Friday, 4 October 2013
Prime Minister: “The IT sector enters new stage of development in Armenia”
Under the high patronage of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, ArmTech 2013 the 6th annual forum of high technologies kicked off today at the Research Institute of Mathematical Machines in Yerevan.
Welcoming the participants, the Prime Minister noted that ArmTech is a good opportunity to record achievements and discuss challenges. “The private sector is first of all expected to provide for continuous improvement of the educational system and the provision of highly skilled IT professionals. Given the annual growth of 15-20 per cent, and that at the moment we have some 7,000 professionals employed in 300 companies, it seems obvious that the medium-term objective is to train 2000 qualified specialists annually,” Tigran Sargsyan said and hailed the cooperation with those major international organizations providing technical and financial assistance by training and retraining the local specialists.
In particular, the head of government noted the importance of Microsoft’s Armenia office, including the Yerevan State Engineering University-based center, the initiative of IBM, etc. Stressing that Armenia is entering a new stage in the development of the IT sector, the Prime Minister pointed to the need to identify future challenges in order to build on the last 10 years’ achievements and ensure continued development in this sphere. “It is extremely important for Armenia to find its niche in the IT sector that is to show our comparative advantage. Our country provides today 5 percent of the global output in the development and design of microchips, which is a serous comparative advantage. Well-known international companies specialized in design are keeping a focus on Armenia. Moreover, they send their experts to train in our country.”
As the Premier said, we need to encourage the development of this kind of specialization and boost the related fields in order to secure a competitive edge comparable with the best international standards. Talking about the need to create a favorable environment in the IT sector, the Prime Minister presented the lessons learned during his visit to Silicon Valley that emerged in the course of discussions and meetings. In this respect, the Head of Government prioritized the need to set up venture capital funds in Armenia, stimulate startup businesses, not to be afraid of failures and get involved into the worldwide network. “The government should create a favorable environment for all the actors represented in Armenia: universities which provide highly qualified personnel, research centers, which can be attached to universities or separately, venture capital funds and managers,” Tigran Sargsyan said informing that in cooperation with the World Bank, the Government of Armenia has allocated about USD3 million to build the first venture capital fund in Armenia.
According to Tigran Sargsyan, ArmTech 2013 may help identify the problems of the second stage of development and specify the objectives of the Government. “The IT sector has been boasting such development dynamics over the last 5 years conducive to GDP growth in Armenia, as it provides increased productivity in all areas. The fact that in terms of volumes and the number of employees, the sector is comparable with the mining industry is a very important figure, and we should keep up this trend ahead,” the Prime Minister concluded.
ArmTech 2013 is attended by over 200 representatives of government agencies, research and educational institutions, the private sector and the largest multinational organizations from Armenia, the United States, Russia, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and other regions of the world.
The purpose of the forum is to promote continued development of high technologies in Armenia through new business and investment opportunities and an extended network of specialists.
On the sidelines of the forum, the Enterprise Incubator Foundation of Armenia signed two memoranda with Digital Pomegranate, Ltd (ITECHNOLOGY), on the one hand, on cooperation in the field of education, training, job creation, organization and implementation of public awareness campaign concerning the Gyumri industrial park, and with GNC- ALFA JSC, on the other hand, on cooperation in promoting the growth of young people’s interest in new technologies, increased use of computers and the world Wide Web in the population, to shape an original skill developing environment and set up a joint laboratory at the technology center of Gyumri.
