BCS Sri Lanka announces 20th National Best Quality ICT Awards (NBQSA)
Awards Night to take place in October
The 20th edition of the National Best Quality ICT Awards (NBQSA), Sri Lanka’s only national competition to evaluate ICT products developed locally, was off i c i a l ly announced at a special launch ceremony organized at the Hotel Galadari recently. The Chief Guest at the event was Wasantha Deshapriya - Secretary to the Ministry of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure.
Successfully organized by the BCS - The Chartered Institute for ITSri Lanka section ( BCSSL) since 1998, the NBQSA is open to organizations, groups and individuals in Sri Lanka for locally- designed and developed ICT products. This year’s landmark event will be open to more than 19 categories with Gold, Silver and Bronze awards being presented in each category provided the project achieves a minimum number of marks to be eligible to win one of the three awards. Three special awards will also be handed out – “ICT Lifetime Achiever Award”, the “ICT Entrepreneur of the year Award” and the “Public Sector Most Outstanding ICT Achievement Award”. After a rigorous judging process spanning several months, the grand finale will take place on 19th October 2018.
From its inception, the core objectives of the NBQSA have been to uplift the quality and standards of the ICT products developed in Sri Lanka, to identify local talents and recognize the outstanding achievements of commercial organizations, individuals or groups and also to act as the gateway to the international market and to support them to improve the quality of the products so that they can compete better in the international market. The competition has paved the way for the best of these organisations to participate in many international com- petitions and events in order to connect Sri Lankan talents with the global market. Sponsors of this year’s NBQSA include Saegis Campus (Official Facility Provider), DTech ( Pvt) Ltd ( Official ICT Solutions Provider), Arimac Lanka (Official Interactive Media Partner) and Lanka Bell ( Of f i c i a l Communications Partner).
Addressing the audience at the event, Ruwan Amarasekara – Chairman of the BCSSL stated, “Collectively all of us in the ICT industry in Sri Lanka have come a long way since the 1990s. The NBQSA was commenced 20 years ago to recognise the outstanding achievements of Sri Lanka’s ICT industry’s products, processes and people. This competition is purely for Sri Lankans and although many foreign organisations have requested to get involved over the years, we have politely declined them. We cherish the outstanding achievements of the Sri Lankan ICT industry and we have created a window for international recognition through NBQSA.”
Commenting on the judging process, he added, “Even to get a Merit award, the product has to get 60%. Bronze awards are for over 60%, Silver awards for a minimum of 65% and Gold awards are only given to those who exceed 70% or more. This is done to maintain the high quality standards as a product has to be of a certain level to deserve an award.”
He added that Sri Lanka has been gaining regional recognition by winning consistently at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance ( APICTA) Awards. “In fact, last year Sri Lanka created history by coming in 2nd in the competition for the first time. We won 3 golds and 6 merit awards to make it a truly memorable occasion for the country’s ICT industry. During the next 2 to 3 years, we want to take Sri Lankan companies even further in global competitions and win awards for Sri Lanka. We intend to provide additional business support for local organisations to achieve this.”
Established in 1996, the BCS Sri Lanka Section (BCSSL) has played a key role in fostering links between experts from the IT industry, academia and business to promote new thinking, education and knowledge sharing.The BCSSL has over 2,000 corporate members (MBCS), around 2,500 student members and over 300 memberswho are Chartered Information Technology Practitioners ( CITP) s. The BCSSL also counts more than 25 Fellow Members (FBCS) amongst its membership.