SLIIT launches Co-innovation Center with JKH/SGIT
SLIIT, the premier degree awarding institute in Sri Lanka, which provides a broad scope of academic opportunities for students, recently partnered with John Keells Holdings PLC / Strategic Group IT (SGIT), in l a u n ching a Co- innovation Centre which will help students to work on real- life initiatives/projects and get handson exposure in an organizational context.
SLIIT students are afforded valuable opportunities to further their knowledge- base and enhance future career prospects with SGIT’s vast experience in a broad spectrum of industries.
This will also serve as an In House Internship programme and will offer SLIIT students access to collaborate with JKH/ SGIT on many of the identified initiatives as well as tap into the decades of experience and knowledge in implementing and delivering ICT solutions as well as exposure to platforms such as SAP and Microsoft. They will also have the added benefit of gaining exposure from their global reach through their established partnership with SAP and Microsoft.
As a non-state university SLIIT has autonomy in its curriculum development, outreach and growth initiatives. Through this internship SLIIT students have a valuable opportunity to receive hands- on experience of the corporate world and international business practices.
Commenting on this strategic launch, Prof. Lalith Gamage, President/CEO SLIIT noted, “The objective of introducing such an internship programme is to offer our students some industrial exposure. Experience has shown us that students who undergo these programmes receive better jobs and perform better in the industry.”
Prof. Gamage urged SGIT officials to re-create its unique learning resources and research culture within the space provided enhancing the internship programme. “To take our industry forward we need innovation and must be research orientated. This is the bigger picture we have in mind and we thank SGIT for joining us in this endeavor to take the industry and our institution forward,” Prof. Gamage said.
“In today’s context, we strongly believe and endorse Open Innovation and as such we are very keen to collaborate with institutions such as SLIIT and expand our eco-system in being able to co-innovate and co-create. This obviously is the step in the right direction and will help us fast track our journey and forge a long term alliance with SLIIT. This center will be one of the incubation centers where we believe new ideas can be incubated and nurtured. This will help us push the boundaries and grow the eco- system faster. We are very excited about this journey and wish to forge ahead with this and expand the scope of this center to include Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Internet of Things(IoT) in realizing the full value of the SMAC stack for ourselves.” said Ramesh Shanmuganathan, Executive Vice President, Group CIO, John Keells Holdings PLC.
Present at the launch event were Senior Officials from SLIIT includ- ing Professor Gamage, Dr. MalithaWijesundara, Dean Faculty of Computing, Mrs. Chithranganie Mubarak, Director Administration and Chairperson of ICTA, Dr. KosalaYapa Bandara, Head of De p a r t ment of Software Engineering and Saman Gunawardana, Industry Liaison Manager, Industry Training.
Representing SGIT Senior Management were Ramesh Shanmuganathan, Executive Vice President, Group CIO, Harsha Senanayake, Assistant Vice President, Head of Enterprise Applications and Services, Neomal Perera, Assistant Vice President, Head of Operations and Commercials and Nishan Thevathason, Assistant Vice President, Head of Enterprise Infrastructure and Services.
Ten companies have already joined the SLIIT In House internship programme. With the construction of a new 12 storey building, SLIIT is confident of being able to further expand this programme to support the career aspirations of talented undergraduate students, broadening their prospects and helping them meet the challengers of today’s business environment.