Do you know that feeling when something strikes you as incredibly important, but coming completely out of the blue? Well, this is where the story begins.
For the first time in 2017 and as part of the SMEDA Mission (Small and Medium Enterprise Development Armenia), I had the chance to visit Armenia in order to work with the Armenian startup scene. You might not know a lot about the country - as did I back then - but Armenia is worth every second of your time. Besides an astonishing history of intercultural exchanges in the Kaukasian region, great food, beautiful nature, and even better wine, this country might just be the new sweet spot for the world’s tech industry. Why? Well, this is where stuff gets interesting.
Chess paving the way
One of Armenia's national sports is chess. Yes, the board game in which every decision is a strategic move. For decades, chess has shaped the culture of this Caucasian country, being landlocked in between Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Iran. With no options to escape via sea, chess might have come in handy back in the days. And not by chance do a large portion of the world’s best chess players originate from Armenia. So in 2011, they even implemented chess as a school subject in every public school.
Being a struggling country, they soon realized that education is the key to success - and knowing of their weak economical conditions, they had a choice to make: Either spend money on refurbishing classroom and getting schools back in shape, or spending it on IT infrastructure in school, giving pupils a chance to get in touch with state of the art technology. Well, if you know chess players, I don't need to spoil what they did.
Starting in middle school, Armenian pupils today have the chance to learn how to code and even have first classes in robotics (One Armenia). In addition, the TUMO Center for Creative Technology in Armenia’s capital Yerevan offers students age 12-18 free access to the newest technology and experts from the digital sector (TUMO).
The Reality: IT in Armenia
The tech industry in Armenia started much earlier. Already during the Soviet Union, which Armenia was a part of, 40% of the Soviet’s military IT came from Armenia, a country with only 3 million inhabitants (Source: NY Times). And with the rise of IT infrastructure all over the world, Armenia has turned itself into a sweet spot for software companies. The Information and Technology sector (ICT) is growing at around 5,3% (data from 2017). In recent years, two technology parks have been established in Armenia’s second and third largest cities, Gyumri and Vanadzor, with heavy support from the World Bank and the European Union. From 2015 to 2017 alone, 200 companies entered the ICT market, excluding startups (Source: Enterprise Incubation Foundation). Companies like Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, and Cisco are already on the ground, analyzing the ecosystem (Source: Export.gov).
And in terms of tech startups? The number doubled in recent years. At the Sevan Startup Summit in 2018 and 2017, almost all startups had some kind of focus on software or hardware, ranging from agricultural products over accounting software, to virtual reality applications and super fast computing solutions (List of Winners 2017 / List of Winners 2018). Not by chance will the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) take place in Yerevan (Oct. 6th - 9th, 2019).
So why haven’t we heard more?
The Other Reality
While being ahead virtually, Armenia is still a poor country where people earn an average of 300-400 dollars a month, often needing more than one job to survive (Source: Trading Economics). So the big question is: How do you further foster the country's potential? It is exactly here that the European Union comes into play. Since 2009, the European Union has supported the Caucasian country with a total of approximately 37 € million, reaching 13.300 enterprises and triggering 417 € million of loans among businesses (Source: EU4Business).
All numbers, you might say, but what about the people? Well, a young, motivated, and smart generation is on the rise. Do you remember when Armenia was in the news for its recent revolution? Student peacefully blocked the main roads in Yerevan for six days in a row. And the day after the former president resigned? People went into the street to collectively clean up the trash from a peaceful, non-violent revolution.
So, you see, these young Armenians do not only have the skills to shape their future, but they are willing to work hard in order to live up to their values.
Well played, Armenia, well played.
Some links:
American University Armenia: https://aua.am/
EU4Business: http://www.eu4business.eu/
Impact hub: https://yerevan.impacthub.net/
Innovation Solution and Technology Center (ISTC): https://istc.am/
Microsoft: https://mic.am/
One Armenia: https://onearmenia.org/
SMEDA: https://www.smeda.am/
Sevan Startup Summit: https://seasidestartupsummit.com/
Tech park in Gyumri: http://gtc.am/
Tech park in Vanadzor: http://vtc.am/en/
Tourism: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/armenia/yerevan TUMO Center for Creative
Technology: www.tumo.org
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