Mr. Chanuka Wattegama

Chanuka Wattegama is an experienced Sri Lankan policy researcher, academic, and ICT expert with over 30 years of experience in digital economy, public policy, and information systems. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronics from the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka (1993) and an MBA from the University of Colombo (2002). He is an Associate Member of the Institution of Engineers (Sri Lanka) and proficient in English, Sinhala, and French.

His career spans key roles, including Head of the National Innovation Centre at NIBM (2015–2019), Learning Solutions Manager at the Distance Learning Centre (2011–2014), Director/Senior Research Manager at LIRNEasia (2007–2010), and Programme Specialist at UNDP Asia-Pacific (2005–2007). Earlier, he worked as an electronics engineer and project manager in telecom and banking sectors.

Wattegama has authored books like NSBM Legacy (2024) and ICTs for Disaster Management (2007), contributed to peer-reviewed papers on digital economies and telecom regulation, and published over 2,000 op-eds in outlets like Echelon and Daily FT. He founded the popular Sinhala ICT magazine Wijeya Pariganaka.