Armenia's Economic Pulse

[Mher]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Tumo Center opens in Gyumri

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan attended the solemn opening ceremony of Tumo Center for Creative Technologies in Gyumri today.


Establishment of Tumo Center in Gyumri has been initiated by the Armenian President and implemented by Shant TV company.

In the beginning, the Center will be located at Gyumri Technological Center and then it will be moved to the building of neighboring Gyumri Theater (former People’s House) which is going to be overhauled. During the visit, the President of was informed that the territory will include 60 working place and will be able to host 500-1000 students.

Tumo Center for Creative Technologies is an open educational environment where 12-18-year old teenagers study on their own.

The first Tumo Center (Tumo Yerevan) was initiated by Sam and Silva Simonians by the Simonian Educational Foundation. It opened the doors to students on August 14, 2011.

Owing to “Knowledge for the Sake for Development” project implemented by the Central Bank, Tumo opened in Dilijan as well in 2013 (around 300 teenagers attend it).

Currently, intensive construction works of Tumo Center are underway in Stepanakert. In September 2015, the construction will be over and the Center will open its doors to 1000 teenagers from Artsakh (Tumo Stepanakert is the joint project of Simonian Educational Foundation and AGBU).

http://www.itel.am/en/news/7126/

[Mher]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Another IT Facility Launched In Armenia



Հրապարակված է՝ 25.05.2015

Highlighting the rapid growth of Armenia’s information technology (IT) sector, D-Link Corporation, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of computer networking equipment, inaugurated its newly constructed research and development center in Gyumri on Monday.

The center is one of the three facilities of its kind operated by the Taiwanese IT group around the world. Its creation was made possible by an agreement which D-Link signed with the Armenian government in January 2013. The government provided the company with a plot of land in Gyumri for that purpose.

D-Link had opened software development branches in both Gyumri and Yerevan even before that agreement. It reportedly employed some 200 people in Armenia as of last year.

With annual worldwide sales exceeding $1 billion, D-Link is principally engaged in the research, development, manufacture and distribution of computer network systems, devices, wireless communication products and components.

“This center will play a significant role in the development of Gyumri and Armenia’s strong scientific potential as well as the country’s integration into global information technology processes,” Economy Minister Karen Chshmaritian said at the inauguration ceremony that was also attended by President Serzh Sarkisian.

Chshmaritian added the Armenian government has a strong interest in having “multinational corporations” expand their presence in the domestic IT industry, the fastest-growing sector of Armenia’s economy.

The export-oriented sector had expanded by an average of 22 percent annually since 2008. The government expects this growth to continue unabated in the years to come. Some officials have forecast that the sector’s annual turnover will pass the $1 billion mark by 2019.

According to government estimates, the combined output of the nearly 400 IT firms operating in the country reached almost $475 million last year. The figure is equivalent to about 5 percent of its Gross Domestic Product.

Much of this growth has been driven by U.S. hi-tech giants like as Synopsys, National Instruments, Mentor Graphics and VMware. Synopsys, a global microchip design leader, employs about 700 engineers in Armenia, making its local branch the country’s largest IT enterprise.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27036033.html

[Mher]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Microsoft To Boost Support For Armenian IT Sector

Հրապարակված է՝ 27.05.2015

Microsoft Corporation pledged to step up its contribution to Armenia’s burgeoning information technology sector on Tuesday with a new regional software development center to be opened in Yerevan soon.

In return, the Armenian government promised stronger protection of the U.S. giant’s world-famous products against widespread software piracy in the country.

The two sides formalized their mutual commitments with a package of agreements which Microsoft’s top executive for central and eastern Europe, Don Grantham, signed in Yerevan with Armenia’s ministers of economy, education and defense. Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian and the U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Richard Mills, underscored its importance with their presence at the signing ceremony.

“The agreements signed today will serve as a basis for even closer cooperation between the government of Armenia and Microsoft,” Abrahamian said at the ceremony.

A statement released by Abrahamian’s press office said the deal calls for the establishment of a Microsoft-sponsored “regional” center” in Yerevan for mobile applications and so-called “cloud computing,” which allows such software to be operated over the Internet. It said Armenian students and engineers working there will use Microsoft’s technological resources to develop more advanced solutions of this kind. This will make Armenia more competitive in global hi-tech industries, it said.

According to the statement, the new facility will operate in conjunction with the Microsoft Innovation Center Armenia (MICA), an enterprise “accelerator” that has assisted in the growth of dozens of local IT startup firms. The MICA, which is partly funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has provided them with free office space and equipment and even helped some of them secure funding for their innovative projects.

These and other startups have added to recent years’ rapid growth of the Armenian IT industry, the most dynamic sector of the country’s struggling economy. According to government data, the sector currently employs over 11,500 engineers. Its overall business turnover was equivalent to about 5 percent of Gross Domestic Product last year.

The MICA set up was set up in 2011, one year before launch of the Microsoft IT Academy at the State Engineering University of Armenia (SEUA). The academy helps to address the still inadequate quality of education at the IT programs of the SEUA and other state-run Armenian universities.

Abrahamian stressed the importance of the upcoming new Microsoft center in Yerevan, expressing confidence that it will solidify Armenia’s status as a regional IT leader. Grantham, for his part, said it will enable Armenian software engineers to develop their skills and eventually result in new jobs.

According to the statement by Abrahamian’s office, Grantham went on to emphasize the Armenian government’s commitment to a stricter enforcement of Microsoft’s intellectual property rights in Armenia.

Mills was reported to make a similar point. The U.S. ambassador said that a more effective copyright protection will help Armenia attract more foreign investors into the IT sector.

Major U.S. companies such as Synopsis, National Instruments, Mentor Graphics and VMware are already present in the sector. Oracle, the world’s second largest software developer after Microsoft, inaugurated its Armenian branch late last year.

Cybersecurity will be another new area of the government’s cooperation with Microsoft. Under agreement signed by Grantham and Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian, Microsoft will help Armenia protect its online databases and resources against hacker attacks.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27038160.html

[londontsi]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Why is “Samsung” leaving Armenia?

Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2015/05/23/170342/

[londontsi]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

After moving to Baku, “Samsung” regional representation made biased decisions about Armenia

In the interview with Aravot, already former head of “Samsung” official representation Andranik Shahbazyan explains why the globally recognized “Samsung” is leaving Armenia. – Mr. Shahbazyan, according to some rumor, “Samsung” official representation in our country is shut down. Can you tell why the recognized brand has decided to leave Armenia? – I work for “Samsung” company since 2005, and until 2011, we were Moscow’s “Samsung” headquarters office, so as Azerbaijan and Georgia. In 2011, it was decided to include the Caucasus region into the “Samsung” Kazakhstan Central Asian HQ region, which is located in Almaty. Any strategic issue can be raised at the leadership in Almaty, and decisions were made based on the logic of the question, its operation, economic situation or business environment of the given country, and at the same time driven from the interests of the “Samsung”. Everything was going well until the end of 2014, when the “Samsung” General HQ management decided to set up an independent Caucasus HQ, which was going to be a part of the large HQ of the “Samsung” in CIS territory, and it was decided that it should to be located in Baku. The first reaction to this decision was quite negative both by Armenian economic entities who are in business relationship with “Samsung” and by the employees of the representation. We in a very simple and logical way explained to them that the person sitting in Azerbaijan for known reason cannot be impartial in decisions about the employees in Armenia, their salaries, bonuses or even the business and the pricing policies. However, our voice was not heard, and our excuses were neglected. – Has the Armenian representation of “Samsung” felt the discriminative approach? – I will tell you an incident. We supported a company directly cooperating with “Samsung” in Stepanakert that was selling the “Samsung” official products to replenish its workshop....

Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2015/05/26/170364/

[Zeytun]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

IT Industry news:
-Microsoft Corporation pledged to step up its contribution to Armenia’s burgeoning information technology sector on Tuesday with a new regional software development center to be opened in Yerevan soon.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27038160.html

- D-Link Facility Launched In Armenia:
highlighting the rapid growth of Armenia’s information technology (IT) sector, D-Link Corporation, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of computer networking equipment, inaugurated its newly constructed research and development center in Gyumri on Monday.

http://massispost.com/2015/05/d-link-facility-launched-in-armenia/

- IT field one of the main areas of the governments plan:

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/806899/it-field-is-one-of-the-main-areas-in-the-government%E2%80%99s-plan-armenian-pm.html

[Shant03]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Lots of Armenian products here in the US lately, i've seen a large variety of areni wines in stores all over CA including San Diego and San Francisco.

[Federate]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

I have been seeing some Armenian products in my area also. The Arshav brand of canned/jarred fruits and veggies. I am going to try to introduce some made in Armenia wines to stores here as well.

One way to introduce Armenian alcohol is to send sharply dressed people into liquor stores and asking the employees/managers if they have Armenian products. Do this over and over again and they may notice there's a demand and will order. The sharply dressed part is to create the illusion that it's people with high disposable income demanding it so they will buy a lot.

[Haykakan]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

New greenhouses in Armenia growing vegetables for the local market and export to Russia. The Russians recently banned food imports from Europe. With the Customs Union and the previously mentioned fact, this is our time to seize the opportunity.

In the meantime, I've read that Armenian food products are reaching Russian supermarkets more and more lately from Armenians in Moscow. Here's one.

I have been seeing some Armenian products in my area also. The Arshav brand of canned/jarred fruits and veggies. I am going to try to introduce some made in Armenia wines to stores here as well.

[Federate]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

New greenhouses in Armenia growing vegetables for the local market and export to Russia. The Russians recently banned food imports from Europe. With the Customs Union and the previously mentioned fact, this is our time to seize the opportunity.

In the meantime, I've read that Armenian food products are reaching Russian supermarkets more and more lately from Armenians in Moscow. Here's one.