INSL 2026 Zonal Competitions: Empowering Young Innovators Across Sri Lanka
IEEE Innovation Nation Sri Lanka 2026 completed its Zonal Competitions, bringing together undergraduate innovators from universities across Sri Lanka. The online rounds allowed selected teams to present their ideas, receive expert feedback, and compete for a place in the Quarter Finals.
Event Overview
IEEE Innovation Nation Sri Lanka 2026 is an innovation and entrepreneurship initiative organized by IEEE Young Professionals Sri Lanka. The programme aims to support undergraduate students in developing innovative ideas and turning them into strong startup concepts.
For the Idea Stage, INSL 2026 received 78 team registrations from universities across the four competition zones. Each team submitted a proposal and pitch deck, which were reviewed by the Lankan Angel Network, the Official Investment Partner of IEEE INSL 2026.
Based on this evaluation, 41 teams were selected for the live Zonal Competition rounds. The selected teams included 11 teams from Zone A, 12 teams from Zone B, 9 teams from Zone C, 8 teams from Zone D, and 1 team from the Other Universities category.
The competitions were conducted online on August 1, 2, 8, and 9, 2026. Each round allowed participants to present their ideas directly to a panel of judges and demonstrate the potential of their proposed solutions
Key Highlights
• Four online Zonal Competition rounds were conducted for participants from universities across Sri Lanka.
• Each team received 3 minutes to present its idea to the judging panel.
• After the presentation, teams took part in a 2-minute Q&A session with the judges.
• Judges evaluated the teams using the official competition criteria.
• The Lankan Angel Network's earlier submission evaluation contributed 30% of the final score.
• The live judging score from the Zonal Competition contributed 70% of the final score.
• Based on the combined results, the top 25 teams were selected to advance to the Quarter Finals of IEEE INSL 2026.
Speakers & Guests
Panel of Judges
Zone A
- Sumali Weerasooriya - Group Chief Financial Officer, Sumathi Holdings
- Kusan Edirisinghe - Managing Director, BladeGen Tech
- Ainharan Vivekananthan - Founder/CEO, ArcheloLAB & Program Director-Founder Institute
Zone B
- Savith Rajakaruna - Business Growth Specialist, Dialog Axiata PLC
- Rasika Alahakoon - Founder & CEO, WInhe GTIS – Global Talent Incubation Space
- Eksara Jayan - Lead Consultant, Virtusa
Zone C
- Dilini Ekanayaka - Co-Founder, Asyncdot (Pvt) Ltd & Co-Founder, Electriquote (Pvt) Ltd
- Dr. Thiviyan Senthilrajah - Senior Lecturer & Project Manager, Ogilvy Sri Lanka
- Dr. Nipunika Vithana - Assistant Professor & Head of School of Business, SLIIT City Uni
Zone D
- Supun Walpola - Managing Director, MiddleWay Ventures
- Thivyan Arulkumaran - Chief Executive Officer, ASTA
- Dhammika Marasinghe - Senior Technical Lead, 99x
Event in Numbers
Event Gallery
3 Photos
Closing & Looking Ahead
The IEEE INSL 2026 Zonal Competitions marked an important stage in the journey of this year's young innovators. The selected teams will now continue to the next stage of the competition, where they will take part in further workshops and prepare for the Quarter Finals.
IEEE Young Professionals Sri Lanka extends its appreciation to all participants, judges, partners, and volunteers who contributed to the successful completion of the Zonal Competitions.