Skills & Education

Sysco LABS Managing Director Speaks at BCS Forum on Engineering a GDP of Intellect

Sysco LABS Managing Director Thushera Kawdawatta delivered the keynote address at BCS Sri Lanka Chapter's ‘Tech Leaders Connect '26,’ a flagship leadership forum that brought together senior technology leaders to explore how engineering, leadership, and innovation can drive national and global impact.

In his keynote, titled ‘The Borderless Equation: Engineering a GDP of Intellect – Transcending Geography to Build a Cognitive Superpower,’ Thushera explored how nations like Sri Lanka could transcend physical and economic boundaries by scaling talent, technology, and intellectual capital.

Sharing his expertise, Thushera said, “Sri Lanka’s greatest export is no longer labour, it is intellect. At Sysco LABS, we’ve demonstrated that when you combine world-class engineering talent with global scale, we don’t just support transformation; we architect it. Moving from ‘Made in Sri Lanka’ to ‘Architected in Sri Lanka’ reflects a fundamental shift in mindset: we compete not on cost, but on capability, innovation, and impact. To build a cognitive superpower, we must stop building 'memory cards' and start architecting 'processors'. Remember, A 'protected industry' is weak, but a 'competitive' one is a predator. Our goal is to move Sri Lanka into the 'Synaptic Sovereign' zone, where we own assets and own our minds rather than just renting time. That is the true GDP of Intellect."

Sysco LABS also contributed as Strategic Partner of the event, which took place recently, at Courtyard by Marriott Colombo.

Image - Sysco LABS Managing Director – Thushera Kawdawatta delivering the keynote address

About Sysco LABS:

Sysco LABS is the Global In-House Center of Sysco Corporation (NYSE: SYY), the world’s largest foodservice company. Sysco ranks 56th in the Fortune 500 list and is the global leader in the trillion-dollar foodservice industry.

Sysco employs over 75,000 associates, has 337 smart distribution facilities worldwide and over 14,000 IoT-enabled trucks serving 730,000 customer locations. For fiscal year 2025 that ended June 29, 2025, the company generated sales of more than $81.4 billion.

Sysco LABS Sri Lanka delivers the technology that powers Sysco’s end-to-end operations.

Sysco LABS’ enterprise technology is present in the end-to-end foodservice journey, enabling the sourcing of food products, merchandising, storage and warehouse operations, order placement and pricing algorithms, the delivery of food and supplies to Sysco’s global network and the in-restaurant dining experience of the end-customer.