Age of Al enabled transport and mobility solutions not too far away for Sri Lanka

The Age of Al enabled transport and mobility solutions to optimize signal timing, reduce congestion and improve urban mobility is not too far away for Sri Lanka.

“With the initiative to move to electric urban bus transport and integration to the project of IOT predictive maintenance in the future will contribute towards improving efficiency and reducing carbon emissions,” said, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment, and Tourism, Vijitha Herath delivering the keynote address at the Innovation Island Summit 2025 in Colombo.

Highlighting the role of innovation and technology in driving Sri Lanka’s economic growth he said that AI driven investment platforms, use of emerging technologies in key industries such as agriculture, healthcare and manufacturing are areas within the government’s reach.

“We continue to progress on a coordinated policy implementation for the provision of digital public services and an Al-driven E governance platform which will have multiple positive impacts on citizens. We can look to a future of wider use of Blockchain technology to secure land registries, financial transactions and public procurement to improve accountability and efficiency-thus contributing to the efficiency of governance as a whole.

With a large part of Sri Lanka’s populace engaged in agriculture, use of smart agriculture will be a key enabler for advancing productivity in this critical sector.

 “From a policy perspective, and in our renewed approach, Sri Lanka envisions that a thriving digital industry and the creation of an inclusive, robust digital economy will buttress sustainable development of multiple sectors.”

Harnessing the opportunities from the Blue economy, including in the fisheries, marine-based renewable energy, other energy options such as wave technology, hydrogen technology, batteries and storage solutions, green initiatives such as the circular economy are spaces being created for innovation to advance the development agenda.

“The government also recognizes the wealth of knowledge and innovation capacity available with overseas Sri Lankans with whom we plan to launch a programme to harness this valuable resource. We recognize that in order to sustain and enhance Sri Lanka’s exports, innovation and cutting-edge solutions can be critical, particularly to attract foreign investments, to develop strategic partnerships and to brand Sri Lanka as an innovation-enabled, innovation-friendly destination.

Reaffirming Sri Lanka’s commitment to innovation-driven progress, he called for collaboration between public and private sectors to enhance economic resilience and global competitiveness.

He also underscored the importance of foreign investment, intellectual property protection and global partnerships, particularly in the blue economy, renewable energy, and smart agriculture and also recalled that Sri Lanka is emerging from an unprecedented financial crisis, after a sovereign default in April 2022.

“Today, as the country recovers, Sri Lanka is envisioning a dynamic growth of 5% for 2025 and remains committed to sustain this growth trajectory through the years ahead.”

Source:Daily News