BASIS to honour ICT heroes on Saturday

The Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) is going to honour the movers and shakers in the country’s ICT sector for their innovation at its flagship awards event on Saturday.

The BASIS National ICT Awards will recognise 105 individuals and companies in 35 categories at Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden.

The winners will represent Bangladesh at the annual Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA Awards), which will be held in Ha Long Bay in Vietnam in November.

Nine students will be recognised in three special categories in the third edition of the event.

This year, the association has received 1,175 applications. Of them, 225 got the opportunities to present their projects.

Introduced in 2017, the objective of the BASIS National ICT Awards is to recognise outstanding achievements of individuals, students, entrepreneurs, SMEs and organisations.

The programme also provides an opportunity and an ideal environment for individuals and companies to gain local, regional and international exposure, according to the association. 

The BASIS gave away 42 awards in 2017 and 76 awards in 2018. 

The accolade tries to honour innovative and prospective ICT projects, said BASIS President Syed Almas Kabir while speaking about the event.  

“The award helps create scope for winners to earn international honour,” Kabir said.

After winning a BASIS challenge project in 2017, 10 Minute School, a Bangladeshi online platform offering comprehensive study solutions for grades VIII-XII, went on to scoop the top APICTA Awards. 

The BASIS nominated 29 projects to participate in the APICTA Awards 2018. Of them, one won the champion award and five merit awards.

Go Zayaan, an online travel booking company in Bangladesh, won a top award from the BASIS last year.

Ridwan Hafiz, founder and chief executive officer of Go Zayaan, hailed the honour as inspirational and prestigious.

A robust judging process picks the winners, said Didarul Alam, convener of the award and a director of the association. 

“Bangladesh has gradually set one milestone after another with innovative ICT projects at international arena. Hopefully, we will do better at this year’s APICTA Awards,” he said.

Mominul Islam, managing director and chief executive officer of IPDC Finance, the sponsor of the BASIS event, said this is a platform where entrepreneurs who have contributed to the development of Digital Bangladesh can win recognition for their outstanding achievements.