EIF Head: Goals for 2013 under 2008-2018 IT Development Concept mostly achieved

• Saturday, February 23, 19:16

Almost all the interim goals for 2013 under the IT Development Concept 2008-2018 have been achieved, Head of the Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) Bagrat Yengibaryan said at today's forum in Aghveran. More than 30 representatives of the Armenian companies engaged in ICT sphere, Ministries of Economy, Transport and Communication, State Revenue Committee and other departments are participating in the event.

He said that Armenia's IT sphere has 370 companies against the targeted 400 for 2013, whereas in 2008 the number of the companies was 160, and in 2018 the number of the companies will reach 1000. In the meantime, the number of the employees in the sphere is 9,000 against 12,000 targeted for 2013, whereas 5 years ago their number was 5,000 and in 2018 it will reach 20,000. Yengibaryan said that though according to the official data IT revenues are almost $250
mln, their real level has reached the targeted $400 mln: in 2008 the revenues of the field amounted to $85 mln, and in 2018 they will total $1 bln.

Yengibaryan thinks that the IT sphere of the country has an immense potential for development, but there must be large-scale production to use that potential. He said that over the past 5 years the field failed to resolve the problem of grant financing from donors, and there are no opportunities for loan provision by the local commercial banks. Yengibaryan suggested directing 1% of the tax revenues of the IT sphere at IT development projects.

He also stressed that the creation of the Armenian National Engineering Laboratory on the basis of the State Engineering University of Armenia will contribute to the engineering sphere development and a similar project needs to be initiated for the programming sphere as well.

He pointed out that the IT sphere of Armenia has a good environment for work for both transnational companies and start-up local enterprises. He added that alongside with the technological center in Gyumri, a similar project was launched in Karabakh and one more project will be launched in Vanadzor. A Samsung Innovation Center is expected to operate in Armenia in the near future.

The forum participants were offered to cooperate with the Chinese companies, attend innovation exhibitions in China and attract Diaspora's potential.  To note, the forum participants will discuss changes in the IT Development Concept 2008-2018, as well as the tasks of development of e-trade as economy development stimulator. 

The forum was organized by the Union of IT Enterprises (UITE) jointly with the Armenian Economy Ministry. The forum will be over on Feb 24. UITE has been organizing such events since 2007. 

To note, according to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, in 2012 the services in the telecommunication sphere totaled over 165.2 bln AMD ($411.2 mln, over 3.1% y-o-y growth), in the IT sphere - over 26.3 bln AMD (12.8% y-o-y growth). In 2012 Armenia manufactured computers, electronic and optical facilities worth over 5.2 bln AMD (1.1% y-o-y growth).