SLASSCOM hosts first ever AI Asia Summit 2018
The Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) conducted the first-ever SLASSCOM AI Asia Summit on November 7, 2018, at The Kingsbury.
The conference attracted over 300 attendees from the industry and addressed topics relating to AI Applications, Data Science, Analytics and Machine Learning. Participants were able to learn and connect with acclaimed international and local speakers present at the event.
SLASSCOM Chairman Jeevan Gnanam welcomed the attendees and shared his vision for an AI Nation where Data Science and AI become Sri Lanka’s third pillar of IT exports. He also spoke on the opportunity to use this event as a catalyst to drive a national agenda for AI engaging all stakeholders.
This was followed by a keynote by DHL Asia Pacific Data Analytics Head Timothy Kooi, who shared examples of AI and Analytics applied in business. Technical sessions were conducted by Mediatek Technology Senior Director Dr. Yasantha Rajakarunanayake, Simcentric Technologies Chief Executive Officer Dr. Adam Easton, Boutique Data Consultancy Founder and Principal Dr. James Shanahan, Google Data Scientist Dr. Rukshan Batuwita, Google Deepmind Senior Research
Scientist Dr. Chrisantha Fernando and Cambridge Five AI Research Scientist Dr. Sadeep Jayasumana.
Microsoft Data and AI Senior Solution Architect Christopher Gunawan spoke on the role of AI empowering business transformation.
Two research case studies were presented by Prof. Asoka Karunananda and Dr. Subha Fernando from the University of Moratuwa, representing the Sri Lanka Association for Artificial Intelligence (SLAAI).
Anzyz Technologies Co-founder Svein Olaf Olsen also shared his experience on building a nextgeneration, self-learning tool to handle Big Data using AI.
The event also hosted two panel
discussions focusing on ‘AI: Where next?’ and ‘Opportunities for AI Startups’.
The first panel discussion was moderated by Virtusa Executive Vice President, CIO and General Manager Madu Ratnayake, and included Dr. Yasantha Rajakarunanayake, Dr. James Shanahan and Dr. Chrisantha Fernando as panellists.
The panel discussion on AI Startups was moderated by Conscient AI Co-founder C.D. Athuraliya, with panellists from several local Ai/analytics startup companies. Forest Pin Managing Director and Co-founder Ransith Fernando, Zeptolytics Founder Apurva Udeshi, SAKS Global Analytics and Data
Science Head Jerome Perera and Boolean Lab Founder, CEO and Chief Architect Nuwan Dehigaspitiya contributed as panellists for this session.
The conference concluded with closing remarks from WSO2 Chief Operating Officer and SLASSCOM Technology Forum Head Shevan Goonetilleke. He thanked the conference partners and sponsors, including innovation partner - GIZ, strategic partners - IKT Norge and the Royal Norwegian Embassy, gold sponsor - Microsoft, silver sponsor - IFS R&D International, exclusive enterprise communications partner Dialog Enterprise, and the startup Sri Lanka ecosystem partner - Hatch.