BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 26
By Sadraddin Aghjayev – Trend:
Azerbaijan has recently been implementing projects to develop the non-oil sector and to improve the business environment, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan told Trend.
"Until 2018, only startups were supported in Azerbaijan, but in recent years there have been changes in priority areas, such as investments and other state support for ecosystem participants, incubation, and acceleration centers. This, in turn, is reflected in the enrichment of the process. The creation of the Innovation Agency under the Ministry of Transport, Communications, and High Technologies to support innovative development and the startup ecosystem is institutional reform," the ministry said.
"In 2020, the Innovation Agency launched a project to classify startups. Classification means determining the development of a startup project from an idea to a perfectly developed business. Any owner or creator of a startup project can be classified on the agency's website. Thanks to the classification, the owner of a startup can easily determine at what stage of development his project is. In turn, the Innovation Agency, having this important information, can offer it effective tools for the further development of the project," said the ministry.
“This classification was developed according to international standards and implies 5 stages of project development from category A to E (A, B, C, D, E). More detailed information on categorization can be obtained by clicking on the link,” said the ministry.
The ministry noted that they are ready to consider regulatory legal acts on the provision of grants, loans, and investments, after the approval of which, accordingly, there will be growth in the ecosystem as a whole, and the startup projects will be able to enter the international market.
Concessions to startups will be provided after the adoption of the normative legal acts on the issuance of a ‘Startup’ certificate. Startups that receive this certificate will be exempt from tax for 3 years, which will positively affect the productivity of startups, the ministry added.
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