Dr. Ajith Pasqual is a Senior Lecturer and former Head of the Department of Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering, at the University of Moratuwa, and also the former Director/Center for Information Technology Services at the same university. He is also the founder and CEO of the first Semiconductor Startup Company in Sri Lanka – Paraqum Technologies which develops products in high-performance hardware-accelerated Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) based network analyzers and traffic shapers and engages in high-end Electronics Product Design. At present, he serves as the Director/Enterprise-University Business Linkage Cell at the University of Moratuwa and also is the current president of the Sri Lanka Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers and Exporters Association (SLEMEA). He also serves as a member of the advisory committee related to the Electrical and Electronics Industry at the Export Development Board (EDB) and at the Ministry of Industries. He is a council member at National Research Council (NRC) and at SLTC Research University.
He received his B.Sc. Engineering degree with First Class Honours from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka in Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering in 1993, M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from The University of Tokyo in Computer Vision in 1998 and 2001 respectively. His primary research interests are in Computer Vision, Application Processors, and SoC Architecture and he leads the Reconfigurable Digital Systems Research Group at the University of Moratuwa which works in the area of hardware acceleration, novel architectures for application-specific processors and SoCs to improve performance and power efficiency. Since 2004, he has been focusing heavily on reconfigurable logic systems and their applications in Computer Vision, Video Compression, Mobile Communications, Networking, and Bio Signal Processing.
He is driving the initiative to create an Advanced Electronics Design Industry in Sri Lanka and was instrumental in getting a government grant in January 2014 to establish a Facilitation Center for Advanced Electronics Design at the University of Moratuwa to promote startup companies. His vision is to make Electronics Sector the highest export revenue earner for the country.