Connect with us

Business

Microsoft announces Imagine Cup Southeast Asia New Markets Regional Competition

Published

on

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka:

Microsoft recently held a virtual launch event for its upcoming Imagine Cup Southeast Asia News Markets Regional Competition, an annual innovation challenge for students and technology enthusiasts. The event featured an eclectic line-up of speakers and a panel discussion designed to inspire students to create innovative solutions that tackle some of the world’s biggest social, environmental, and health challenges.

Commenting on the competition, Pablo Veramendi, Global Director for the Imagine Cup, Microsoft, said, “Imagine Cup is a global competition designed to empower students to apply artificial intelligence and other technologies to solve some of the world’s most critical social and sustainability issues. For the past 20 years, it has served as a platform for students to couple technology with innovative ideas and build something that matters to them, make a difference in their communities, and create societal impact.”

More than two million competitors from 163 countries have signed up for Microsoft’s global student technology competition to build something that matters to them, make a difference in their communities, and innovate for impact. For the Imagine Cup’s 20th anniversary this year, the brightest young minds will build, learn, and compete together to solve global challenges in four categories: Earth, Education, Health, and Lifestyle.

“The Southeast Asia New Markets’ economic development depends on innovations, high-tech jobs, and new-age skills,” said Sook Hoon Cheah, General Manager, Southeast Asia New Markets, Microsoft APAC. “The Imagine Cup emphasizes the importance of skills and learning in achieving inclusive and long-term youth development. Our goal is to provide opportunities and platforms for them to develop their skills in building innovative solutions that solve real world problems.”

A trio of past Imagine Cup winners and finalists — Chathusha Wijenayaka (Consultant – Technology at Virtusa), Melisha Ghimire (Managing Director at Shequal Foundation), and Eeda Rijal (CEO/Product Designer at SochWare & Co-founder at Covid Connect Nepal) — shared their experiences during the panel discussion, which was moderated by Thilanka Abeywardena, CMO Lead for the Southeast Asia New Markets at Microsoft.

The event also featured an esteemed line-up of guest speakers such as Namal Rajapaksa (Sri Lankan Minister of Youth & Sports and State Minister of Digital Technology and Enterprise Development), Zunaid Ahmed Palak (Bangladeshi State Minister of the Information and Communication Technology Division and Ministry of Posts,

Telecommunications and Information Technology), and Prof. Sampath Amaratunge (Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Sri Lanka). At Imagine Cup 2022, students and technology enthusiasts aged 16 or older are invited to build unique technology solutions leveraging Microsoft’s technology to build purpose-driven solutions. The top four teams from the Southeast Asia New Markets Regional Competition will get a guaranteed spot in the world finals and will be mentored by Microsoft experts. The world champion will take home, the Imagine Cup and win an additional USD 100,000 along with a mentorship opportunity with Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella.



Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Business

Women led LPO services firm Velox Partners enters new office space in Colombo

Published

on

Velox Partners is a 90% women led Legal Process Outsourcing firm now in Sri Lanka

Velox Partners, a tech-based legal process outsourcing (LPO) firm, expanded its presence into Colombo to augment its existing law firm. Velox commenced operations in January 2020 prior to the onset of the pandemic. Today, it has expanded its services across numerous verticals Commercial law, Litigation, Conveyancing and Company Secretarial Services, with Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) Services being the core. It is geared as a fully-fledged legal service provider servicing clients across United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Velox is female-led with over 90% being women comprising versatile and experienced lawyers. Their expertise bridges multiple disciplines of law with a local and global clientele. The two powerhouses leading the firm are its founding partners Lihini Fernando and Dakshika Perera whose collective experience spans over three decades.

Velox Partners saw Covid-19 restrictions and remote working as an opportunity to position the firm as a tech-based entity and launched its LPO arm. Providing back office legal services to law firms across continents was seen as a viable business model that is both functional and lucrative. Furthermore, the partners of Velox realized the potential of positioning Sri Lanka as a LPO Hub, where the LPO sector enables foreign remittance to the island nation to rebuild its economy. This also provided an opportunity particularly as LPO services can be offered remotely, without a physical office presence.

Velox has serviced clients in over 14 jurisdictions worldwide providing solutions on the ethos, ‘Beyond Legal’. Velox believes in combining business efficiency and tech enabled processes to differentiate itself from the conventional law firms.

Lawyers at Velox are solution providers guided by industry expertise. The team comprises professionals based in Australia, the United States of America, Singapore, and Sri Lanka which enables them to draw cross country perspectives in providing services. Velox is now poised to use their multiple years of experience across continents to provide smart legal solutions.

Continue Reading

Business

Estonian TV crew gets a taste of Sri Lanka for the first time

Published

on

Meeting with SLTPB officials

Sri Lanka Tourism, under its Scandinavian market promotions hosted a Media FAM with 4 Media personnel from Kanal2 TV from Estonia. The tour started off on February 28 and ended on March 8. The purpose of hosting this tour was to receive more high-end tourist arrivals from Estonia, as well as the other Scandinavian markets including Lithuania and Latvia.

Subsequently, this tour was hosted in collaboration with the Sri Lanka embassy in Sweden which contributed to make this tour a success. The FAM Tour covered all the main tourist attractions in Sri Lanka, including wild life, Ayurveda, Boutique hotels, and also cultural attractions.

All these attractions were filmed and the destination will be promoted on air via Kanal2 TV, through the TV show ‘’ Kaugele Siit’’ (far from here). The first episode of this programme is scheduled to be telecast for 45 minutes. This travel programme has 420,000 followers as their audience. Kanal2 TV was also the official Media partner for the Winter Olympics 2018, a Sri Lanka Tourism press release said.

The release adds: ‘The visitors were quite impressed with the 8-day tour which they had, enjoying every moment of their tour. They were equally mesmerized with the warm hospitality which they received from the Sri Lankans, which they are mostly renowned for. They enjoyed the traditional Sri Lankan cuisine, and the variety of dishes which they tasted. Nevertheless, they had the opportunity of exploring every attraction of the paradise island to convey the message to their fellow Estonians, that Sri Lanka is a unique travel destination which has everything in store for the enthusiastic traveler.

‘They also had a cooking demonstration by courtesy of Siddhalepa Ayurveda Resorts & Spas Wadduwa, and also a Yoga treat at the same venue. Visiting the Turtle Hatchery at Kosgoda , the Elephant orphanage at Pinnawala, going through a safari at Eco park was also another amazing experience which they had during their stay.’

 

Continue Reading

Business

The Academy of International Business signs Memorandum of Understanding with the University of the Pacific

Published

on

More than 50 students graduated this year from AIB

Academy of International Business Sri Lanka (AIB) held its second graduation at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall with over fifty graduates successfully passing out. At the recent graduation, the business academy signed its MOU with the University of the Pacific.

The signing of the MOU is a major milestone for the business academy. The courses offered are DBA, MBA, and BBA top-up programs through AIB. Prof Liam, Rector – of the University of Pacific, expressed confidence that the program delivered by AIB will be very beneficial.

The event was graced by passed graduates, teachers, and lecturers, the ceremony was hosted by the chief guest and the regional director of ABE(UK) Dr Praveen Mahendran. “The ABE(UK) is one of the long-standing professional awarding bodies from the UK and AIB is proud to be associated with ABE and approved by the awarding body.

Hard work, competency and capability are the values that produce results, through the AIB and its programs these are achievable. Every student is encouraged to show their full potential”.

The distinguished guests were the Vice President of the BNI Pioneer Chapter, Dilan Fonseka. He emphasized, the importance of students gaining experience in entrepreneurial skills and business development by enrolling at BNI. AIB is a member of BNI, which creates multiple opportunities.

About the Academy of International Business: AIB is recognized for its management programs, digital marketing, marketing, and English language programs such as IELTS, and PTE. It’s widely popular among students in search of pursuing business and management courses.The Director of AIB Sri Lanka, Chrishankar Janathanan, expressed the institute’s commitment to providing the best quality education. It’s not only a center that is simply cornered to the education sector but also has focused its efforts on recruitment services and digital agency services.

Continue Reading

Trending