Мultinational company IDS to open research laboratory in Armenia

ArmInfo. The Italian multinational company IDS will open a research laboratory in Armenia. This was announced by Vahan Martirosyan, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technologies of Armenia, on July 12 at a joint press conference with the founder of the company "Technology and Science Dynamics" Vahan Shakaryan.

According to the minister, at this stage work is under way on the agreement on the establishment of the Center. Within the next 7-10 days, it is planned to sign a final agreement on the establishment of a research laboratory in Armenia. NRL, as noted by Martirosyan, will be engaged in research in the field of information technology.

The head of the Ministry of Transport reminded that on February 24 the government of the Republic of Armenia and the company Technology and Science Dynamics signed a memorandum of understanding "On the stimulation of the information technologies, informatization, promotion of innovative and telecommunication sectors", whose goal is to raise the investment rating of the Armenian IT industry.  According to the document, representatives of the this sector will be opened in the embassies of 15 countries.

As Vahan Martirosyan noted, the first results are already obvious. Today, the platforms for demonstrating the IT potential of the Republic are in the US, Belgium, France, Bolivia and Italy. Meetings were held with relevant specialists in these countries, memorandums were signed. Until September this year, it is planned to open similar platforms in Iran, Russia, Spain and Mexico.

As Vahan Shakaryan, director and founder of Technology and Science Dynamics (TSD), noted, there is an acute shortage of staff: specialists with sufficient knowledge of the language, literacy in PR, marketing, and ready to work abroad. In this regard, as the head of the Ministry of Transport stressed, at this stage, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science, appropriate educational programs are being developed in order to ensure the consistent development of the IT sphere in schools and universities of the country. "The process of creating technology centers in Armenia will continue, such centers as in Vanadzor and Gyumri will be open throughout the country for several years," Vahan Martirosyan stated. In the process of creating an engineering city, but the main emphasis, as the minister stressed, is to be put on the development of specific programs in higher educational institutions of the republic.

On November 10, 2016 at a government meeting, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan called for opening platforms in Armenia's embassies in 15 countries around the world to demonstrate the country's IT potential. According to Karapetyan, the representatives of the IT sphere addressed such a request. The implementation of this initiative, he said, will not require additional financial allocations, since they bear all costs. "The goal is to make it clear that they act on behalf of the state," Karapetyan explained. On February 24, a corresponding memorandum of understanding was signed between the Transport Ministry and the TSD. According to the document, through a partnership between the public and private sectors, representative offices will be opened in the target markets, which will contribute to improving the country's economic rating and investment rating of the IT sphere, ensuring a high level of awareness of the results of the IT sphere. With the aim of organizing the most effective work of representative offices, the Armenian government, within the limits of the possible, will provide the office territory in foreign countries free of charge in embassies of Armenia and consular offices. The company, in its turn, undertakes to ensure in full the expenses for the salaries of employees of representative offices, retraining, technical equipment and other expenses. To implement the program, a private company invests about $ 3 million.

To note, according to the estimates of the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments, the IT sector of the economy as of the end of 2016 provided about 6% of Armenia's GDP. However, as executive director of the Union of IT Enterprises (UITE) of Armenia Karen Vardanyan stated in an interview with ArmInfo correspondent, the IT sphere of the Republic of Armenia can annually provide 45-50% growth.  He noted that in recent years, on average, the IT sector of Armenia provides 20-25% of annual growth, with a turnover of $ 500 million.