Lahiru Perera

Tell us about yourself

I’m an entrepreneur and inventor with a strong interest in Technology, Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence. Having been a natural inventor, I have contributed to four international and local patents in the tech industry. During the last 15+ years, I have worked closely with dozens of tech start-ups and businesses, helping them to introduce disruptive technologies and assisting them in digital transformation. I started my career as a Software Engineer but soon transitioned as a tech entrepreneur solving real world problems through tech innovation. I’m currently working with my other co-founders to bring tech and business model innovation to the last mile delivery sector which is an integral part of the transportation industry.

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What are the top 3 trends in your transport/smart city niche that everyone should look out for in the next 5 years?

Use of new communications technology

Future Smarter Cities will be interconnected with “things (internet of things)” underpinned by 5G technology and other communications technologies such as Low Power WiFi networks (ie. LoRaWan). The Smart City infrastructures will be interconnected through these communication layers and the vast amount of data will be captured through numerous sensors and devices through these communications technologies. I see adoption of these new communication technologies as the foundation of smart cities and will be one of the key trends in the next 5 years.

Practical use of Machine Learning and Ai

The vast amount of data will be analysed and processed in real-time and meaningful insights will be derived through machine learning and Ai. The vehicles we know today will start to intercommunicate and exchange data to optimise routing paths and traffic which will lead to advancements in autonomous transportation. In a smarter city, advanced analytics will help to better waste management, sustainability, traffic reduction, and effective energy usage. In the next 5 years, smarter cities and the transportation sector will gradually embrace machine learning and Ai and it will be another key trend in the next 5 years.

Decentralisation and new frictionless business models

In the next 5 years we will see a trend in decentralised frictionless business models in the transportation sector. We have already seen this trend with ride sharing platforms in the last decade and in the next 5 years this will continue to evolve. Consumer’s demand will grow for decentralised business models where they will expect more freedom and flexibility from transportation and delivery services. Emerging start-ups like Gimme will be early innovators in creating decentralised and frictionless business models in the delivery niche of the industry.

How does your company innovate?

Our innovation is not limited to technology innovation and we are firm believers that the business model innovation should also be done hand in hand with tech innovation. We naturally push our boundaries to solve complex problems creatively through the use of technology. In this process, we empower all of our team to think out of the box to practically and implement impactful solutions fast. Gimme utilises the latest payment processing technologies, machine learning models and optimised tracking methodologies to create a decentralised delivery solution in CaaS (Crowdsourcing as Service) model. By empowering the customer to use CaaS that is not reliant upon the retailer as a partner in their platform, flexible and frictionless delivery experience can be provided to the customer and the retailer.

Why is encouraging innovation, new ideas, and tech important?

Innovation is the driving force in moving the technology to the next level. Since the invention of the light bulb, creative thinking and innovation have changed the human life style significantly and it will continue to do so in future. On the other hand, technology and innovation will play a key role in business growth as well as the economy as a whole. In a broader spectrum, new ideas, innovation and technology are a few of the key factors which will define the future of humans as an advanced species. We strongly believe innovation and new technology should complement human civilization rather than competing with humans in the future; specially the advancement of neuromorphic computing, quantum computing and artificial intelligence should always complement human civilization rather than competing with it.