This year, Prime Minister of Armenia Andranik Markaryan has declared the months of September and October as “IT month”. The scheduled events will take place between Septembr 15 and October 15 and the Armenian government will provide most of the funding.
Director of the Business Incubator Fund (BIF) Bagrat Yengibaryan says that the government is active in that it has invited foreign delegations and representatives of large businesses.
“Honorable guests must be greeted in the big rooms and not the small ones,” says B. Yengibaryan.
The IT programs will differ from one another. There will be contests and the championship for computer programmers below the age of 30 has been declared and the competition will begin next week. The other events include international conferences and various discussions. Parallel to the Armenia-Diaspora business conference to be held on September 20, the “IT in modern business” conference will also take place. On October 3-7, the UN will sponsor the “IT development in overseas countries” youth conference where there will be high-ranking UN officials.
“Our goal is to show the world how much we have progressed in the IT field through discussions and exhibitions and what’s our product. This is not only interesting for the international community, but also Armenian society,” says B. Yengibaryan.
According to him, the number of participants of the “Digitec” exhibition has doubled compared to last year and the quality has improved. This year there are three times more foreign high-class organizations and “it’s hard to bring them to Armenia”.
“They don’t talk about their achievements, rather they present their plan for Armenia because they’re interested in the IT market in Armenia,” assures B. Yengibaryan. “Microsoft” will also take part in the “Digitec” exhibition and it’s quite possible that “Microsoft” will sign a memorandum of cooperation with the Armenian government before the exhibition.
The delegation of Egypt will arrive in Armenia on September 19. Armenian-Egyptian ties in the IT field began last year and according to B. Yengibaryan, the Egyptians are interested in how we pay using electronic cards, the use of electronic appliances in the health sector and electronic mapping. The director of the BIF places emphasis on Armenia entering the Arab market with its IT production.
Main issue is “ArmenTel”
According to B. Yengibaryan, the IT field is rather developed as an industry in Armenia and can be compared to Russia and Ukraine.
“But parallel to that, business and society are cut-off from the IT field and that’s why businessmen have problems with production and getting profits. IT is not only a field, but rather it helps develop economy. Countries that don’t even have a developed IT industry import IT equipment and use that economically,” says B. Yengibaryan. According to him, IT tools are affordable, it’s just that they are not used properly.
Yengibaryan says that the main issue is Internet connection, which is not only expensive, but also a problem throughout Armenia. However, he believes that we mustn’t only throw the blame on “ArmenTel” and do nothing. Bagratyan says that there are technologies, which may help solve a lot of problems. For example, the installation of satellites, which may serve as an alternative for the foreign investor. But in this case we have a new problem-the large state tax for satellites. According to B. Yengibaryan, if the government can’t solve the monopoly problem with “ArmenTel”, then it may offer the possible alternatives to other companies.
Although the IT field is considered to be a top industry field, however it doesn’t have any taxing and customs privileges. Another issue concerns experts. “We not only have to prepare specialists, but also lure them in the IT field. The number of IT specialists that have graduated has gone up by 30%, but on the other hand, only 40% of them enter the IT field,” says the director of BIF.
When talking about the IT businesses, you get the impression that they are not only in competition, but they are “one for all and all for one” because they help each other out in times of need. B. Yengibaryan agrees with this. According to him, the cooperation between the IT businesses is what helped the IT field reach success throughout the past ten years after Armenia’s independence and only after realizing the significance of the field did the Armenian government declare it as an industrial field.
There is still a lot to do in the IT field and experts say that they plan to turn the “IT month” into an “IT year”.