products from 30 companies who have entered their software products to this year's competition and it is a 200% increase of participation in comparison with last year.

3. What Difference do you see in this year's competition as against the previous years?

A. Previous years, the three software awards competitions were separately organised but this year all ICT Association have got together to organise a true National event to recognise the outstanding achievements of organisations of Sri Lanka who have contributed to the development process of ICT. Secondly another important factor is that we have modelled this year's competition on the Asia Pacific ICT Awards competition. Hence the winners will get the opportunity to compete with the best software products of Asia Pacific in Cairns, Australia.

4. What is you first Impression of the Applications Received. Especially the Standard?

A. There are very innovative products, and quality and standards have improved a lot. Most companies have used the latest technologies and tools to develop their products which are par with international standards.

5. What message will you give to the participants to ensure Fair Selection, which will also be a deciding factor in nominating entrance to Asia Pacific ICT Awards ( APICTA)?

A. First of all we have purchased a web based solution called 'Awards Manager' from APICTA to help the judges to evaluate the products and hence we will be following the same criteria as in the APICTA program.

This will help to create uniformity when evaluating hence we ensure that the judging process will be very fair and the judges will be selected from the industry who will be independent and from the user community and universities.

6. What benefit will the Sri Lankan ICT Industry gain from NICE & APICTA Programmes?

A. The program will provide a window to gain International Recognition of Local SW /ICT products and improve Standards & Quality of Local products & Services to meet International Demands.

7. What assistance do you require from the government and other stake holders of the Industry?

A. As earlier mentioned, this is a National event to recognise the outstanding achievements of organisations of Sri Lanka who have contributed to the development process of ICT and government and the ICT Agency should recognise and support this initiative by ICT Associations. We need assistance to sustain such program and contribution and sponsorship are gladly welcome.

8. How could the "e-Sri Lanka Initiative" gain from these Programmes?

A. e-Sri Lanka initiative needs quality software products to implement the program in Sri Lanka. Such competitions will pave way to develop high quality products which can compete with any product in the world and participation in an international competition will provide the much needed exposure and maturity to these companies.

9. Your Message to the ICT Industry?

A. ICT industry should work together to be a force in the future. Creation of Sri Lanka Information and Communications Technology Association (SLICTA) which has been established with the aim of providing a single voice of the ICT industry is a great initiative which has paved way for Sri Lankan ICT companies to have a dialogue with the government and ICT Agency in the future. Quality control and standards are an essential element in development process of software and companies should emphasise and introduce these elements to their development cycle so that we produce world class software solutions.

10. What Plans do you have for APICTA 2003 In Cairns Australia?

A. Winners of each category will have the opportunity to participate in this years APICTA program in Cairns in Australia.

This is a golden opportunity to compare Sri Lankan products with the Asia Pacific. Identify our strengths as well as weaknesses to develop better products for the future.

Another important issue is that this may be an ideal forum to meet partners for future development projects.

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