A radical shift in public procurement and the creation of shared digital infrastructure are key to unlocking Sri Lanka’s ambitious vision for a thriving digital ecosystem.
Sri Lanka’s digital growth hinges on transforming public sector procurement and building a unified digital ecosystem, says Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Chief Advisor to the President on Digital Economy. Speaking at the Sri Lanka America Society’s Annual Business Forum, he criticized outdated procurement practices as a major barrier to innovation and timely adoption of new technology.
Currently, Sri Lanka’s digital economy makes up just 3-4 percent of GDP (around US$3-4 billion). The government aims to quintuple this to 15 percent (US$15 billion) within five years. To reach this goal, Dr. Wijayasuriya advocates for outcome-based procurement—focusing on solving problems rather than prescribing solutions—allowing innovative companies to compete through trials and proofs of concept.
Beyond procurement, his multi-layered strategy emphasizes creating shared digital public infrastructure (DPI), including the Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI), a National Federated Data Exchange for seamless data sharing, and eLocker and Digital Signature systems to promote a paperless environment. This infrastructure will be built on cloud-first, AI-first, and mobile-first principles, with a marketplace of APIs enabling private developers to innovate.
Dr. Wijayasuriya also highlighted that technology is just 20-25% of the challenge; the rest lies in change management, governance, cybersecurity, and fostering trust through new regulations like the Digital Economy Authority Act.
Drawing parallels to the telecom sector’s 1996 liberalization, he envisions a public-private partnership model where government enables growth through policy reform rather than direct investment. This approach, he believes, will deliver a “super return on investment” for Sri Lanka’s digital economy even amid fiscal constraints.