Friday, March 6 2020 18:11

ArmInfo. The Enterprise Incubator Fund and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) discussed possible cooperation programs for the City of Engineering. According  to the Foundation's official statement, the parties named energy as a  priority area of interaction, where artificial intelligence and smart  solutions can create added value.

This became known as a result of a meeting of the parties in Tokyo at World Smart Energy Week 2020, where the Armenian delegation arrived as part of the Incubator Fund of Enterprises and Representatives of the Ministry of High Technology  Industry of Armenia at the invitation of ADB.

Amalia Yegoyan, Program Manager for the Enterprise Incubator Fund,  noted that a visit to Japan is important in terms of strengthening  cooperation with Asian countries and discussing the possibility of  including smart solutions in the energy sector.

The parties discussed the prospects of cooperation with Japanese  universities, where there are faculties in the field of energy. <I  believe that cooperation should begin with universities. It is  extremely important to establish cooperation for the implementation  of joint programs with the participation of research institutes and  universities in Tokyo and Armenia, as well as creating new  opportunities for the exchange of experience with the support of the  Asian Development Bank. It is necessary to find partners from the  public and private sectors>, said Yegoyan.

During the visit to Tokyo, the Armenian delegation held a number of  meetings, in particular, with the Ambassador of Armenia to Japan,  representatives of the Bank in Japan and the ADB Institute.  Recall  that the Armenian government at the meeting on March 1, 2018 approved  the concept of creating the Engineering City and the schedule of  events arising from the document. The goal of the program is to turn  Armenia into a country exporting engineering and high-tech products  and services to the global market, as well as into a regional hub of  innovative solutions.

To create the Engineering City, an area of 3 hectares was selected on  ul. Bagrevand. The program is planned to be implemented on the basis  of public-private partnership. The planned investment volume will  amount to $ 21.2 million, of which $ 10.5 million is state  co-financing under the World Bank credit program "Trade Promotion and  Quality Infrastructure". The rest is invested by National Instruments  AM and a consortium of 14 joint stock companies. The program is  expected to become self-costing for the 4th year of its operations.  The project plans to train and retrain 1,500 specialists in the field  of engineering and high technology. 2000 new workers will be created  and 20 new enterprises in the field will be founded. An increase in  the efficiency of companies by 40% is also expected, and export  volumes have increased by 30%. The construction of the Engineering  City in Armenia will be completed in late 2020 - early 2021.  Armenia  joined ADB in 2005 and is part of a group of countries with mixed  (concessional and conventional) financing. ADB works to reduce  poverty in the Asia-Pacific region by stimulating economic growth and  regional integration. In the field of transport, ADB continues to  assist Armenia in the construction of the North-South transport  corridor, as well as in strengthening transport links between cities  with high poverty levels.